Modern day slavery: Sex Trafficking

Recently, I had the opportunity to view the screening of the documentary Cargo: Innocence Lost on our school campus. The documentary directed by Michael Cory Davis documents the horrifying world of sex trafficking through first hand interviews with victims and victims’ advocates. Sex trafficking is the illegal trade of human’s for the mere purpose of forced sexual labor and exploitation. Basically it is like a modern- day form of slavery. You would think that after seeing the previous history of slavery that something like this would not be occurring but unfortunately it is and it is an industry that keeps growing by the day. This documentary absolutely opened my eyes to the severity of human trafficking. Prior to viewing the film I had some background knowledge of this atrocious industry but wasn’t aware of how much of this was going on in the United States, the extent of the manipulation used and the abundance of money that is exchanged for innocent humans. Although, the film stated that a large number of victims come from East Asia, and Europe, there is a high demand for American women, specifically blonde hair and blue eyed women. As a result of this demand there has been an increase of sex trafficking activity in the U.S. Cities like Los, Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City are amongst the cities that have had the largest involvement in this industry.  This was shocking to me because one would like to think that something like this isn’t happening in their country but unfortunately this has been a big misconception.

This lucrative industry has one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world and next to drug trafficking it is the second most profitable illegal industry in the world.  It was shocking to see the various ways that women usually between the ages 12-18 are lured and trapped into this industry. Sex trafficking victims in many cases are approached at malls, stores, parks etc by men or even women promoting some type of modeling agency or acting agency. They tell these young women that they would be great models or actresses and give them a location for them to meet if they are interested. Unfortunately, these young girls are unaware of these individual’s true intentions and are taken from their families to be forced into slavery. In other cases some women from foreign countries are approached by individuals offering them a better life, promising them a chance to live the “American Dream” but once they arrive to their destinations they learn that these promises will not be fulfilled.

 Priscilla, one of the young women interviewed was promised this lavish life just to discover she had been fooled. Coming from a broken home with a brother who sexually abused her when she was younger, Priscilla was looking for an opportunity to escape her home situation. Therefore when approached by a 45 year old man promising her an opportunity to go to America for a better life she saw this as an opportunity to escape and better her life. However, upon arriving to the U.S she was taken to this man’s home. Her captor instructed her to remove her clothes and raped her multiple time; this is the moment that Priscilla describes when she realized everything that she was told was a lie. She was not allowed to leave the confines of her captors home, couldn’t answer the phone, no one was to know she was living there. She had to have sex with her captor whenever he desired and have sex with his friends is he suggested it.  Her testimony was absolutely heartbreaking, you could tell that this was a difficult thing to describe and recollect. It was shocking to hearing the way she was manipulated to prevent her from escaping her captor’s home. She was told that if she tried to escape or call the police she and her family would be killed. Since Priscilla had run away from her home to leave with her captor none of her family members were aware of her whereabouts. Therefore he swore he would make her disappear from the face of the earth if she dared escape. However, the use of “affection” and false love is also used to manipulate girls like Priscilla.  

It disturbing to see the re-enactments of these victims being sexually abused. It’s one thing to hear about it but another different thing to see it occur. These victims were forced to sleep with multiple men, sometimes even up to 50 men in one day at any time of the day. The women were confined in a small room that contained only a bed where they would wait for their customers. The customers in many instances would be violent with these women and would in many cases choose to not use protection during intercourse. This resulted in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It was hard to see how these women were stripped of their identities and dehumanized. It very much reminded me the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave because they were immediately stripped of their identity upon becoming slaves. Frederick described how they were taken away from any family members, not given any information about their lives and forced to do what they were told.  These women were also obviously taken from their family members, stripped of their identities by changing their names and referring to them as objects, and were forced to do whatever they were told or suffer the gruesome consequences. During the documentary they revealed the structure of how they broke down these women. First they removed them from any type of structure that they were used to this included moving them to various locations so they wouldn’t form support systems with the other women. They would then break down their will, and would confine them in vile living situations for long periods of time.

The women who are fortunate enough to escape this industry face an even more difficult road ahead of them. They have to face trying to establish their lives again while trying to gain a sense of normalcy. This is a difficult task because these women have been so brainwashed that they are unable to make decision on their own. A simple task like choosing what they are going to eat for the day is a challenge for these victims because their whole lives had been manipulated before. These women are haunted by the idea that these men will find them once again and kill them.  Year of psychiatric help are sometimes necessary for these women so they can try to be normal members of society. This film was definitely eye opening to a serious issue that our world is facing and I would urge everyone to watch the film if they can to become more aware of this problem. I think everyone should be informed of the atrocities that are occurring to try to prevent any more individuals being abducted or forced into this industry.