The Reality of Sex Trafficking
America
has done a remarkable job in corrupting the society to think in a form of mind
of consumerism. Corporations,
advertisement, and entertainment are what seem to devour over lives. Propaganda, as well as pop culture, is
something that we as citizens allow to influence us. We have given marketers the right to a higher
authority to make us believe in what they put out. The advertisement and entertainment industry
has blurred our visions and tainted our minds to think and act a certain
way. It has made us believe in fantasy
and ignorant to reality. It has failed
to spread awareness of potential harm in our society. Although some businesses support cancer
research and obesity awareness, it has failed to expose the harms of poverty,
human trafficking, and slavery.
Marketers only have an eye for wealth and the only reason they support causes
like cancer and obesity is because they get more funding and they aren’t too
risqué. Most people have a problem with
dealing with the word “sex” due to its controversial acts. Because of this, people are at a lack of
information about sexual abuse. Sex
trafficking, a part of human trafficking, is a modern-day form of slavery in
which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which
the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years
(1). Sex trafficking is a multi-billion
dollar industry worldwide (1). Due to
its increase in demand, it is the 2nd most profitable illicit business globally
(1). Unfortunately, most people don’t
even know a clue about it.
I had the opportunity
to go to a screening of the documentary Cargo: Innocent Lost produced
and directed by Michael Cory Davis.
Davis started off as a struggling actor, but later realized that he
didn’t like the entertainment industry and the world of materialism that it
brought. Davis first witnessed the atrocious
acts of human trafficking when he got offered to act in a famous soap opera in
Bulgaria. While acting in Bulgaria,
Davis came upon a girl named Svetlana and was easily inspired to spread the
word about sex trafficking due to her story.
He produced this film to bring awareness in America about these
crimes. In the early 2000’s no one had
even heard of the word sex trafficking.
After the release of the documentary in 2007, the U.S. government put
into law the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act which allowed the imprisonment
of people involved in the trafficking enterprise. Davis stated that since Americans are already
exposed to so many sexual commercials, he had to gratify the sexual abuse
scenes in his film to really make people understand what these innocent victims
were going through. Every cry and every
preach for help was heard and seen in these scenes. It was a form of sexual violence gone to a
whole another level. I, personally, was
mentally and emotionally petrified by these scenes. I could hear some people in the audience
crying, while others had to leave the room.
None-the-less, these scenes in the film is what actually makes people
realize how horrifying the sex trafficking industry really is.
The sex
trafficking industry targets vulnerable, foreign, young women in the ages of
12-18 and manipulates their mind into thinking that coming abroad to another
country will make their lives a lot better.
Sex trafficking victims are promised a better life and a chance at the
American Dream if they come into the U.S.
However once they are deported to America, or any other foreign country,
they are put into work as prostitutes without their will. They are sent to brothels, night clubs, and
massage parlors and are forced into sexual slavery. They are often times confined into a tiny
room and are required to please the slave owners or their customers at any
given time. Customers would often times
be very brutal to the victim because they have paid for it and they want to get
their money’s worth. The victims would inject
themselves with drugs, like cocaine, to numb their experience. The slave owners and the customers would not
use condoms and therefore would transmit STD’s to the victims. The victims
would then later be blamed for transmitting the STD’s and would be abused even
more. The documentary stated that some
sex slaves saw up to 45 men per day. Due
to the constant sexual intercourse, women were forced to get abortions or
deliver their baby and sell it on the black market. The documentary stated that traffickers have
a “recipe” to keep these women in the industry.
They say that one of the ways to keep them from being strong is to take
away any support system that they have.
The traffickers would change the location of the victims every two weeks
to ensure that they didn’t become comfortable with anyone around them. Another part of their recipe is to break down
any sense of self-will or self-confidence that the victim may have by depriving
her of her rights to freedom. The sex
trafficking victims were told when to eat, sleep, and please and were denied
any right to go outside.
American
parents have done a good job in protecting their children. Due to this, more American children have fallen
into the sex trafficking trap. Foreign
countries, such as China and Japan, have had a high demand in women with blonde
hair and blue eyes. Due to this, sex
trafficking continuous to increase in the United States. Davis stated that San Francisco, Los Angeles,
and New York are three of the biggest cities that are involved in sex
trafficking. I am from the Bay Area and
I have never heard of the word human trafficking. This just shows how little information the
society has about it. Over 3,000 kids
per day are kidnapped in the U.S. and no one knows why. The government has now concluded that some of
these kids may have been involved in sexual slavery. It is devastating to see young children being
stripped away of their childhood and forced into sexual slavery through
abuse. Constantly being traded and sold
is dehumanizing. No one deserves to
experience this and have their innocence stripped away. In my opinion, even the death penalty, is not
a justifiable punishment to the slave owners.
It angers me to know that I didn’t
have any knowledge about these crimes because I was brought up in America. When talking to my cousin, he stated that he
had done a case study about human and sex trafficking in his high school in
England. He was required to know the
details about the business and the sufferings that the women had gone through. This just proves that America is very
ignorant to certain matters that may be controversial. I believe that everyone in America wants to
help. However, when money is involved,
or when certain situations are too sticky to handle, we tend to ignore
them. We only take action when it
becomes a part of everyone’s lives or when it becomes harmful to our
society. But often times, it is too late
then.
