Sex Trafficking

One of my strongest beliefs, and you might call it a strength, is my concern for those who are being mistreated and abused and who are powerless to stop it. It has been something that has influenced my life, and played a large part in my decisions about the future. I recently had to do a speech in one of my classes for a major grade, and it had to be about something in the news. I decided at the time, that it would be a good idea to talk about sex trafficking, because it is something that few people know enough about and I am very passionately against it.

As I thought about it over the following weeks, I desired to give this speech less and less. It would have to be a very grave speech, and I really did not look forward to exposing such dark secrets to my class because it would make me feel uncomfortable. Several times I thought about switching topics to something a little less weighty and serious, something that would be easier to write a speech about, where I could slack off and not feel so bad. But then, I stopped to think about it. The stories I would tell and the hidden crimes I would reveal to my classmates are already terrible enough. In each story, someone was helpless against the atrocities committed against them, and in many cases it was because no one spoke out. And I wondered why it was that sex trafficking isn't in the news so much and why I barely knew anything about it before I researched it and why I felt a strong desire to cop out and not talk about it. And in all honesty, I think that it is because there are spiritual forces in this world, powers that influence what evil things go on and what lies hidden behind closed doors. For some of you, this may be too weird and a little cheesy, that I would attribute my desire to wimp out of a speech to Satan and not to laziness. But I think that these feelings and others are part of a spiritual and physical war against Adam's race, God's children.

It was the hardest speech for me to research and write, because I knew the stories of so many victims of sex trafficking and could not help but feel sorrowful pain for them. If you are brave enough to feel the grief of reading these women's and childrens' stories, please feel free to do your own research. I am no expert on this topic, and so you wouldprobably gain a better knowledge of it by teaching yourself. Here are some links you can follow:

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1596778&page=1
http://www.captivedaughters.org/
http://www3.baylor.edu/~Charles_Kemp/sex_trafficking_details.htm
http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=178&srcid=-2

Sex Trafficking. An unsightly blight that thrives in our society. It is something that we would rather not talk about, and a shameful sin that we do not know enough about, especially here in America. Now I am not just talking about prostitution or pornography, I am talking about human slavery, the selling of young men and women, even girls and boys, to brothels and their subsequent abuse, mistreatment and in many cases murder.

As I first began to hear about this and learn more, I was shocked to discover the Western worlds influence in the perpetuation of this global problem. Particularly America’s part in it. As one US Embassy official states, “Mexican officials see sex trafficking as a U.S. problem. If there wasn't such a large demand, then people -- trafficking victims and migrants alike -- wouldn't be going up there.”

According to the FBI, there are over 100,000 children and young women being trafficked in America today. The ages range anywhere from 9-19, with the average age being 11. The CIA estimates that there are 18,000 – 20,000 people trafficked into the US each year. MY thesis is: the sex trade in America is a terrible cancer that is taking the lives and hopes of many young men and women

Many of the stories of these forced sex slaves are similar: women from all over the world are either persuaded with lies or outright kidnapped and forced to leave their home. Others are sold by poor parents to pimps who are willing to pay lots of money for children. At home, these children are not worth a cent to their family. In the sex trade, they become worth thousands. After this, pimps will smuggle them into a foreign country, like America, where these children are considered illegal immigrants. Most often, pimps sneak them in through Mexico, where authorities usually just check the ID’s of those who look Hispanic trying to get into the country.

In one situation a girl we’ll call Debbie was abducted from her driveway in a middle class neighborhood here in America, when an acquaintance pushed her in a car and drove off. Not all stories are like Debbie’s; other victims are lured by offers of jobs from a charismatic and friendly person. Once they meet up with this person, things go downhill quickly. They are often held against their will in squalid conditions during their “breaking in” period. During this time, they are raped repeatedly and beaten by the pimps who captured them, before being exposed to other men. This “breaking in” serves as training grounds for what will become a way of life for these women and children.

When she wasn’t being raped, Debbie was forced into a small dog cage until her entire body was numb. Her captors fed her dog biscuits and degraded her until she had almost no hope left. She was one of the rare fortunate ones to break out of this gruesome nightmare of abuse and degradation. Police received a tip one day to an apartment, where they found her stuffed in a drawer under a bed. After 40 days of sexual abuse she was finally set free. She was 15, the age most children are freshmen in high school.

