Sex Buying is Foul: Rights4Girls Launches Nationwide March Madness Billboard Campaign In Cities Hosting NCAA Tournament

Drawing Attention To Sex Buyers Fueling Multi-Billion Dollar Sex Trade

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, March 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Rights4Girls announced a nationwide billboard campaign to combat sex trafficking/tourism surrounding the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament. This coordinated effort will hit 8 cities hosting the basketball games, with the goal of shining a light on the buyers fueling the multi-billion dollar illicit sex trade. The campaign will target the initial rounds (Cleveland, Milwaukee and Providence) go through regionals (Atlanta, Indianapolis and Newark, NJ) and take things all the way through the finals in San Antonio.

“Major sporting events like March Madness bring a lot of fun and entertainment, but they also attract well-to-do men with the wealth to purchase marginalized women and girls for sex,” said Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director of Rights4Girls. “Amidst the tournament and all the festivities associated with the games, there’s also a dark underbelly of sex trafficking and sex tourism in which vulnerable people are exploited for profit in the shadows of celebration, parties and excitement. And this is a troubling issue all-year-round. The traffickers won’t simply disappear once the confetti is swept off the floor.”

In each host city, the R4G billboards will rotate through a series of messages, including: “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Is Just A Game,” “Sex Buying Is Foul,” “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Won’t Land You A Penalty,” and “It’s Madness To Think Sex Buying Is A Victimless Crime.”

While patronizing sex transpires every single day in big cities and small towns across America, it happens in a big, concentrated way around major sporting events like March Madness, the World Cup, NASCAR, and the Super Bowl. Anytime large numbers of men with disposable income flock to one place, the obvious happens. A surge in tourism creates an environment in which sex tourism could thrive. Increased hotel bookings, parties and an influx of people make it easier for traffickers and sex buyers to operate under the radar.

History and data show that pimps and traffickers pounce on major events’ swelling numbers of visitors to sell people for sex:

· In 2019, during the Final Four weekend in Minneapolis, 47 men were arrested for felony solicitation of a minor and 11 more for sex trafficking/promotion of prostitution. Over that same weekend, 28 people – including a minor – were rescued from trafficking situations.

· In 2019, 169 were arrested in the ramp-up to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta – including 26 traffickers and 34 men trying to engage in sex with a minor. 9 human trafficking victims were identified, and 9 child sex trafficking victims were recovered, with the youngest being only 14 years-old.

· In 2017, police arrested approximately 750 people in nationwide sex-trafficking sting operations ahead of Super Bowl LI in Houston.

· In 2023, Phoenix Police reported agencies making approximately 50 felony arrests during Super Bowl LVI’s sex trafficking crackdown. At least 14 incidents were men attempting to have sex with minors. Moreover, there were 120 misdemeanor arrests of “sex buyers.” Arizona State researchers also found a 30% increase in online ads for prostitution in the weeks before the big game – with 21 ads involving minors.

· In 2014, prior to Super Bowl XLVII in New Jersey, online ads increased by a whopping 58%. Researchers found 954 of ads screened suggested prostitution, with 84% showing “indicators of a possible sex trafficking victim.” 50 ads were flagged as potentially involving minors. Nearly a quarter of all these ads referenced the Super Bowl explicitly.

· In 2012, during the week of Super Bowl XVLI in Indianapolis, Backpage hosted 1,000 listings alone advertising “young,” “curvy,” women and girls for in-calls and outcalls.

Recently, Rights4Girls released a groundbreaking new report, “Buyers Unmasked: Exposing the Men Who Buy Sex & Solutions to End Exploitation” – which focuses on the men who buy sexual acts and highlights the devastating damage they cause marginalized women and girls in all our communities. The full paper can be read at: rights4girls.org/BuyersUnmasked

“Sex buying is not a victimless crime, as some would mislead you to believe,” said Vafa. “Rampant misogyny and violence against women and girls is not only prevalent, but pervasive. While difficult to read, the sex buyers in this report reflect a community far from Hollywood’s Pretty Woman fairytale, but rather embody the disturbing mantra of ‘your body, my choice.’ Their words and actions reveal buyers as fully aware and indifferent to signs of trafficking, coercion, violence, substance abuse and desperation.”

For more information, please see rights4girls.org/marchmadness

About Rights4Girls: Rights4Girls is a national human rights organization that advocates for the rights of young women and girls so that every girl can be safe and live a life free of violence and exploitation. It works to change the narrative and policies that allow girls to be criminalized when they survive violence and advocates for approaches that provide girls and young women with safety, justice and support. For more information: rights4girls.org.

Yasmin Vafa
Rights4Girls
+ 12029042401
yasmin@rights4girls.org
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