Her moving performance came in an unexpected place -- the Oakland City Council chambers -- last Wednesday. The poem was not about Turchin but about her deep feelings about other young women.

As teen prostitutes gathered to talk, Katy read to 10 women, all deeply involved in trying to stop the sexual exploitation of children.

Talking about the crime that's kept in the dark is what got me there to listen.

The women were called together by Councilmember Jean Quan to share what they are doing in their various organizations and as individuals to attack the ages-old problem that is ruining the lives of so many young women.

Quan wants to get out of the closet the long held, dark secrets that cause shame and despair in so many families across all economic, ethnic and racial lines.

"We can talk about this," Quan calmly assured the group. Indeed, we must start by talking as Oakland faces what seems to be a growing number of girls at the tender ages of 10 and 12 being exploited.

The numbers could reflect better reporting of the incidents because of stepped-up police and agency activity. No one is sure. But in Oakland, Quan said, 25 percent of all crimes are against women and children. And these crimes were up 70 percent last year. Also 200 young women in their teens have been picked up for prostitution by police.

Central to the conversation was Dr. Barbara Staggers, who heads Children's Hospital Teen Center, who added her own statistics and eloquent explanations of what exploitation does to young lives.

"Most sexual assault on young girls is by an older adult they know and are supposed to trust," said Staggers.

To fully understand why this happens, she said, we must consider that a girl becomes a woman on the very day she begins menstruating. This happens to some girls when they are 10 and even 9 years old.

So while they are still very young intellectually and in their behavior, their bodies are mature. Some young women are as tall as 6 feet and full bosomed even though they are only 12, 13 or 14. All girls at that age have reached 85 percent of their adult height, said Staggers, and 14 is commonly the age when sexual exploitation begins.

"We have 5th and 6th graders walking around with adult heights at a time when they are unable to think abstractly," she said. "They're in the here and now. And that's normal, not unusual. This makes them easy prey for sex abuse. They think nothing is ever going to happen to them. 'I'm different, I'm special' is what they think and that's normal."

Staggers says she sees six to nine new sex assaults in her teen clinic every week. "Boys too are assaulted," citing a boy patient who had been molested by a 40-year-old man.

"Fifteen percent of teens nationwide say they've been forced to have sex at least once a year with an older person," she said. "That's an unhealthy relationship. I say to them, it's time to talk about what love is and what it means. What they're seeing is not love, it's exploitation. My challenge is to keep them alive so they can become adults."

All panelists offered hope and support from their organizations to improve community response to the silent crime against children. Barbara Loza-Muriera of the Interagency Children's Policy Council of Alameda County said child victims turn up in other crime reports. For example, a 12 year old arrested for shoplifting revealed she had a 40-year-old boyfriend.

"Children are the product the sex trade sells," said Loza-Muriera. "They include runaways, foster kids, and any child out on the streets. The pimps look attractive to them because they are an adult person who is consistent and there for them."

Joy Tucker of the Needle Exchange told panelists she unmasked several pimps and their teen victim prostitutes when they came to the center asking for condoms. One prostitute told her she had to perform sex work because she had no money for food or clothes, and was living on the margin. "It was survival money," said Tucker.

Other panelists were: Sherry Wise of Family Violence Law Center; Leslie Hu, Shelter for Domestic Violence; Christine Kim, city advocate for domestic violence; Charlotte Green of the Alameda County District Attorney's Office; Nola Brantley of the Scotlan Center; and Councilmember Nancy Nadel.

Meetings are supposed to accomplish something. This one did. It's a starting point for ending the silent violence against children.