Cover image retrieved from CBS Denver. 3-minute read.
July is our annual #StopTheDemand awareness campaign, which is a whole month dedicated to an issue that affects thousands in the U.S. and millions across the globe.
When it comes to human sex trafficking, specifically, we’ve shown a spotlight on some organizations that are inspiring serious change—some in their own communities, and others beyond their local areas.
But we know it doesn’t take a company or a nonprofit to spark change—it starts with each one of us.
Meet Kyra Dooley
Kyra Dooley is a 16-year-old girl from Colorado who has helped impact her community and served others thousands of miles away.
She’s been involved in over seven projects ranging from providing food to the local rescue shelter to creating chemo care packages to cancer patients. If that wasn’t superhuman enough, consider how Kyra started on her first project by sending clothes and shoes to underprivileged kids on the other side of the world when she was only nine.
Related: Meet The Researchers Developing Apps To Educate People About Sex Trafficking
Her latest project? Kyra is helping out with two local organizations in her home of Aurora that house and support sex trafficking survivors to get them back on their feet. After hearing the story of a family friend that fell victim to sex trafficking, she decided to step in and, in her words, “do something about it.”
Her way of doing this includes raising awareness, something she considers challenging. “It’s a really uncomfortable topic,” Kyra said in a recent news report, “So it’s really hard for people to get educated about it.”
Related: This Train Passenger’s Tweet Saved 25 Girls From Human Trafficking
As an organization that raises awareness on the harmful effects of porn—another intensely personal topic—we get where she’s coming from. But we’re not derailed by the challenge, and neither is she.
Kyra has collected basic necessities and gift cards for sex trafficking survivors, and met with them in person. This year, she even organized an event on January 11th, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, to deliver the gifts and basic goods.
Holly O’Berem, a survivor and lead at one of the two organizations, Covered Colorado, talks about the power of individual actions like Kyra’s:
“To give someone the opportunity to be seen and to know that people care and that people are educating themselves around what is going on is so huge.”
Giving rather than getting
So…what is the method behind the madness? Kyra doesn’t claim to have superpowers; according to her, she just cares.
She created a nonprofit called My One Birthday which reflects how she got involved with different organizations and how she makes her impact. It started with her 9th birthday, when she saw a commercial about starving children in Africa. She was so moved to do something, she asked for clothes, shoes, and other donations to help give gifts instead of receiving them. From then on, every birthday (and Christmases, too) until today she’s supported a different charity or organization by giving rather than getting.
Related: How To Identify Sex Trafficking Victims And Stop Contributing To Sexual Exploitation
This giving versus getting motto is something Kyra promotes for others to take on, too. On her website lists of, ways to get involved with events, causes to donate to, and ways to contribute to her current project are always available.
More than anything, she wants to encourage others to make a change in the world by starting small: choosing one birthday and deciding to “make it about someone else.” Her mission is to “inspire kids to do what I have done,” by continuing to give. By doing so, she says they will see, “how much of a difference you [can] make.”
How you can be a changemaker
Kyra isn’t the only changemaker out there, but her story is certainly a unique one that only goes to show how one person really can influence and impact their community in a very direct way. Her example of simply having an open heart and making small, but powerful decisions to help others is inspiring and shows we don’t need endless resources to make a difference.
At Fight the New Drug, like Kyra, we believe in the power of the individual to make profound decisions about their own life, and the people and community around them.
Related: In-N-Out Burger Matches Donations 3-To-1 To Fight Human Trafficking
As we educate on how each of us can #StopTheDemand for sexual exploitation, we encourage you to think of ways you can stay informed and have an impact in your community regarding sex trafficking, sex abuse, objectification, sexualized racism, and child exploitation. It doesn’t have to be anything huge: check out facts and become more informed, find out about local survivor organizations nearby, or even start a conversation about it with a friend.
Small steps can create a big impact.
To learn about how sex trafficking is connected to pornography click here.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
Your donation directly fuels the creation of new educational resources, including our awareness-raising videos, podcasts, research-driven articles, engaging school presentations, and digital tools that reach youth where they are: online and in school. It equips individuals, parents, educators, and youth with trustworthy resources to start the conversation.
Will you join us? We’re grateful for whatever you can give—but a recurring donation makes the biggest difference. Every dollar directly supports our vital work, and every individual we reach decreases sexual exploitation. Let’s fight for real love: