by Abby Sher
Stockholm Syndrome
If you’ve never experienced abuse or coercion, this could be hard to understand, but Stockholm Syndrome is very real and very powerful. People who develop Stockholm Syndrome will defend their abusers and traffickers no matter what. If anyone asks them whether they chose to be a sex worker or were trafficked, they will say it was their choice. Why? Because there is a psychological hold that traffickers have on their victims. A lot of people call it brainwashing.
Think about it: The trafficker has convinced his victim that she’s the love of his life. Or that he wants to start a family with her. If he’s been violent, he swears he’s going to change and he wants to be good for her. Or he tells her that as soon as they make the next rent check he won’t make her work anymore. And she believes him. Because no matter how horrible he’s been to her, he’s also the one who found her when she was completely lost. He’s the only one to praise her and tell her that she’s beautiful. Maybe he’s even her father. So yes, he has control over her sense of reason and, in some cases, this is what keeps her there night after night.
“We, the bystanders, have had to look within ourselves to find some small portion of the courage that victims of violence must muster every day.”
~ Dr. Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery
WHY do we still put up with this happening all over the world?
There’s really no answer for this question. In every nation there will be a different “reason” or, really, “excuse” for why people are still being bought and sold for sex. In some places, it’s part of an age-old tradition. In others, it’s more of a subtle psychological game.
WHY is prostitution and pimp daddy language still glamorized in American music and pop culture?
There are too many songs about the “glory” of pimping to list them all in one book. Seriously. Rap and hip-hop artists sing about pimping as if they are doing “their girls” a favor and the world should cheer for them. Here’s just a sampling of the songs I’ve found that have the scariest lyrics:
• “Pimpin’ All Over the World” by Ludacris
• “Pimp” by 8Ball & Mjg
• “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent
• “Pimp” by Trick Daddy
• “Hard Out Here for a Pimp” by Three 6 Mafia
And what about all the video games where kids are taught that pimpin’ is silly and fun? “Grand Theft Auto,” “Ho-Tel,” and “Second Life” are just a handful of horrible activities you can find.
Please, instead of visiting these sites and getting hurt and furious, check out Wicked Evolution’s anti-trafficking music video with Jada Pinkett Smith singing “Nada.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_SdBiTIocA
WHY is prostitution legal in the Netherlands?
In 2000, the Netherlands made prostitution legal. The idea was that the government could give health care to sex workers and cut down on trafficking. So far, this experiment has done mostly the opposite. Yes, there are more health checkups in brothels, but that doesn’t mean sexually transmitted diseases or HIV have faded. Trafficking and forced prostitution are still popular, and because people know they can’t be arrested for visiting brothels, the sex industry is booming.
WHY do patrol guards in India stop people from smuggling in pirated DVDs but not Nepali girls?
Nepali girls aren’t “worth” as much as a DVD. In many parts of India, it’s an unspoken rule that young men cannot sleep with their girlfriends until marriage. This is said to make them angry and sexually frustrated. So peasant girls are shipped in from Nepal to Kolkata. One border guard described it as a way to keep the peace.
WHY are Yemeni girls as young as ten forced into “marriages” where the men are decades older and often violent?
The parliament of Yemen still refuses to ban child marriages or at least set a minimum age for girls to get married. The United Nations and many other human rights organizations are trying to change this, but until the Yemeni government listens, there are many girls in danger. Some of them die during childbirth or even during sex because they are so young and treated so violently. Sometimes they’re being trafficked and married to their own cousins.
WHY does Sweden have the right idea?
The Swedish model of prosecution, which was started in 1999, means that in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, the people who buy sex are punished instead of the people being sold. Since 1999, street prostitution and sex trafficking have both decreased significantly in these countries. So now the question is, Why isn’t the rest of the world getting on board with this idea?
WHEN
…will we all be truly free?
“I hope that someday people don’t have to celebrate their anniversary of freedom. I hope that everyone’s freedom date will forever and always be their birth date.”
~Minh Dang
These are just a handful of moments that are significant in the anti-trafficking movement. It’s crazy to see that even while we pass laws that “free” people, slaves remain. Feel free to write your own timeline with moments when you felt empowered or stood up for freedom. Then see how our stories are all connected.
1863: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, which commands all rebel states to free their slaves.
1910: The Mann Act is passed as a federal law. Also known as the White Slave Traffic Act, this makes it illegal in the United States to take women across state lines for consensual sex. It also makes it a felony to coerce a woman or a girl into prostitution, debauchery, or any other “immoral acts.”
1948: The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which bans slavery globally.
1974: The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is enacted to protect children from abuse legally in the United States.
(Note: The federal Animal Welfare Act was passed eight years earlier in the United States.)
