Breaking Free (16 page)

Sitting in the boba shop that afternoon, she squeezed John’s hand and said, “This is all I want. Honest.”

They each got into their cars and drove home. Maria had a busy evening planned. First, she had to get back to Rialto, where she shared a house with one of her closest friends. Then Maria had to have a tickle fight with her three puppies, Lucky, Princess, and Snuggles. These were her “babies.” They wrestled on the floor until each of them was panting.

Maria went for a quick jog around the streets of Rialto. When she got back, she sliced up some cantaloupe, opened a tin of cookies, and put them both on blue plates in the middle of her dining room table. She filled glasses with cool water from her refrigerator. It was important to her that the MSF team was well fueled.

MSF stood for the new Maria Suarez Foundation, dedicated to the prevention of trafficking, and the rescue and restoration of trafficking victims.

Item number one on her agenda for that night’s meeting: Maria was thrilled to show the Advisory Board her new certificate of nonprofit status. The board was made up of friends, colleagues, and activists Maria had met in the past few years. They were each incredibly supportive, even though at the last meeting there had been an argument about Maria biting off more than she could chew. Prevention, rescue, and restoration was a lot for a new group to tackle all at once.

But Maria had said it was her vision and she felt passionately about each step. There was no way to do one without the other.
You educate. You get her out. And you empower her with the skills to live a better life.

Second on the agenda was a presentation from Maria’s new art director about logos. Maria had given some input already. She wanted an eagle to be soaring above the letters M, S, and F. Maria loved everything the eagle represented. She never forgot that bird tapping on her window to tell her she’d soon be free.

Item number three was an ongoing challenge: solution-building. This was Maria’s mission. This is what made her stomach burn with urgency and purpose. They went around the table and brainstormed new solutions for how to prevent, how to help, how to restore.

At some meetings, everyone had a new idea to offer.

At some meetings, the clock ticking on Maria’s stove was the only sound in the room.

At this meeting, Maria held her nonprofit status certificate in one hand and her new eagle logo in the other and said, proudly, “Let’s go. Let’s do this. Let’s make this a better world.”

We are all part of the movement

WHO

…is this happening to?

WHAT

…are we talking about?

WHERE

…is this going on?

WHY

…does this happen?

WHEN

…will we all be truly free?

HOW

…do we break the cycle?

NUMBERS

…we need to know.

NOW

…is the time for action.

WHO

…is this happening to?

“My hope is that young people change their language and the language of their peer group about women in the sex industry. There is a lot of revictimizing the victim and misunderstanding about what kind of ‘choice’ these women have.”

~Rachel Lloyd, Founder and CEO, GEMS

One of the most important things to understand about sex-trafficking survivors is that none of them wanted to go through this. Sometimes it happened to them because someone promised them food or shelter. Sometimes it’s because they were born into a society where they’re expected to be sexually used and abused. Sometimes it’s as simple or familiar as trusting the wrong boyfriend.

Here are just some of the people who are at high risk for sex trafficking.

Runaways

As many as 2.8 million children run away each year in the United States. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says that in those first two days of being solo, one out of every three of those children are lured into the sex trade.

One out of every three
.

Remember: When someone runs away from home, it’s definitely a cry for help. Something at home feels unbearable, and whoever is the first person to promise a better alternative holds all the power, even if what he or she is offering sounds sketchy.

Intergenerational Prostitution

In a lot of places in the world, “tradition” is the excuse used to keep girls and women down. In India, 90 percent of girls born to sex workers are expected to be sold into the sex trade, too. It’s their “duty.” In societies like this, the boys are brought up to be pimps and the girls are expected to be their prostitutes. The girls can be as young as nine when they’re first sold, and their moms can be the ones bringing them to greet their first customers.

Undocumented Immigrants

Immigrants to the United States are super-easy targets for traffickers. When they’re new to America, they often don’t speak English. Or maybe they don’t have a job, they owe money to whoever helped them get here, and they have no legal protection because they’re not officially a citizen (yet). The most tragic part of this setup is that immigrants are often trafficked by people from their home country who steer them the wrong way or promise them an easy ride, and then make them work off their debt by forcing them into the sex trade.

“I was impressed by everything about him: his bicycle, his radio, his clothes. When I turned thirteen, he told me he wanted to marry me, and that he could make me a famous singer one day. I agreed.”

~ Ayesha, sex-trafficking survivor, Apne Aap

We also have to look carefully at
who
is doing the trafficking. According to the United Nations, 46 percent of victims know their recruiters. Here are some of the faces they wear.

