The women’s studies program explored the meaning behind Rachel Lloyd’s “Girls Like Us” during Wednesday night’s book club meeting at the Women’s Center.

Through “Girls Like Us,” Lloyd hoped to convey that underage girls cannot consent to sex and therefore, cannot be prostitutes.

Lloyd stressed if these girls are arrested, they should be treated as victims and not criminals.

According to the book, Lloyd said these girls should not be thought of as girls who are consenting or making any kind of choice.

Women’s Studies director Laura Diener talked about the importance of learning more about the issues brought up in Lloyd’s book.

“It’s a little disheartening, but in order to fix it, we have to study it,” Diener said.

Lloyd’s book goes on to define choice and explained how these girls may fall into this lifestyle due to scarce financial options.

The book club discussed other content in the book and recounted stories about sex-workers they knew personally and contemplated where those women may be now.

While Lloyd went through self-doubt in realizing sex trafficking is a problem, she realized this issue is real.

The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 13 years old.

Sex work is the overall theme for this year’s women’s studies events.

The Invisible Women event will take place Nov. 11 and will address sex work specifically in Huntington.

Kabz James can be contacted at  [email protected].