In April 2014, a former Lake Oswego cheerleader and her pimp were indicted for recruiting girls into prostitution. The recent media attention has helped draw attention to how girls are recruited into prostitution, but much of the attention has been on the former cheerleader, Julia Haner’s, role.

Elizabeth Alston, writing for House of Engedi (a Corvallis organization for trafficking survivors), pointed out in a thoughtful blog post that the media coverage of this tragedy has focused on Haner, rather than on of her pimp, because of how easy it is to overlook the dynamic between a pimp and a trafficking victim. Alston warns us that “just because a story is about trafficking, doesn’t mean it necessarily helps us change the stigma or misconceptions around the issue.”