What the heck is "trafficking"?! Can I just start by changing the narrative a bit?
I don't mean to come out guns blazing... but I feel like we have such a misunderstanding and the word "trafficking" isn't helping all that much. It feels like such a black box, underground scheme, when in reality it is just happening in our communities all over the world.
Here are my thoughts on everything I have seen, read, and observed from World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
I took this screenshot from google photos (obviously...) and I think that in general the understanding and perception of the issue is improving... but I still have this feeling like people have no concept of these kinds of social issues. And indeed, they are difficult to conceptualized. Like how do you even portray in your photos or graphics the coercion, manipulation, and slave state of exploitation? It is hard to portray.
That being said, I would like to highlight 3 things I think everyone needs to know about trafficking and exploitation, or as we refer to it at HealEx - HTEx.
It is absolutely happening in your community
Exploitation is incredibly traumatic
Healing from trauma is the sustainable way out of slavery
It is happening in your community:
When people say this issue is "hidden in plain sight" it isn't like a quirky euphemism to say that it is super sneaky. In my experience it means that there are people in your community who don't even realize they are being exploited... that is the whole point of exploitation. To make sure that the person you are taking advantage of barely understands that you are taking advantage of them. For example, a vulnerable woman who is exchanging sex for things of value, even though she is choosing to do that, this is still exploitation. That means that there are people in your community who are seeking out vulnerable women and offering them money for sexual acts. This isn't just happening in your community, it literally is your community members - meaning it is your community.
Exploitation is incredibly traumatic:
People often think that HTEx is this dramatic thing that happens when a naive girl gets kidnapped and chained up and raped for money by monsters. And that happens. I personally know people that have had that experience. But by and large those stories are the outlier cases. In reality, HTEx is this very pernicious experience. The story of sexual exploitation often goes like this - a girl grows up being exposed to traumatic things in her childhood and adolescence. At some point the sexual trauma/abuse she experiences converts into a means of financial survival. Now she is an adult and everyone is cool with it. But it is literally the same emotional and psychological process that she has been engaged in since she was a child being abused by a family member. I am well aware that not every single person experiencing sexual exploitation was sexually traumatized as a child. But just as those kidnapping cases are outliers, so are the cases where there was zero sexual trauma as a child. My point here is that sexual exploitation is in many ways an extension and perpetuation of childhood sexual abuse and all of it's traumatic effects.
Healing from trauma is the sustainable way out of slavery:
Slavery? Yes folks, I said slavery. I'm not messing around here. HTEx is fundamentally the same as slavery, it is slavery. And the way out of slavery is healing from trauma. If unhealed trauma makes one vulnerable to being taken advantage of, then healing from trauma erases that vulnerability (for all intents and purposes). If a soldier on the battlefield breaks his leg, he is more likely to be injured or killed than someone with a healthy leg. So what does he need? Healing.
The question is, can he start the healing process on the battlefield?
Can someone who is being sexually exploited start their healing process DURING exploitation?
Well... you'll have to watch our documentary to find out.
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