Trafficking Behind Bars

Chelsea Solis

10A

Women and children are bought every 30 seconds around the world. This could be shocking to anyone reading that. That is because the media decides to ignore daily situations because they aren’t seen as important. Major events that are constant on being brought up on the news and television shown are rare actions. A common event would be the action of 9/11. It’s always in a reminder to anyone with the knowledge of what happened. That day many lives suffered in ways no man or woman could think possible. Now turn to think about the silenced screams at night? The woman and young girls who are forced into suffering daily based on the situation they’re in. The situation known as sex trafficking. When a person would normally think of the action of sex trafficking, most likely a more unstable country or area of the world might come to mind. Without thinking, our minds don’t realize the daily occurrence of sex trafficking right outside their doors.

       

In the book, Half the Sky,

(Source: cirlecinema)

we learn the many tragedies everyday woman and girls must face through in our world today. One of the examples given in the book is the story of Meena as the first story. She was in the prostitution business by the Nutt. She was kidnapped at 8-9 years old and brought in for work. The work at the brothel began when she was 12 slightly before her period. That was the idea, to keep them until men were attracted. During her time, she got a beating for any misbehavior. At a point, Meena got pregnant due to the lack of condom use. To make sure she wouldn’t attempt to escape they kept her two children captive. Meena had chances to flee however she decided not to and received beatings instead. Later on, Meena decided to flee and leave her children behind. She fell in love and had two children of her own. She however didn’t feel right leaving her first two kids and spent a tremendous amount of time to get her children back. Despite the difficulties, she has her children not as a reminder of the past, but a responsibility for the future. That's not the case for everyone. Meena has to live with what's happen to her. Every time she's been hit and seeing her children being taken from her. What mother should have to live knowing her situation? The answer is none. But no one was willing to help her in her most time of need. Just like all of these girls, they're in this alone. They will be alone together.

       

Half the Sky focused on locations outside of United States. What if you heard if one of these girls were right outside your window? Keep that in mind. In Nicholas d. Kristof’s article, “Not Quite a Teen, Yet Sold for Sex”,

(Source: plannerwire)

a girl interviewed as Brianna was kept within a distance of her home where she saw her mother putting up signs out her window. However if she was to yell, she would be killed. ”Trafficked girls deserve shelters, not jails, and online emporiums like Backpage should stop abetting pimps. Sex trafficking is just as unacceptable in America as in Thailand or Nepal.” (Nicholas D. Kristof). This is the ideal mindset people need to have. Sex trafficking happens around more often than anyone could think. As well as the San Diego paper stated “One of those cases began when a San Diego teenager found a job as a bookkeeper for a small, home-based business. The position quickly turned into a nine-month nightmare of beatings and sexual slavery. Within weeks, the employer revealed himself as a pimp, beat the teen and set a $1,200 daily quota for her prostitution. The victim was 17 at the time.” It becomes different and more alerting when the issue seems so innocent then all of a sudden, tensions boil and the situation becomes out of control and out of the hands of the woman involved. Lastly in India where the article “Justice for Body” stated a type of work is in the condition of one “who are homeless and who solicit in the street, work at the roadside or in lodges, and live and even sleep at the roadside without shelter from sun or rain, always a hazardous environment.”(A. K. Jayasree). Now think back to the question, what if one of these girls were right outside your window? That's not a question with a right or wrong answer. Just meaning out of the wellness of yourself, will you be the one to make the slightest change. Most people would think there's nothing they can do. Even if it's as simple as spreading the information, it could mean the difference between life and death for a girl out here.

The question now is, what’s next?  

(Source: wake4change)

Anyone could go out and spread information. We might look at this topic and think "that's horrible" and move on with our lives. But what if you had a daughter, or this was your mother or sister. You would think differently. People wouldn't have to think differently just because they know these girls personally. As a person living the life you are, we are the ones who need to be spreading awareness through social media. With all the technology we have today, there’s easy access to getting your word out. The only reason this issue is not being displayed in most areas is because of how often it happens. It happens so often because of the little attention this issue is getting in the first place. In order to obtain woman’s rights, the silent screams need to be heard.