After I
finished watching the film, I began to think why didn’t these women try to
escape? However, at the question and
answer session at the end of the screening, Davis explained to me that a lot of
the sex trafficking victim’s slave owners threaten them to kill their family
back home. They had men watching their
every move and made sure that no one knew about them. These women continued to receive the sexual
abuse to save their family. It was
horrifying to see the devastating acts being done upon these victims. It was hard to realize that no one is really
safe. San Bernardino itself has had an
increasing number of human trafficking in the recent years. Davis has tried his best to help strategize
a plan and to train the police officers nationwide into suspecting more of
these crimes and victims. What these
women had to go through was just heart breaking and fearful for me to watch. Since I am an independent college student, I
tend to travel alone. However, after
viewing this documentary, I am now becoming aware of my surroundings and am
making sure that I am not vulnerable to the human trafficking industry by being
street smart.
Davis has
learned to use his acting skills to produce documentaries to get
awareness. He has transformed from an
actor to an activist. He uses his fame
of being an actor to get other famous actors, such as Demi Moore and Ashton
Kutcher, to promote awareness of sex trafficking. Davis is truly an inspiring individual and
has succeeded in getting the government involved in this issue. Just the power of one individual can make
such a big difference. Racism, poverty,
slavery, and human trafficking will never be diminished. However, we can try our best to keep the
number of victims to these crimes low by helping to spread awareness. With this knowledge, I can now educate others
and help spread awareness about these crimes.
For more information on sex
trafficking visit the following website:
http://www.istoptraffic.com
Trailer of the documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWc6C7oxNEQ
Scenes from the documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZDwX_3XxRI&feature=relmfu
Work
Cited
1. "Sex
Trafficking." Artists United For Social Justice. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.istoptraffic.com/>.
Nikita, your review of the movie, Cargo: Innocence Lost, and commentary upon the atrociousness of human trafficking is moving and filled with passion. As I read your blog, I could sense your hurt and ability to empathize with those who are victims of this despicable “industry”, as well as your indignation towards the perpetrators. I appreciate the fact that your voice truly resonates in this blog; I clearly hear your stance and position against sex trafficking.
ReplyDeleteAs you shared, “the documentary stated that traffickers have a “recipe” to keep these women in the industry. They say that one of the ways to keep them from being strong is to take away any support system that they have”. Sex trafficking is modern day slavery, yet the same tactics, which were used under institutionalized slavery, are enlisted to perpetuate the process of enslavement. As we read in The Narrative of Frederic Douglass, the slaves were stripped of their right to the family unit or any form of social bonds, thus this same process of enslavement was used to dehumanize individuals physically and psychologically.
I agree that society is not very aware of this issue. Also, in my experience, even if people are aware they feel there is not much they can do to help the situation. Yet, the truth is that there is much we can do. There are quite a number of non-profit organizations which have made it their goal and mission to fight against the industry of sex trafficking, as well as to rescue and care for victims (e.g., Not for Sale and The International Justice Mission). Businesses such as The Body Shop advocate against sex trafficking, by educating customers as well as donating portions of their profit towards organizations working towards ending this cruel practice. By supporting these organizations and businesses, we can use our power and influence as consumers to lend our help to ending this vicious trade.
I thought this was blog was interesting. I have to admit that I did know much about sex trafficking and how common it was or how it happens. I thought it was disturbing that children as young as 12 years old are targets for this. I completely agree with Nikita that awareness in our country is not what it should be. If other countries are making this part of their education and requiring it in school then why are we not doing the same? Especially since this happens can and does happen to Americans all the time. I think this is an issue that only exists to some extent because of the simple fact that many people are ignorant of it. I am upset that this is not common knowledge because if people knew that it was going on then it probably wouldn’t be happening as much because people would be more careful. This doesn’t seem like something that should be taken lightly and I don’t understand why this isn’t already part of our curriculum in school. It could easily be covered in one day by a health class.
ReplyDeleteNikita, I don’t think I can add so much to what you have already said because I would only be repeating much of it. I am sincerely grateful for your blog because it is a great starting point to continue a conversation that is new to many people: an issue that is worth thinking about. I don’t want my response to be flooded with subjective opinions but I also don’t want it to be bullet points of facts. So here it goes.
ReplyDeleteI think it is mind blowing to think that 15,500 to 17,500 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked annually in the US alone (humantrafficking.org). In fairness, there is “The Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000” along with many organizations who are putting immeasurable efforts to raise awareness and to seize this multi-billion dollar industry. Why is it not on the front news? Well, many people can’t imagine that such practices occur, especially here in the US. I obviously can’t speak for the country, but based on the reputation the US has created – internationally and nationally; I am also not from the US, so I have some credibility on its reputation – it is not hard to understand how Americans can be “blind” (for the lack of better words) on this issue. Like what you said Nikita, the US is one of the Ethiopia of consumerism, commercialism, capitalism, and pop culture just to name a few. With this in mind, it’s fair to assume that the US doesn’t want their hands dirty with human trafficking.
For me, what makes this entire illegal business so surreal and heart breaking is the fact and the process that the victims go through. Most of those trafficked are someone from a foreign country brought here in the US (or in other country for that matter) with the idea that they will be offered different a job that was promised. Instead, they are drugged with opium or blatantly held captive then sold to the sex slave industry (humantrafficking.org). Meaning, they don’t exist on paper and no one knows of their whereabouts: they are essentially robbed of their freedom. That to me is heart breaking. I struggle just thinking about it because coming from the Philippines, I can only think of the family the victims left behind if they are from a foreign country. The family is unaware that their son or daughter, friend and love one is somewhere drugged out of their mind being sold for sex and money and probably holds no hope of coming back. Usually these victims are conned in this illegal business because the culprits know that they are desperate for money. Most of the victims are usually from Asia or Southeast Asia Pacific where a job abroad is a dream for most.
If only the mass can be aware of this issue and realize that it is real can we can gain support in stopping it. At this point, I believe that awareness is the first step to combating human trafficking. Getting words out and getting rid of ignorance that blinds the mass from global and national issues.
For more info, visit:
www. Humantrafficking.org