Bryce Raber
Features Reporter

Photo by Chris Clark

Sex trafficking is now one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world.

On March 4 and 6, CMU seniors Amanda Conrads, Christian Sanderlin and Travis Roth, along with  Kyle Kostreva and his wife Michelle—leaders of Master Plan Ministries and Tuesday Night Live (TNL)—used the film “Nefarious” to inform students of the scope of the problem of human trafficking in the United States and around the world.

The film was screened twice last week, once on Tuesday and again on Thursday, with a discussion night for men and women on Wednesday. Between the three days, members of Master Plan Ministries were able to inform roughly 300 people about the reality of the ongoing struggle.

“Nefarious,” meaning evil or wicked, is an award-winning documentary, the mission of which is to unveil the horrifying truths of a degrading business, one becoming ever more prevalent throughout the world. Traveling between the four main epicenters of the sex trafficking business—Eastern Europe, Amsterdam, Cambodia and the U.S.—the filmmakers give the viewer an up-close and personal look at the idustry.

The students responsible for bringing the film to campus believe there is an underlying issue of how people treat and look at each other in a sexual manner, whether it is talking about someone in a degrading way or even simply just looking on someone with lustful eyes, fueling the problem of prostitution and trafficking.

According to Conrads, a senior business student, last week’s Undie Run on campus was a perfect example of this, demonstrating that our culture is “inundated with sex,” Conrads said.

TNL leader Sanderlin described it as a “fostering factor of our society, telling women how they should look and act.”

“It’s degrading,” Sanderlin said. “Imagine if that was your sister or daughter running around out there.”

One of the main reasons TNL chose to present the film to CMU’s campus is that “it’s fertile ground for the solution,” Conrads said.

“Someone has to start informing and help people generally understand the problem, which can start the path leading to the solution,” Kostreva said.

Kostreva made the observation that college students are “establishing life patterns, habits and thought processes that may have negative or positive consequences in the future.”

Hoping that more people walk away from the film knowing that sex trafficking and prostitution is something real and doesn’t just happen in hit movies like “Taken” was the overall goal of showing “Nefarious” on campus, according to Kostreva.

“Sitting by and doing nothing brings no value to anything,” Roth said. “If there is a reason to prevent something, then stand up for it.”

braber@mavs.coloradomesa.edu