Lets Talk Listen About Sex Trafficking

December 10, 2020

By Karissa Low

Today, I challenge you to listen (read), before speaking.

Most people are familiar with the term ‘sex trafficking.’ However, like many harrowing
social issues of today, little education surrounds this household term.

Defined by authors Irani Machado da Silva and Anuradha Sathiyaseelan, “sex traf-
ficking comes under human trafficking, and it can be defined as slavery for the
purpose of sexual exploitation.” Sex trafficking is a modern form of slavery, pervad-
ing all crevices of society on a global scale. In India alone, there are over one million
women and children prostituted annually, accruing to over a billion dollars in revenue
a year. That’s more people than the entire population of Iceland and Belize combined.
Let that sink in.

Machado da Silva works with rescued women and girls in India after “she came to India
for the first time and came across rescued girls.” Her interest was piqued after learn-
ing that despite living in an aftercare home where all medical and physical needs were
met, women struggled greatly to assimilate back into society. An emptiness lingered
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within these girls that seemed to be all-consuming, and limited their ability to prosper
in their new-found liberation.

Physical bruises may heal, but internal scarring persists and festers. Like a metastatic
tumor, trauma spreads until her identity becomes unrecognizable and excitement of
present freedom becomes risk of future imprisonment.

The question then poses: what do these women, who have faced
exorbitant forms of trauma, need? What forms of support are
currently lacking for them post-rescue? How can doctors, psy-
chologists, and the general public gain a better understanding
on how to treat survivors, and how can we ALL listen better to
those who experience sex trafficking first-hand?

The objective is clear: in order to make an impact, we must listen actively to

those who have been impacted.

Instead of providing the support we think women need, we must inquire first. It would
make no sense for a doctor to begin surgery on a patient if the doctor does not know
the procedure that needs to be done! In the same way, it makes no sense to design
programs to help women if we do not know what, where, and how to help in the first place.

Like I mentioned at the start of this blog, I challenge you to keep reading. Listen to
these women and then make a judgement. Listen to these women and then decide if
our government or society is doing enough. Likewise, maybe there’s something you
can do after you take the time to understand. It’s time to stop talking and start listen-
ing.

Listen carefully, and proceed mindfully.

“I don’t feel now also part of society even though I have been res-
cued. Society does not accept because we are from that area—red-
light area. That’s why I don’t feel part of society. Even though I am
rescued. If I tell people my story they will not accept me, you know?
We can’t tell our story that is it. If they know they don’t talk to us
also.” (Participant 7)
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“Girls like me if they know they don’t talk to us also. For them, we are
dirty girls” (Participant 1)

“When I feel very bad or can’t handle the problem, I need help. I need
someone. Please tell me I am wrong here, please tell me.” (Participant 2)

“I always have fear if they know my story, they judge me, like that,
because of my past.” (Participant 5)

“When I go for the interview they say, Oh! She was in this area (red-
light area), they thought like that. Every time they will not give a job.”
(Participant 3)

These women are ostracized from society, despite not choosing to enter this “life”.
This separation from community creates a dynamic in which women are overlooked,
and often unable to find employment to start a new life (Participant 3). Participant 1
showcases how society often depicts survivors’ as “dirty”, writing them off as inferior,
defective, and unworthy.

Participant 7 explains how she does not feel any explanation of her experience will be
accepted. Her identity is tainted with the trauma she endured, making her a pariah.
Fear of judgment keeps these women silent, as mentioned by Participant 5. Societal
norms allow this, perpetuating the stigma that these women somehow chose to be
exploited without consent.

These are misconceptions, however, and as said by Participant 2, these women are
desperate for support and inclusion. Acceptance and belonging are crucial human
needs that are stripped from survivors.

Girls post-rescue can feel isolated, misunderstood, and incredibly alone, facing discrimi-
nation and rejection due to the horrors they suffered. This lack of support is exacerbated
especially when they are rejected by their family as explained by Participant 9.
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“The world is not safe. I went through suffering. All this happened to
me because no protection. My mother and father, they don’t like me.
They left me… To be abandoned was the most difficult thing in my life.
Then all this thing… bad things I went through. All this happened to
me because of no protection.” (Participant 9)

“Sometimes, families are not understanding. Because of that, so

many girls use to run away. They are done suicide, because the family
is not understanding.” (Participant 1)

“They should protect the girls and not let them go through what I
went. We girls were innocents and then bad people sold us out to do
a dirty job. Family can protect girls. Help you when you need help.
They should protect you from danger… the government should tell
people to protect girls in our country. Many are suffering and nobody
is trying to help them. The government has the power to help girls so
that they don’t fall into the hand of bad people.” (Participant 1)

In India, a patriarchy runs rampant, constructing a society where men are valued more
than women. These discrepancies in gender equality “results in poverty for women
making them more vulnerable to vicimization and sex trafficking.” After coming out
of the sex trade, however, it is common for survivors to be rejected by their families,
leaving them with no where to go and little to no support system.

In one case, “a sex trafficking survivor had the courage to visit her family, but unfortu-
nately, her mother kicked her out, and her father used abusive words,” displaying the
rejection and alienation survivors face post-rescue.

Participant 9 describes a similar experience, where her parents abandoned her and she
was sold into the sex trade, completely alone and most likely still a minor. Due to lack of
support, the world may feel unsafe and terrifying for a girl recovering from being traf-
ficked. She knows no one, has little education, and is perceived as worthless by even her
own mother. It’s no wonder some women turn to alternative methods to escape the pain,
suicide being a common, yet tragic, solution.

What’s more terrifying still is the inadequate protection provided by police and gov-
ernment officials.
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“Even with police, girls are not safe. They’re like using their power to
do all these things… they are also very bad and they are abusing the
girls. They should save girls.” (Participant 2)

“Rape is happening, no judgment, because people belong from a po-

litical family and they made some mistake, or they did some rape and
all, they will pay, they will change all the setup, and that girl will be
lost somewhere. I don’t know where she is. So the government, like,
there should be a punishment for who is doing this.” (Participant 2)

Emotional needs of women are neglected for the sake of politics. As Participant 2
explains, people in positions of power take advantage of the system to exploit women
with little repercussions. Here, a grey area within society and politics is exposed. Sex
trafficking is an ethical issue which demands the marriage of morals and politics if
effective legislation is to drafted, and actual protection realized. This begins by ac-
knowledging that the emotional needs of women have been dismissed for the sake of
profit. These women’s experiences have been invalidated, and their trust betrayed by
a system that promises to protect them.

It can be easy to feel like these issues are distant events, happening to women far
away under foreign governments, and this is part of the problem.

While the experiences shared within this blog occurred in India, this is a local issue.

Emotional needs of women post sex trafficking are not being met all over the world,
and our perceptions of what these women look like is contributing to this. Women ex-
perience unfathomable trauma and in many cases, are blamed.

Systemic change is required to re-wire these perceptions, begin-

ning with deconstructing our own biases.

The women who are impacted by sex trafficking look like the girl writing this blog.
They look like the girl who made your Starbucks this morning. They could be anyone.

I leave you with this: listen and educate yourself before you make a judgment. If you
try stepping into their shoes, you will realize survivors are not as different as our pre-
conceptions may suggest.

Sex trafficking is a vast issue with many nuanced components. It is easy and under-
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standable to feel helpless in what one person can do. Just remember, you are not
as helpless as the ten year old Indian girl who is kept in a brothel and raped multiple
times a day.

You can do something. And even though it may seem insignificant, take it from the
women above, actively listening without judgement could make the difference in
someone’s life, and you might not even know it. ♦