Battered, beaten, broken, left with only physical and emotional blemishes. Victims of the sex industry are disposed of once they contract a sexually transmitted disease or become pregnant. Traffickers not only leave them physically scarred but emotionally unstable. Sex trafficking leaves its victims with not only physical reminders, like pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, but also emotional memories.
“Fifty six million unwanted babies are murdered each year worldwide that means for every one hundred women of childbearing age they will have about three abortions (“How to make it rarer; Abortion”).” Abortions are common in the sex industry. Sex trafficking victims involuntarily participate in unsafe sex which leads to unwanted pregnancies. They are left with a decision to be left with nothing or to be left without a baby, so they chose the abortion. Abortions are performed by an untrained doctor and in the future could lead the woman unable to have children. This is not the only scars victims are left with (Behnke). Siri, a girl from Thailand, was mislead into believing she would be given a well paying job, but instead was unwillingly brought to a brothel where she would have sex with three hundred men a month just to pay her rent. In order to prevent pregnancies, pimps give Siri a birth control injection but they use the same needle each time, increasing the chances of a sexually transmitted disease. “Siri faces a forty percent chance of contracting a disease and can look forward to four more years of work before she will be too sick to work “(Leuchtag). Sexually transmitted diseases happen frequently in the sex industry due to the fact that pimps are unwilling to pay for medicine and the women are unaware of the symptoms. These physical scars are just the on the surface while the emotional scars go far deeper (Behnke). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression are all mental scars from the physical abuse and trauma these women have endured. Terri was trafficked at age twenty four and when asked if she lived in fear after escaping her captors she stated, “Not anymore. Now I live with depression. My life has been taken away and I can never get it back(Mcclelland)." Many lose hope for the future and in the world. Some even have a mental condition known as Stockholm Syndrome which is when a victim protects themselves from the trauma they have endured by creating feelings for their captors (Behnke). Scars are permanent reminders and for sex trafficking victims they not only cover their body, reminding them of past abortions and their sexually transmitted diseases, they also cover their mind. This blog is not only for sex trafficking victims but it is also for those victims that have survived. Those that have survived an abortion and those that have survived a sexually transmitted disease. This blog is for those who survive each day suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, depression, and Stockholm Syndrome. This blog is for you (“Shake the Dust”). Works Cited: Behnke, Alison. Up for Sale. Twenty-First Century Books, 2015. "How to make it rarer; Abortion." The Economist, 3 Dec. 2016, p. 50(US). General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=5166pchs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA472368 128&it=r&asid=c7e407c1df1d722e59143607dce7ed4f. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017. Leuchtag, Alice. "Human rights sex trafficking and prostitution. (perspectives on prostitution)." The Humanist, Jan.-Feb. 2003, p. 10+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=5166pchs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA96417147&it=r&asid=ce13ed97466149710efb80b85ad01a93. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017. MCCLELLAND, SUSAN. "Inside The Sex Trade: Trafficking in foreign prostitutes is one of the fastest-growing illicit activities in the world. Welcome to a hidden Canada -- and lives of quiet desperation." Maclean's, 3 Dec. 2001, p. 20. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=5166pchs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA80353265&it=r&asid=6f984eca2b22a5ad8843018ed2625642. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017. Shake the Dust. Perf. Anis Mojgani. Vimeo. N.p., 2008. Web.https://vimeo.com/9527194. Accessed 3 Feb. 2017.
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Josie Te GrotenhuisA girl from Pella Iowa who loves to travel. And witnessed first hand the effects this modern slavery has on an individual especially in another country. Archives
May 2017
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