MYST Minnesota Youth Sex Trading Prevention Hub
Actionable data to prevent the sexual exploitation of youth.
The Minnesota Youth Sex Trading (MYST) Prevention Hub is a multi-disciplinary group of scholars and community partners housed at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. Our primary goal is to prevent sexual exploitation, reduce harm, and promote healing and wellbeing for young people across Minnesota. We achieve this by delivering actionable, accessible, and accurate data on youth sex trading to the non-profits and government agencies who work with Minnesota youth every day.
What we do
We pair state-level surveys of young people—such as the Minnesota Student Survey and College Student Health Survey—with the expertise of community partners and lived experience experts. Together, we turn broad data about the prevalence of sex trading and the sexual exploitation of Minnesota youth into meaningful, community-led prevention strategies.
Our research is rooted in two principles:
- Research is better when conducted together: Data and analysis are most accurate and actionable when co-created with lived experience experts and people in the prevention field.
- Information belongs in the community: Research has the biggest impact when it is in the hands of people working directly with youth to support prevention and intervention across the state.
Since 2019, the MYST team has translated research findings from the Minnesota Student Survey and the College Student Health Survey into tangible actions for policy and program development that have real-world impact. We create accessible data briefs and slide decks for partners and the public, working directly with partners to use that data to improve youth sexual exploitation prevention and intervention. Our longstanding partners use MYST data products to inform their programming, educate the public, support fundraising, improve service delivery and policy, and help transform the lives of Minnesota youth. Impact is seen in Minnesota through sustained and expanded state funding for sexual exploitation prevention, new and expanded programming for youth tailored to who needs it, and better informed, fact-based programming design and delivery.
How we work
Action Research
We use an action research cycle to drive our work with partners. This means that all the questions we ask come from our partnerships and are designed to be usable in the field.
Love Ethic
We embrace a love ethic in process and outcome. “Embracing a love ethic means that we utilize all the dimensions of love – care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge – in our everyday lives.” (bell hooks, All About Love, p. 94)
To live a love ethic, we do the following:
- Value multiple ways of knowing.
- Center lived experience, youth, and youth experiences.
- Prioritize accessibility, collaboration, and respect.
- Foster emergent and creative work based on youth strengths and assets.
Problem definition
We view youth sex trading as a symptom of systemic vulnerabilities, economic hardship, and unaddressed harms. Our research shows that youth in Minnesota are involved in trading sex to receive something of value (e.g. money, food, drugs, a place to stay).
When a person under the age of 18 is involved in sex trading, it is considered a form of exploitation and meets the U.S. Federal definition of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. We seek to use actionable data to prevent sexual exploitation. We do not conflate all forms of sex trading with exploitation or human trafficking.
Sexual exploitation of youth can cause and is associated with many harms such as violence, educational disruption, substance use, homelessness, unwanted pregnancy, mental health challenges, and more. MYST’s research shows disproportionate and intersectional impacts of these harms for youth of color, indigenous youth, youth experiencing homelessness and poverty, LGBTQ+ youth, youth in foster care, and youth who experience other hardships and oppressions.
For many young people, sex trading and exploitation is not the primary problem for which they are seeking help. The MYST Prevention Hub prioritizes research on youth experience of harms, unmet needs and youth and community assets in relation to sexual exploitation, so that we can build a better and stronger prevention net to stop exploitation before it starts.
We know that terminology in this field can be confusing and contradictory. There is a lack of agreement among people with lived experience and people in the field about what terms to use and what those terms mean, with different definitions for minors and adults. The MYST team uses the following definitions.
- Sex trading encompasses many different types of experiences in transactional sex, including survival sex, sugaring, sexual exploitation or human trafficking. This is the term used on the Minnesota Student Survey because it describes a behavior in clear language.
- Sexual exploitation happens when someone trades sex because they did not have any other choice, to meet basic needs, or they felt pressured or forced.
- Human trafficking for sexual exploitation (often referred to as sex trafficking) is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel or induce a sex act. According to U.S. Federal law, minors cannot legally engage in commercial sex acts and are considered victims of trafficking regardless of whether there was force, fraud, or coercion from a third party.
Purpose of the MYST Prevention Hub
We analyze data and provide it to the field to spur system-level improvements to the social service and policy response to the sexual exploitation of youth. Our goal is to help government and non-profit sectors reach more youth with programs that meet each young person’s unique needs. Through collaboration and partnership with Safe Harbor Minnesota and agencies across Minnesota, we provide accurate and compelling data that challenges harmful myths and shows where support is needed most and who is being left behind. Our research shows that sex trading is driven by systemic vulnerabilities and that all youth need safety, love, and support to thrive.
Drive evidence-based prevention
Share actionable evidence to prevent youth sexual exploitation and reduce related harms.
Build public understanding
Equip the prevention field and the public with the facts about youth sexual exploitation.
Challenge stigma
Dispel harmful myths to break stigma and empower young people.
Resources to protect youth from exploitation
Access vital resources and educational content designed to combat trafficking and support prevention efforts. Take the next step to raise awareness and protect youth in your community today.
Meet our team
The prevention hub is a collaborative of faculty, staff, and students at the University of Minnesota working in partnership with non-profit organizations, government entities, and people with lived experience. For more than 20 years members of the MYST team have co-created research for tangible actions in policy and program development to prevent sexual exploitation of youth.
For more information or ways to support us, contact us at:
mystprevention@umn.edu
Impact of the MYST Prevention Hub
Uncovering and closing gaps in gaps in statewide programs
The Minnesota Department of Health’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention and Response staff use our data to help shape funding priorities and the Requests for Proposals issued to Safe Harbor grant applicants.
Equipping Regional Navigators
MYST provides tailored presentation slide decks to each Safe Harbor regional navigator, a position funded through Safe Harbor. This puts actionable data into their hands to assist them in raising awareness, garnering support, and educating the public across Minnesota in rural, suburban, and urban communities.
Educating Practitioners and Busting Myths
MYST team members routinely present data to the Human Trafficking Prevention and Response Network. These presentations educate practitioners in the field about the latest trends and prevalence data, supporting prevention, busting myths and misconceptions, and supporting youth programming across the state.
MYST Blog
For MYST Collaborative members to dig into the data to get behind and explain the facts. We will tackle key issues that are highly relevant to current events.
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Thank you to our funding partners.