This would not be possible if there weren’t such a demand for this kind of trade among Americans. Many of the men who raped Debbie had wives and children. Another girl we’ll call Annie would have Bible Scriptures read to her before and after she was raped. She was 7 at the time. The scary thing about this crime is that the perpetrators who demand these acts often look like your next door neighbor.

For others not so fortunate as Debbie, pimps will put ads for sex and take these girls on tours across the US, where they will be raped again and again, sometimes being forced to have sex with 15 men a day, seven days a week. Rarely do these men wear a condom and sometimes will pay extra to beat their victims. They do this to maximize profits – $10,000-30,000 a week. All the while, their captors use psychological tactics to keep them from running away. They are controlled mainly through fear and thus kept from feeling to the authorities. Those who were brought into the country can’t speak English and wouldn’t know where to turn even if they could escape. Debbie was told that if she ran, her family would be killed and her baby niece, 19 months old, would have battery acid thrown on her. So she stayed out of love to keep her family alive.

Part of the solution to this problem lies in the very nature of sex trafficking. In order for pimps to carry out business, they have to advertise, either by putting girls in visible places or posting on the internet. Gary Haugen, the president of International Justice Mission says, “It's the easiest kind of crime in the world to spot. Men look for it all day, every day.'' It is one of the few human rights violations that require public exposure to continue. Many of the times when victims are freed, it is due to a tip from a third party, such in Debbie’s case. These girls are out in public, and so it is up to all people to be aware of the people they interact with on a daily basis. In one story, a cab driver giving a ride to a victim found out what was going on and was able to help her escape. One way that pimps exchange sex slaves who are children is color coded shirts in "Disneyland"(here I confess I don't know if the author of the article literally meant Disneyland). The main thing is that if the pimps are advertising their victims, someone has to be able to see them. Every single person can make a difference by being involved with the people in their lives. By talking to those who seem like they might be the victims of abuse or telling someone when things don’t seem right you could be making a huge difference in these people’s lives. Keep in mind that many victims are held captive in middle class neighborhoods. Annie, the 7-year-old, actually stayed in a middle class home with a family for a while. Instead of telling authorities, the family just sat around her watching TV, either because they didn’t care or because they were being paid too well by her captors to not help the 7-year-old child prostitute.

Another part of the solution would be to monitor the Internet, specifically escort services that are used as ads for sex. Pimps will often take pictures of their victims to post online, and within hours men come knocking at their doors demanding sex. If the perpetrators can find them so easily, then can’t government agencies find them as well?

In addition to these, a change is required in law enforcement, particularly when deporting immigrants. Whenever police find these victims, they lump them into a group with all the other prostitutes and illegal immigrants they pick up. They assume that these women are selling their bodies out of choice, and that undocumented foreign prostitutes are committing an additional crime by sneaking into the country. Therefore it is imperative that officers are trained to look for prostitutes who are subject to abuse and get help for victims of sex trafficking. Programs should be established to aid those who are forced to prostitute their bodies. Foreigners should be allowed to live here if they want rather than be deported. Additional border security and special attention paid to children would also help to decrease the flow of sex trafficking into America.

What we simply cannot do is that which is easiest to do: nothing. To go on with our lives and not give these helpless victims aid. Their world is one of darkness, where abuse and rape are the order of every day, and their only value is how much pleasure perverts derive from them. Although voiceless, their scarred bodies and broken hearts cry out for help. They need someone to step in and be an advocate for them. And we must answer this call.

Landesman, Peter. “The Girls Next Door”. New York Times. Jan. 25, 2004. Dec. 2, 2006. <http://www3.baylor.edu/~Charles_Kemp/sex_trafficking_details.htm>

“Teen Girls’ Stories of Sex Trafficking in U.S.” ABC News. Feb. 9, 2006. Dec. 4, 2006.

“What is Human Trafficking.” Sex Trafficking. Salvation Army. 2006. Dec. 4, 2006.

<http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf/ce952dea4507ee7780256cf4005d2254/8203847f6ba996e585256f25005d5274?OpenDocument#Sample%20Cases>