I am choosing a very big topic to address.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
I am going to Link my Book Review for Invisible Chains : Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking Here. And my Book Notes / Annotations HereThis is the book that got me thinking about this topic.
I had just finished reading Hope : The Memoir of Survival in Cleveland by Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus (the Ariel Castro Survivors), when I picked up this book in the same section at the library. I thought I was relatively well informed about human trafficking, I knew what it was, that it went on in Canada, I knew about foreign sex markets and that people (specifically Canadians and US' citizens) went to other countries to purchase other people, I am obviously a big reader, I watch the news, I love TED talks which is where I had gotten this knowledge, in case you where wondering* What has really shocked me, was the situation with law enforcement and with the general public. That these victims are treated so horribly (not always but too often) after everything they have lived through. That people really don't, won't, or can't understand?
who are essentially slaves. So compared to the average person, I maybe was a little more well informed. *
I am really hoping that it is just ignorance on behalf of the people that causes them to blame these women. And what I am hoping to do with this post. Is give everyone some food for thought and a tool to start chipping away at that ignorance.
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So, anyone wondering what this has do to with Sexual Assault Awareness Month?
Not all human trafficking, is human sex trafficking, there is also human labour trafficking, but 100% of human sex trafficking victims have been raped, and 50% of the human labour victims have been sexually assaulted as well. These people are an object in the eyes of anyone selling or buying their bodies. - And while I have statistics going on, did you know 80% of prostitutes/escorts are trafficking victims? I am not saying they started prostituting and then found a pimp who exploited them, 80% were forced right from day one.
Society has gotten to be more open about rape culture, people feel ok to show solidarity with the #metoo , calling people sluts and whores is more socially unacceptable than ever. There have been huge media cases surrounding sexual assault allegations. But this is something I am not hearing about. This is almost like the root of all evil. Of all of these evils anyways.
People seem to see human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking in a very different light than I do. And I think its because of the definitions, its how people think about it.
Here is a new way to think about it.
That girl, that women
is a rape victim
who has been raped
anywhere from once to
2555 times this year alone.
Or
That Girl who was raped?
She was a victim of human trafficking
on a single occasion.
These two things, are one and the same. Rape Culture and Human Trafficking are like the question of the chicken and the egg? Regardless of which one came first, one perpetuates the other.
Books I Have Read That I Recommend For this Month
(and why)
(and why)
Non Fiction
* warning that a lot of this material could be triggering
A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
3096 Days, Natasha Kampuscha
⬑ All three of these books are long term abduction novels written by the survivors, their desires for freedom, but fear of the consequences should the attempt fail, the confusion surrounding their relationship with their captor, the fear for the future with a lack of education, having been removed from "the real world" for years on end. These are all problems that are found in human trafficking victims - these survivors are HTV's abused by only one man each, their stories are heartbreaking and horrible enough as they are, their courage is amazing, and their fight to survive phenomenal. But keep in mind it could have been worse, they could have been raped by a hundred men, in these situations, had these monsters decided to sell their bodies for profit.
Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones
⬑ I've read 4 books off the list the link leads too, and I read Not Without My Sister, every year (since 2015). This is human trafficking, in the guise of religion, which is really a cult. Once I started to think of human trafficking in this way, instead of in the Hollywood 'Taken' kind of way, or the "its something that happens to someone else somewhere else" kind of way. I noticed how prevalent it really is in society. Which says a lot about society...
Devils Child, Jerry Coyne
Damaged, Cathy Glass
Daddy's Little Secret, Tina Davis
Mummy Knew, Lisa James
Nobody Came, Robbie Garner and Toni McGuire
Can't Anyone Help Me?, Toni McGuire
⬑ Books by foster-care "mothers" who have been dealing with sexually abuse children, their behaviour problems, that moved them from placement to placement within the foster care system. Books written by the survivors of childhood abuse, illustrating how they felt at the time, and then how these feelings developed and changed as they grew up. How they coped (some turn to drink and drugs. some don't).
These are the kinds of children that traffickers hunt, they are already broken, confused and vulnerable and so the cycle continues (like sharks sensing blood in the water traffickers can "sense" these people).
Shame, Jasvinder Sanghera
Daughters of Shame, Jasvinder Sanghera
⬑ These books are about arranged marriages, forced marriages, honour killings, child marriages (which often include child sex practices). This is an inner family, "acceptable" form of human trafficking and I think of any "type" of human trafficking, this is almost the worst kind. Because of how people think of it. - This is a world wide practice, India, Asia, Africa, The Middle East are what people often think of, but the immigrants from these countries often practice it in their "new" home countries wherever that is. It is also a practice in extreme Mormon, Christian , Islamic, Buddhist, Hindi, Judaism, and other religious groups.
For those who practice it, it is ok and for those of us who don't, we think of it as someone else's business. Some would say that is it a right of religious freedom. But this is wrong. This practice enforces that 1/3 of the worlds population should OWN the other 2/3's (women and children). That rape does not exist in this balance, that murder does not exists in this balance (honour killing, infanticide is acceptable) this should be addressed because I am sure it plays into the bigger picture in many many ways.
For those who practice it, it is ok and for those of us who don't, we think of it as someone else's business. Some would say that is it a right of religious freedom. But this is wrong. This practice enforces that 1/3 of the worlds population should OWN the other 2/3's (women and children). That rape does not exist in this balance, that murder does not exists in this balance (honour killing, infanticide is acceptable) this should be addressed because I am sure it plays into the bigger picture in many many ways.
Fiction
The Trophy Taker by Lee Weeks - This is a detective thriller/ murder mystery if that is your cup of tea (or shot of whiskey) You get a small look into Hong Kong's Sex Trade Industry and how human trafficking, particularly debt bondage happens in that system
Goodreads List - Human Trafficking - I actually have not read all these books but this post is starting to get really long and just don't have the energy tonight to hunt through my "read" list and find more books
TED Talks
I was human trafficked for 10 years. We can do more to stop it | Barbara Amaya | TEDxMidAtlantic - Child Sex Trafficking in the USA
Sex Trafficking isn't what you think it is | Meghan Sobel | TEDxMileHighWomen - Men, Boys, Women, Girls, Adults, and Children are victims.
Noy Thrupkaew: Human trafficking is all around you. This is how it works - Big Picture Discussion
How to spot human trafficking | Kanani Titchen | TEDxGeorgeSchool - Child Sex Trafficking in First World Countries (Canada, USA, UK)
How to spot human trafficking | Kanani Titchen | TEDxGeorgeSchool - Human Sex Trafficking in the USA
There are lots of others videos of survivors telling their stories and even more TED talks too but I think this post is more than long enough.
If you read this far.
Thank-you.
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