Romeo

The Romeo Pimp is cunning and slick. Once he homes in on his target, he acts like her boyfriend and promises her the world. Romeo tells her she’s beautiful and sexy. A lot of times, he buys her expensive presents like cell phones and lingerie that make her feel really special. Then he tells her she’s beautiful some more, especially when she puts on lingerie and does a little shimmy. He thinks she’s so hot that he wonders if she’ll do a little shimmy for his friend. It’s just a joke, he says. Or it’s for a special occasion. But this is only the beginning. Romeo has big ideas for her and how beautiful and sexy she can be.

Dutch Loverboy

The loverboy of Holland is a special breed. Since prostitution is legal in the Netherlands if you’re eighteen or older, the loverboy preys on underage girls. He pretends to be an adoring boyfriend, doting on his girl with gifts and promises. Soon enough, he starts taking her down to a red light district and telling her this is just something fun they can try, or how it might help to make some money. Sometimes the girls he lures are even forced to work in the windows like sex dolls for sale.

Sex Tourist

Instead of going to see the pyramids in Egypt or surf the waves of Costa Rica, some people travel to another country to buy sex. They might go somewhere where they know the government ignores sexual abuse, where prostitution is legal, or where there is extreme poverty and police corruption. Brazil, Thailand, and the Caribbean islands are hotspot destinations for this kind of customer. Some sex tourists even blog about how many sex workers they have slept with during their travels, and they acquire a reputation as a sort of travel agent and pimp at the same time.

Guerrilla

This is the one who most often makes it into the news. The Guerilla is the guy who lurks in a van or who corners his prey in the public bathroom and uses force to kidnap his victims. A Guerilla will threaten his victim with knives, guns, or the promise that he’s going to kill her whole family if she so much as thinks of calling the police. Then he locks her up in his basement or keeps moving her to different locations so nobody can find her. When the Guerilla is finally captured and his victim is freed, a lot of times there are eerie testimonials from neighbors who say something like
I had no idea he had girls in his basement. He was always such a nice, quiet guy.

WHAT

…are we talking about?

This is a small glossary of terms used by traffickers and survivors of trafficking. When we can all use the same language, we can communicate and hopefully empathize with one another a lot more.

Abolitionist:
Anyone who speaks out for freedom and fights for social justice.

AFESIP:
Somaly Mam’s organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating women who have been trafficked. In French, AFESIP stands for
Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire
, or, in English, Acting for Women in Distressing Situations.

Bottom:
The girl or woman who’s been with a pimp/trafficker the longest. Because she knows the ropes, she gets to be a sort of boss’s assistant and control the other victims. This can often mean the bottom starts recruiting new girls, too.

Brothel:
Any place where people can buy sex. A lot of times brothels are hidden in the back of hotels or cafés. They can also be disguised as spas, massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, or truck stops.

Brujo:
The Spanish word for male witch. This word is often associated with witches who practice black magic. Black magic is defined as witchcraft that is used for evil purposes to intentionally harm others, like hexes or curses.

Caste:
A division by social class. According to UNICEF, about 250 million people are divided into castes. In a lot of places, your caste determines whom you get to talk to or marry, and also how much money and what kind of jobs and education you can get. Some of the castes in India have intergenerational prostitution as a longstanding tradition.

Coercion:
All the ways traffickers keep their victims in the sex trade. Coercion can be verbal, psychological, and/or emotional. Sometimes it’s also threats of harm to the victim or victim’s family, or threats of deportation and arrest. A lot of times the victim’s things are taken away, including phone, keys, and identification, so s/he has no way to contact anyone familiar or reach out for help.

Commercial sex act:
Any sex act that includes an exchange of money, food, drugs, shelter, or higher status in a gang. This includes but is not limited to prostitution, exotic dancing, stripping, and pornography.

CPS:
Acronym for Child Protective Services, an agency in many states of the U.S. that deals with any reports of child abuse. In some states, CPS goes by another name such as Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Department of Social Services (DSS), or Social Services.

CSEC:
Acronym for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. CSEC includes but is not limited to prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and other forms of human trafficking. If the victim is younger than eighteen in the United States, there’s no need to show s/he was forced into the situation to be considered a victim of trafficking.

Debt bondage:
When a victim is told s/he owes a debt to the trafficker and has to work until it’s paid off. Usually there is no limit to what type of work or how long the victim is enslaved. The United Nations calls debt bondage a form of modern-day slavery. It’s prevalent in South Asia and India.

Deportation:
When a person or group of people is kicked out of a country. This is a common threat used by traffickers of immigrants.

Exploitation:
The use of anyone or anything in a cruel way.

Fraud:
When a person makes fake promises of love, money, jobs, and a better life so that person can recruit new people into the sex industry.

Green card:
An identification card shaped like a driver’s license, also known as a
United States Permanent Resident Card.
This card means an immigrant is allowed to live and work in America permanently. It’s known as a green card because it’s colored green. Anyone who has a green card gets immigration benefits.