Human trafficking from a human perspective

Not too long ago I was contacted by somebody through the Facebook page. They had asked me if I remember a story I posted where a certain pimp and human trafficker was sentenced to prison. I said I did and then she told me that she was one of his victims. She was 17-years-old at the time. She allowed me to ask her some questions about her experience. For the sake of this post, we’ll call her M.

TR: Reports say that you had approached him about a job for a legitimate business that he supposedly ran. How did that turn into you being trafficked by him?

M: I was 17, an honour student with a full-time job. I had just broken up with my boyfriend of 2 years, and it was impossible to spend 10 hours a day with him while his new-found drug problem got worse. I had been on my own sense I was 12, and never without a job for more than a pay period. I went to Kindergarten with both of this mans daughter. I asked my friend, his daughter if she could put in a word for me at the place she worked. She said that they were not even accepting applications at the time. She sent me to her dad who was looking for a secretary. I contacted him with my resume and information letting him know that his daughter referred me. We met for coffee a couple of weeks later. By the end of the month I was working for his company, scheduling jobs and marketing for this business. Less than a month later, he came back to his home with a women, scantily dressed and obviously on drugs. She took one look at me, and said to him “tell me she’s not working for you she’s just a baby”

He cold-cocked her, in his living room, knocked her clean out on the living room floor. she fell back and broke the table.

He turned to me and said, “Now is as good a time as any, Bitch I own you”

Jan of 2010

I had just turned 17, no family. The only people who could help me were 45 mins away. and I had just watched this man, 4 times my size demolish this woman…..

there I was for the next 7 months….

TR: How did he instruct you on how to work for him?

M: He had another woman show me the ropes. he posted the ads, and chose the prices. He chose how much I would make per day, where I would work, what type of men I would see and what I would do for each price. He had someone watching me at all times and I had no access to phones. He collected all money and would beat me if there was not enough.

TR: Now a lot of people seem to think, and I used to be one of them, that any woman can just walk away from that kind of situation, but that’s not true is it?

M: Not at all. Like i said I was never alone and even if I would have had the chance I was getting beat every day for 7 months, starved, sold…. sleep deprived. Other girls were forced to take drugs.

TR: What would you like to say to people who say that prostitution is no big deal since it mostly takes place between consenting adults?

M: No woman’s first choice is to enter prostitution let alone to pay a man the proceeds from selling her body, only to be beaten and lied to. Entering the business even if willingly at first comes from a place of desperation, unhealed wounds from prior abuse, and a feeling of no self-worth. Prostitution is not a victimless crime.

TR: What do you feel about craigslist’s and Backpage/Village Voice Media’s part in all this?

M: I was sold on these web pages as a minor for cheaper than you can rent a car.

Craigslist accepted prepaid credit cards, fake names and addresses, prepaid phone numbers and vivid and obvious attempts to sell women.

TR: How do you react when you see sites like Backpage saying that the ads, like the ones you were sold on, are a free speech issue?

M: The slave traders also said the same thing, that it was their constitutional right to conduct their business in they way they wanted. I encourage you to watch this flick.

fleshthemovie.com

***

Do you get it now? There are real people, real women, and real children being peddled on sites like craigslist and Backpage. They are being brutalized, raped and tortured by the slave traders who think it’s their God-given right to sell women and children for sex against their will. Craigslist turns a blind eye to it while Backpage is making money hand over fist while these women and children are being sold repeatedly for sex on their websites.

This is not a free speech issue. The government isn’t going to all of a sudden crackdown on every citizen who holds an opinion just because Backpage and craigslist can’t post ads for prostitution on their sites. This is about obtaining the freedom and safety of countless women and children who are trafficked every day and can’t escape their situation on their own.

If you are even an occasional reader of this site I beg you to please share this blog post on Facebook, Twitter or whatever social site you prefer. The more the word gets out about the victims of human trafficking like M the closer we get to possibly making slavery a thing of the past.