This story is on the homepage of the Chicago Tribune rightnow:
We don’t know anything more about this case than what is in the story, but let’s all pause for a moment and reflect on what’s not in that headline: 14-year-old boy (presumably) uses iPad to try and buy sex.
We're not saying it's ok that he was attacked. But there are a lot of questions here that pretty serious. Why did this young man think that was something he should do? What had he heard or been taught that led him to believe that buying sex was ok and something he should use his savings for?
The truth is that on any given day in Chicago, there are more than 16,000 women and girls involved in prostitution. And thousands and thousands of men, in our own neighborhoods, are buying sex. At some point in their lives, someone or something told them that it was ok to buy another human being. Or, even if it wasn't ok, that they wouldn't face any consequences.
CAASE working on this problem, in classrooms in Chicagoland. Our curriculum for young men in high school is starting conversations now, so that students can learn about the realities of prostitution before they’re faced with these types of decisions. So they can talk to each other about healthy masculinity, and why buying sex has nothing to do with being a real man.