Terri was a twenty four year old Hungarian who had just graduated college and was, like every college graduate, looking for a job. Searching and scanning the local paper, she came across an advertisement that stated a family in Canada was in need of a nanny who could speak Hungarian. Terri got the job and flew to Canada. Eager, excited, and enthusiastic, she step off the plan ready to start a new life, only to find out that she was no longer going to be a nanny but would be forced to become a stripper. Terri was paid nothing, had her passport taken so she could not flee, and was forced to live in abominable conditions. This went on for six weeks until the club's DJ helped her run away. Terri is not the only person that has been a victim of sex trafficking; on average one 1.5 million women and children are trafficked each year (Mcclelland). But what exactly is sex trafficking (Mcclelland)? Sex Trafficking is the kidnapping and selling of individuals for profit, and then forcing the individual to either work in a sweatshop, on farms, or as a maid or force them to smuggle drugs and become a prostitute. The traffickers transport the “slaves” to a different country to increase isolation, usually to countries with lax prostitution laws, which causes the sex industry to thrive. Sex trafficking is the newest form of slavery and just like slaves were sold in the eighteen hundreds, women and children are being sold everyday for sex and nothing is done to stop it(Cohen). Human trafficking is on an incline with 1.5 million people are trafficked each year (Mcclelland). Women and children are being targeted by pimps who take advantage of them, and those few women that do escape brothels no longer live in fear but they live with depression. Their human rights and dignity stripped from them, they can not even defend themselves because of violent threats. These women and children are forced to be silent and forgotten (Mcclelland). Prostitution and sex trafficking only exist because men are given legal and social permission to buy women. Women that are hopelessly suffering from poverty are being targeted by sex traffickers, and as a final effort to survive in the world full of chaos they chose or are forced to chose a life full of dehumanizing conditions. It is usually not a choice but a means of survival for these women who just want a normal job to provide for a family back home. By learning the causes of this modern slavery and how widespread it is, we can have a better understanding of what these victims are going through(Raymond). This blog is for all those who have be taken advantage of. For those to have been stripped of their dignity and respect. For those who has been a victim of the sex industry. And for those who have been trafficked. This is for you. This is for the voiceless and forgotten. Those that live in fear. This is for you("Shake the Dust"). Work Cited Cohen, Susan A. "Ominous convergence: sex trafficking, prostitution and international family planning." The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, Feb. 2005, p. 12+. Academic OneFile,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.dop=GPS&sw=w&u=5166pchs&v=2.1&id=GALE %7CA130464308&it=r&asid=c4ce1b8c1292252ed209151e3b9c284b. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017. Image: Italy Freeing Sex Slaves. Digital image. AP Images. N.p., 3 June 2007. Web. http://classic.apimages.com/secured_user/Download.aspxst=dl&id=e2fe2e12441c497e88 91e872cc826e7b&isgb=false. Accessed 3 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. Raymond, Janice G. "Sex trafficking is not 'sex work'." Conscience, Spring 2005, p. 45. General OneFile,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=5166pchs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA1 29893280&it=r&asid=9975f873a5d9a5d983f673c20cd37fa4. Accessed 26 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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