I am not a profit, I am only human: A look into sex trafficking

By: Katherine Riley



(source: A rising Tide Against Sex Trafficking)



            Each year it is estimated that, hundreds and thousands of young girls and boys are bought, sold or kidnapped and then forced to have sex with grown men. In some cases these young girls are sold by their own family’s and forced into brothels as a profit for money, and soon become disowned by their family’s which leaves them left in the hands of a predator, and also making it difficult for young girls to leave the sex trafficking industry. A girl as young as 5 years old can be sold into sex slavery, and which is believed that the younger the victim is the better for the client, whose belief is that a child or a virgin can bring happiness, cures sickness, and even make one younger. As unbelievable the thought is, the actions and which these girls face is even more tragic, being that a woman like Somaly Mam who has faced such brutal violence, and who has survived a path of experience of being raped, tortured, and beaten by a numerous amount of men.



(Source: eastvilliagers.org)



Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by a man who posed as her grandfather at the age of twelve years old. And through the years that she had suffered being trapped in the Phnom Penh brothel she describes this period of her life: “I was dead. I had no affection for anyone.”Somaly also shares her personal experiences of what the torture and abuse was like inside the brothel, and she quotes “The clients were horrible. To them we were meat. They would say, “I paid a fortune, and you’re not even pretty,” and smack, hit you against the wall. Some of them liked hurting us and did it for sport” (Somlay, 47).  Not only did Mam suffer from such physical and sexual abuse, but being a victim of sexual slavery affected herself –esteem and the way she began to feel about her own independence, and as a woman she began to lose out on hope for her future which made her feel as if she was trapped.



(source: allisonkilkenny.com)



But this isn’t just about one person’s story being told, there are millions of others such as men, woman, and children that have experienced the torture, rape, and abuse of sex trafficking, so what can we do as the people to help stop the spread of human trafficking?. As an individual you can speak out to your community to raise awareness of the situation, and even help by giving donations to organizations such as the Somaly Mam foundation, but most importantly don’t keep quiet, like Somaly Mam quoted “If you don’t listen to us, we’ll keep on talking: were not tired at all”.