From Camelia Verduzco, Feb. 21, 2016
My name is Camelia Verduzco, a current undergraduate Business Student at PSU. I am writing to express my recent upsetting and offensive experience while reading [PSU Vanguard] Issue 25, highlighting $750,000 of Federal Funds awarded to Sexual Assault Prevention at our school.
Although this award represents progress in decreasing sexual assault of PSU students, I find it contradictory and self defeating to find a first page advertisement from a [Spyce] Gentleman’s Club. Which, specifically solicits the attention of young women students to seek employment at their topless club. Additionally, this advertisement specifically targets the vulnerability of inexperienced young college women with little financial means who are unaware of the sexual assault and human trafficking that occur to females contracted at strip clubs.
As a student with 3 years experience advocating, speaking,interning and volunteering in the fight against human trafficking I can assure you there is a strong connection between these strip club workers falling victim to a life of being sold for sex, a life of constant rape and sexual assault.
[Included Huffington Post article “Where Strip Clubs Thrive in Portland, So Does Child Sex Trafficking” with information on this connection and human trafficking in Portland]
Lastly, I write in urgency on behalf of the respected female scholars at Portland State University that this advertisement does not uphold the safety of myself and my fellow students from sexual assault but indeed increases the vulnerability of victimization.
Therefore, I ask the respected Vanguard staff and Portland State University officials to promptly address these concerns by removal of this advertisement in Vanguard issues for the current and future safety of PSU’s female students.
For another letter to the editor on this issue, click here.
To see the Editor in Chief’s response, please click here.
Note: Edits to reader-provided letters are exclusively for correct spelling of proper nouns and print formatting. While the Vanguard staff makes efforts to verify facts and statistics, any of these included are provided by the authors, not the organization.
