Village Voice Media: Stop the selling of young girls for sex on Backpage.com

Petition Background

My name is Victoria, and I’m 13 years old. I recently found out that girls as young as me are being sold for sex by people using a classifieds website called Backpage.com.

You can buy and sell stuff on Backpage.com, look for an apartment, or find a job. That is all cool. But pimps are using Backpage.com to advertise girls my age to men twice their age and older, and that’s not okay.

It makes me so upset to think that every night while I sleep safely in my bed, there are other girls who are spending the night being raped and abused.

Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media. They read the news – they know that pimps have advertised girls for sex in the adult section of their website, but so far Village Voice Media has refused to take down the section. That's why, with the help of my mom, I started a petition to tell Backpage.com to close the adult section so that girls aren’t bought and sold for sex by sick people using the site.

I recently became friends with a girl who was advertised by her pimp on Backpage.com. She's 13 years old just like me. What happened to her is so scary. I don’t want any other girl to experience that.

Kids deserve to play, to be free, and to go to bed each night and have sweet dreams. Let’s help them do that. Please sign my petition and share it with all your friends.

--Victoria, age 13 (and Mary Pannell, my mom)