The STOPLight

Off to college

Heidi was an honor student in her small-town high school. She went off to college in a big city, and while there, was date-raped. That experience along with other factors in her life made her vulnerable to the recruitment of a pimp who eventually got her into prostitution. Here she offers insight into what kids going off to college should be aware of.

How are young people vulnerable when they go off to college?

They don't have the church or their parents around; nobody is watching them. Students whose parents made their decisions for them don't know how to make decisions, and suddenly it's all thrust upon them. They have to make decisions about everything. There can be a lot of drinking and parties, forcing students to make decisions about that behavior as well.

There's also stress about grades. Even if someone was an "A" student in high school, college is a lot harder. It's a high-pressure environment.

What kinds of sex industry recruitment goes on at colleges?

Strip clubs advertise "get in free with your college ID" for the guys. For the girls it's "make big money.. .girls, girls, girls...make $500-$1,000 a week," so they really entice them with financial gain. That's pretty tempting when you're in college.

As far as prostitution, pimps go to college parties. The bars around campuses are notorious places for pimping because the girls who go there are fresh from the country or from the suburbs and they're naive. The pimps party with everyone else like regular bar patrons. That's how they meet the girls.

Pimps look for certain weaknesses in them - maybe a young woman who's been raped or incested, has an eating disorder, has some sort of insecurity, is not real popular, or is looking for some kind of attention. I know a lot of pimps who would go over to a girl who was a little bit overweight -- not one of the beautiful girls. They were the easier ones to catch because they were so desperate for attention.

Some recruitment hides behind the guise of "We're so open-minded and liberal." A college may have Larry Flynt give a lecture and think it's being on the cutting edge of open-mindedness. They don't condemn anything he's done. There are also porn magazines that go to different colleges looking for models.

How would you respond to a student who says, "I'm going to work at a strip club to pay my way through college?"

They might think that's what they're going to do, but I've known a lot of girls who started to work at a strip club while in college, and they never finished college. They dropped out. The reality of the strip club -- the prostitution, the drugs, the abuse -- lowers their self-esteem. Soon that's their life, not college.

Working in a strip club changes their thinking. They're making tons of money so they think, "Why even bother to go to college? I'm going to get a low-paying job compared to this when I get out of college." Then they think they'll save up and buy a business, but nobody ever comes out with anything. It all goes into drugs, fast living, pimps. Everybody gets on that track. I have never known a woman who has successfully made it through doing it that way.

Some colleges are now offering classes on stripping because it's "liberating, sexual expression." What do you think of that?

I think it's one more step for the sex industry. They keep pushing, and people keep buying into it. What is stripping? Is it exotic? Artistic? No. The bottom line is you get on stage and take off your clothes for money. The sex industry has managed to "nice it up" and make it seem like it's something else. That's just leading everybody astray. The sex industry is so mainstreamed now that people just say, "Oh well. We don't want to be seen as the religious right or extremists, so we'll just go along with it." That's what the sex industry wants us to do.

I read an article about a man who makes pornographic videos. He said he never has a problem getting college-age women to be in them. What's going on here?

That's the reality! The sex industry is not begging for people. That's what makes people think everyone is choosing this. They've turned the whole thing around so women actually think this is a career choice and a way to get ahead. It doesn't make it right and it doesn't make it less harmful just because they're lining up to do this.

I think it's a very sad statement of what kind of respect girls have for themselves. I hear a lot of girls saying they want to be a stripper when they grow up. This is the generation we're raising: girls who think this is the way to get attention, rather than girls who say they respect themselves so much they would never do that.

I also think we have to look more at the naive and sheltered girls who are longing for excitement in their lives. This is what's being portrayed as exciting and glamorous. Kids growing up in small towns are often just plain bored! They're looking for any kind of excitement or danger, something to keep them interested. The sex industry is doing an excellent job of selling itself, so we have all kinds of kids thinking this isn't so bad.

In your opinion, how can parents best prepare their kids for college?

I always tell parents to start young in letting their kids make decisions. Even if they don't make the best choices, they can suffer the consequences in the safety of their home. Otherwise, when they go off to college they're sitting ducks. If you shelter the kid, you're actually setting them up.

Kids need to be taught about date rape and the date rape drugs being used on every single college campus. We need to talk to them about the binge drinking. Keep the lines of communication open with the kids while they're in college.

There needs to be better security, but you can't go to every single bar and find out who the pimps are. The kids have to come armed with that knowledge.

I think we have to challenge our colleges, too. Why do they have Larry Flynt come to talk? Why are they letting strip clubs advertise in college newspapers? I'm not going to pay my good money to a college that allows this to happen.

Any other advice you have for young people heading off to college?

If you are date-raped, many college campuses offer a rape crisis center. Shelters for women and sexual assault centers are other places to go for crisis counseling. Sometimes campus pastors may be able to provide support, but start with the crisis center.

I think the college years can be really fun and exciting -- just relax about it. Young people get so uptight, thinking they have to maintain that "A" average. I remember pots of coffee and studying all night for exams. You have to do that sometimes, but at the same time practice self-care. Exercise, eat right, get plenty of sleep. Keep your body in shape as well as your mind! If you're tired and run down you're not going to be thinking well and you'll be more vulnerable. Be very careful, and don't automatically trust everyone. There are a lot of predators around college campuses.

interviewed by Amy Hartman