1976: Maria Suarez comes to America with her sister and father. When Maria goes on a job interview, she is locked up and abused, becoming a sex slave for almost six years.
1981: Maria Suarez is charged with conspiracy to murder her trafficker and sent to prison.
1989: The United Nations General Assembly adopts The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is an international law that is supposed to protect the rights of anyone under eighteen years old.
1991: Somaly Mam refuses to be bought or sold for sex ever again.
1996: Somaly Mam starts Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire (AFESIP) to rescue and restore victims of sexual exploitation. She opens AFESIP’s first shelter the following year.
1998: Rachel Lloyd, trafficking survivor and activist, opens Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS)—the only organization in New York state created for girls and young women who’ve been through commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. When she starts GEMS (out of her apartment), Rachel has $30, a laptop, and a hunger to change the world.
2000: The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is passed in the United States. It defines human trafficking and the penalties for anyone convicted of trafficking. It is re-authorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008 with the help of survivors speaking before legislators and demanding to be heard.
2003: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger grants Maria Suarez parole on December 16 (and sends her straight to an Immigration and Naturalization detention center).
2004: CAST opens the first and only shelter in the United States exclusively for survivors of trafficking.
2004: On May 25, Maria Suarez is released from INS detention and declared officially free.
2005: The first time Minh Dang says no to her father raping her. “It was kinda the first time I said no in general to anything he asked me to do. That night, my mom had left him and he asked me to return home to stay with him. And I said, ‘No.’”
2006: The Department of Justice reports that 1,600 children are arrested for prostitution and commercialized vice (even though the TVPA is suppos
ed to stop punishing any child caught in the trafficking system).
2006: On April 14, Minh Dang tells her parents that she will no longer sell her body for them and that if they try to contact her she will alert the police.
2007: Somaly Mam teams up with Jared Greenberg and Nicholas Lumpp to start the Somaly Mam Foundation. SMF is part of Somaly’s vision to “expand and improve victim services, to prevent trafficking with grassroots advocacy and education, and to provide a platform for the survivor voice to be heard around the world.”
2008: The Safe Harbor Act is passed in New York and California, helping children who’ve been trafficked get protective services and counseling instead of being treated as criminals.
2013: With the help of Equality Now survivors, the New York Safe Harbor Act is extended to protect persons less than eighteen years old from being treated like a criminal after they’ve been trafficked.
2013: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, other law enforcement agencies, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) conduct Operation Cross Country VII. They recover more than a hundred children who have been trafficked for sex. There are also nearly one hundred sixty pimps arrested on state and federal charges.
HOW
… do we break the cycle?
More and more incredible organizations each day are reaching out and helping victims of sex trafficking. Many of the brave survivors, legislators, and counselors in this book are either founders or active members of these groups.
Apne Aap
www.apneaap.org
In Hindi, Apne Aap means “self-empowerment.” Apne Aap was founded by a journalist named Ruchira Gupta and twenty-two women from Mumbai’s red light district. Apne Aap creates self-empowerment groups for women so they can gain independence and have new choices in education, jobs, safe housing, and legal protection. Since 2002, Apne Aap has helped more than fifteen thousand women across India. Now they’re taking their mission worldwide.
Breaking Free
www.breakingfree.net
Breaking Free, whose motto is “Sisters Helping Sisters Break Free,” was started by a brilliant survivor named Vednita Carter. She is dedicated to helping women and girls break free from prostitution and sexual exploitation through advocacy, direct services, housing, and education. Her team goes onto the streets in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, spreading the word that there is a safe place to go.
CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking)
www.castla.org
CAST offers shelter, food, supportive counseling, and critical legal services to trafficking victims nationwide. It also runs a toll-free hotline. Its Caucus of Survivors travels to speak out on behalf of all survivors. MARIA SUAREZ met the lawyers who helped her out of prison through CAST.
Children of the Night
www.childrenofthenight.org
Children of the Night is dedicated to ending child prostitution. It runs a home with an on-site school and college placement program. Caseworkers follow up with graduates, too. The Children of the Night hotline is ready and able to rescue children twenty-four hours a day, and it provides transportation to the home nationwide.
Courtney’s House
www.courtneyshouse.org
Courtney’s House is a survivor-led organization that is on the front lines of the anti-trafficking movement. Every Friday and Saturday night, the Courtney’s House team hits the streets of Washington, D.C., looking for potential victims and (secretly) passing out the hotline number for help. Courtney’s House has already helped more than five hundred victims escape trafficking.
Don’t Sell Bodies
www.dontsellbodies.org
This website was started by the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation “to raise awareness about domestic human trafficking, to inspire public action, and to empower survivor voices.” The site offers facts, figures, and stories from survivors and news of any and all changes in the anti-trafficking movement. It also has links, hotlines, and many ways of offering help to people who fear they may be in danger.
ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography & Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes)
www.ecpatusa.org
ECPAT tackles the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) worldwide. It has a ton of different campaigns to raise awareness, following which governments are doing what to end CSEC, advocating for victims, and developing new legislation that protects victims and penalizes traffickers and exploiters. It also helps caregivers to make the rescue and recovery process smoother.
Equality Now
www.equalitynow.org
“Ending violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world” is the motto of Equality Now, which works with survivors and lawyers to change anti-trafficking laws. Its members passionately believe we must criminalize traffickers and buyers of sex and decriminalize victims. Equality Now also works with survivors to rehabilitate and advocate for change worldwide.
FAIR Girls
www.fairgirls.org
FAIR stands for Free, Aware, Inspired, and Restored. FAIR believes these are adjectives that should describe every girl. FAIR Girls has programs in Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Russia, Uganda, and the United States. In Washington, D.C., (its home office) Fair Girls offers emergency response for victims, individual counseling, group empowerment workshops, and educational outreach about trafficking prevention.
Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity For Women Worldwide
www.halftheskymovement.org
It started as an incredible book about survivors like Somaly Mam and the work they are doing around the world to free and inspire women. Then came a phenomenal documentary about these women. Now, Half the Sky has expanded into a global movement. You can go online to find out all the different ways to get involved: supporting individual survivors, sharing stories, volunteering, or even playing a Facebook Half the Sky game about worldwide emancipation.
GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services)
www.gems-girls.org
Created and led by abolitionist and survivor Rachel Lloyd, GEMS empowers young women across America to break out of the trafficking and sex industry and develop to their full potential. You can see many of the champions of GEMS in the movie Very Young Girls, which shows the ugly truth about the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in New York City.
Polaris Project
www.polarisproject.org
Polaris works on all levels of the anti-trafficking movement. It has social services for victims in its local offices (Washington, D.C., and New Jersey). It also constantly works on state and federal policies with government officials to help protect victims and prosecute traffickers. It operates the central twenty-four-hour national human trafficking hotline for the United States and plans to make it an international hotline network by 2020.
The SAGE Project (Standing Against Global Exploitation)
www.sagesf.org
The SAGE Project’s mission is “to improve the lives of persons who have experienced or are at risk of sexual exploitation, human trafficking, violence, and other forms of trauma.” It offers counseling, case management, mental health therapy, process groups, holistic healing, and advocacy internationally. Its members specifically speak out about the demand for sexual exploitation, and help train people who work with survivors.
Somaly Mam Foundation
www.somaly.org
In many ways the inspiration for this book, Somaly Mam’s foundation is “dedicated to the eradication of slavery and the empowerment of its survivors.” Whether it’s speaking in front of government officials, training survivors to speak out with her, or creating beautiful crafts in the Empowerment Store, Somaly and her team are always thinking of new and creative ways to help survivors and end human trafficking worldwide once and for all.
NUMBERS
…we need to know.
Statistics on human trafficking are, at best, guesstimates because this crime is secretive a
nd we are still creating better ways to detect and prevent it.
STATISTIC:
The United Nations reports that almost two million people are trafficked each year into the sex trade. On any given night in New York, more than four thousand underage youth are trafficked for sex.
NUMBER TO CALL:
National Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888
This hotline can help you find community resources or sound out whether you know someone who’s being trafficked—including yourself.
STATISTIC:
The U.S. Department of Justice says the number of children (under eighteen years old) caught in commercial sexual exploitation is between 100,000 and three million.
NUMBER TO CALL:
CAST hotline: 1-888-KEY-2-FREEDOM (888-539-2373)
Run by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, this is a number you can call if you suspect or have experienced human trafficking, or if you want to learn more about CAST and how you can get involved.
STATISTIC:
The average age of people entering the U.S. commercial sex industry is twelve to fourteen years old.
NUMBER TO CALL:
Children of the Night Hotline: 1-800-551-1300
The Children of the Night hotline is open twenty-four hours a day. Children of the Night gives free taxi and airline transportation nationwide for America’s child prostitutes who want to live in the home. Hotline staff members work with law enforcement officials to rescue children safely and effectively.
STATISTIC:
Reebok gave rap star 50 Cent a $50 million sneaker endorsement deal after his song “P.I.M.P.,” which glamorizes pimping, went platinum.
NUMBER TO CALL:
Survivor-By-Survivor Hotline: 1-888-261-3665
This hotline is provided by Courtney’s House and run by survivors, for survivors. The phone is answered by people who know what it’s like and want to help you or anyone you think may be being prostituted.
STATISTICS:
In 2012 in Kolkata, India, Apne Aap helped get 814 children into schools, and this past year it also enrolled the first girls ever from the Nat caste into college! Nat caste is a very poor group of people from North India.