Sex Trafficking: Slavery, or her Choice?

Anna Samuels 10D

May 30, 2013

(Source: http://druckenmillerfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/slavery-and-human-trafficking-awareness.html)

Is slavery really gone? In the traditional sense, perhaps, however, it is not completely abolished. Sex trafficking is a form of slavery, and a huge issue on the global scale. Sex trafficking is not just prostitution, it is forced sex, sometimes to pay off debts. Trafficking is covered up not only because it is illegal, but because it primarily involves young girls. These girls are often tricked by people who say they will help the girls find jobs, however, the girls are then “sold” to a brothel at a young age, and are then trapped there until they are old enough to appeal to customers. However, “old enough”, really isn’t old, as some of these children begin working around the age of twelve. In Half the Sky, a nonfiction book about sex trafficking and the lack gender equality by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, it is explained why younger girls are more desireable in brothels; “Because of the fear of AIDS, customers prefer younger girls whom they believe are less likely to be infected... there is also a legend that AIDS can be cured by sex with a virgin” (12).

In developing nations, such as India, many girls have to find jobs to help support their families. The girls often find men, or even women, who offer them jobs in another area. The employer might say that he or she will pay to bring the girl to the job, however, upon arrival, the girl may be told that she owes the employer money for the travel expenses. The employer will then sell the girl to a brothel. Working in a brothel is not only detrimental to a woman’s physical health, but to her emotional well being as well. A study done on women who went to a health clinic in India showed “About 40% of those coming to the clinics are suffering from psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome, mood disorders and schizophrenia. The most common are depression and deliberate self-harm” (Jayasree).

Srey Momm is a Cambodian teenager whose story was featured in Half the Sky. Momm had been working in a brothel for five years when one of the authors of Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof, bought her from her pimp. On the ride back to her villiage, Momm fretted that her family wouldn’t accept her if they knew that she had been a prostitute. In nations such as Cambodia, girls who lose their virginity before marriage, even due to rape or coerced sex, are publically shamed. Many of the girls go on to commit suicide, or are even killed by their family or villiage in what is known as an honor killing. However, Momm was accepted back into her family, who set up a shop for her in the local market. Momm promised not to go back to the brothel, however, this proved difficult. A week after going home, Momm went back to Piopet, where the brothel was located. Momm admitted to going back because of her addiction to methamphetamines, an addiction with which many trafficked girls struggle. The brothel owners often drug the girls before clients come in so the girl is more compliant. Momm left the brothel two more times, but went back on both occasions. Eventually, Momm left for good, and married a policeman. However, her story goes to show that sex trafficking has emotional as well as physical consequences. The girls are not only beaten by the brothel owners and their customers, but often develop drug dependencies which make it impossible for them to leave, even when they have the chance.

No one person can stop global sex trafficking. However, steps can be taken to prevent the spread of it, and eventually rid of the problem. Raising awareness is important since sex trafficking is so widely overlooked. One woman, named Somaly Mam, successfully has raided a brothels in Cambodia, freeing the prostitutes trapped inside. She also started an organization to help those coming out of prostitution, and to let others know about the physical and emotional toll. “It’s partly because of grass-roots activists like Somaly, both in the United States and abroad, that human trafficking is increasingly recognized as a central human rights challenge.” (Kristof). Somaly was not only able to rescue many girls, but also make sex trafficking a noted issue. This will cause a domino effect, forcing others to see the problem, and try to make a change as well. The effort can be as small as a donation made online to assisting a brothel raid or opening a shelter for battered prostitutes. As noted in Half the Sky, one person can’t completely solve a problem, but he or she can make it a lesser issue.