OFF THE BACKPAGE
Mazzio’s ‘Jane Doe’ shines light on child sex trafficking
Mary Mazzio's “I Am Jane Doe,” a documentary about internet sex trafficking of underage girls, shines a light on a persistent and horrific abuse. The girls, some as young as 13, get hooked on drugs like speed and heroin, referred to as their “leash,” and only a few are rescued by parents.
It was these mothers who have — in Boston, Seattle and other cities — sued in court to shutter advertising website Backpage.com, claiming its ads for escort services helped to promote the exploitation of children.
“My documentary exposes a problem that is so little recorded,” said Needham native Mazzio, once an Olympic rower and lawyer.
“When I started out, I thought this would be a legal thriller. Then I met the children” — who are shielded as the Jane Does — “and that changed everything. I had to be all in and do all I can for these children and the issue.
“What's happened to them is real and it's scary. It will permanently brand them for life. Yet it was incredible. I asked, Why are you participating? And each one said, `I don't want this happening to my sister.'
“One said, `I'm doing this for your daughter.'
“We had to be very delicate. These children are so traumatized with the horrific violence they've experienced and here, they're channeling their anger. I don't think I've done anything with courage what these children are doing.
“These are,” she added, “the lucky children. They had parents who went to rescue them. The majority of these children are disproportionally those who were adopted, runaways, foster children, LGBT, and the numbers will blow you away.
“It's estimated there are 2.5 million homeless children and 15 percent of that are being sex trafficked? Are you kidding me!” The legal problem is a 1996 Congressional ruling, Section 230, that decrees a website's owner is not responsible for its content.
Mazzio hopes her documentary will prompt parents and others “to say to online media: What responsibility do you bear? That's a legitimate question.
“The reality is our laws have not gotten caught up with the speed of technology, which is creating thorny legal questions. But certainly one that has to be addressed.”
The Herald reported Jan. 9 that the Supreme Court said it won't hear an appeal from three sex trafficking victims who accused Backpage.com of helping to promote the exploitation of children. The justices left in place a lower court ruling that said federal law shields Backpage from liability because the site is just hosting content created by people who use it. The women say they were sold as prostitutes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island through advertisements for escort services on the site when they were as young as 15. They say Backpage is not protected by the Communications Decency Act because the company not only hosted the ads, but created a marketplace that makes child sex trafficking easier. Backpage has denied those allegations. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit, and the federal appeals court in Boston upheld that ruling.
(“I Am Jane Doe” opens Friday at AMC Framingham.)