In the United States, the average age of a girl entering into the commercial sex industry is thirteen years old. Many come from places of domestic violence, little money, foster care, and broken homes. Deciding they don't want that type of life, they leave home and find themselves being offered “family” in the form of a pimp. Most of these girls don’t even know what a pimp is, but they see the opportunity to obtain love and comfort – something they have been denied in the past – and they jump for it.
This type of false love is known as Stockholm Syndrome. In this situation, the victim is isolated and stripped completely of their independence, leading them to rely solely on their captor. Regressing back to a state of infancy can occur, where the victim latches on to the nearest influential adult for survival. Many prostitutes start out as children, so the attachment they form to their pimps is understandable when the pimps present themselves as the child’s “daddy.” Once formed, these bonds are hard to break.
So what can be done to keep girls from returning to a life of prostitution? Re-thinking the definition of freedom is a good place to start. Many assume that because a person is free physically, they must also be free mentally, but the truth is that these girls fight a daily struggle to stay within the new lives they are creating for themselves. Taking into consideration the trauma of circumstances this severe, it’s hardly fair to label them as weak if they fall back into prostitution. Lack of money, lack of options, and love for their pimps all play a role in this scenario. Instead of giving the cold shoulder to these victims, rehabilitation programs should be set up in order to monitor the progress of creating happy and healthy lives. GEMS is a great example of how this can be achieved. The GEMS staff offers support to victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. By using workshops to raise awareness of the issue and providing each girl with tools they need for a better life, GEMS reaches two hundred young women each year. This may only touch the tip of the iceberg, but it is progress. Rehabilitation is crucial if we want to see any type of advancement.
The importance of rehabilitating freed slaves must not be overlooked. Once slaves are freed there is still a long road ahead. After liberation the slave experiences severe disillusionment with life outside of slavery. They are so emotionally scarred that they do know how to provide for themselves and enjoy their new found freedom. This is why it is so important to rehabilitate freed slaves. This can be done through counseling, education, and providing micro-loans allowing them to start their own small business so they can truly escape slavery forever.
ReplyDeleteFor many women, and even families this is the only lifestyle they know as seen in the examples of people born into prostitution or even forced by parents. I think that in order to get to the root of the problem, there needs to be assistance before the thought of selling a young woman's body emerges. Giving those women and families options will further put a damper on the number of women sexually exploited.
ReplyDeleteStephanie asks a really important question -- what is freedom? How do we define freedom? Is it simply an issue of escaping physical bondage? Or is freedom more psychological? Could it be a process rather than a finite and clearly defined thing?
ReplyDeleteI think freedom today has a lot to do with the psychological aspect. Just like it may be hard for someone to break a habit that they have had for a long time, it comes as almost second nature to you. These women may not be "weak" as was said before, they need more help than for someone to just take them away from the love and comfort they are so use to having. I think rehabilitation is truly important in order to successfully allow someone to be free.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of respect for the GEMS program, because that is what these young girls need is love and support. As a young mother i know what it is like to feel helpless at times, but i know with help and support things always work out.
ReplyDeleteI love that Stefanie tied women and prostitution into the slavery aspect of things. These women need a way out and I'm pretty sure that they would rather live a better life. They would want to experience what true love is and have children and appreciate themselves. So many people think of prostitution and think oh how gross and I myself am guilty of that association to prostitutes. But after reading this blog, my opinion has changed. You shouldn't ever judge a book by its cover. Sometimes you have to look deeper into the surface and find out the reason things are the way that they are.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that GEMS is able to help 200 girls a years is amazing, considering that they seem to care for the whole person. Therapy and tending to the phycological aspect for these girls is probably the most effective way to rehabilitate them into a normal life. It would be a cool class project to become pen-pals with recovered victims of slavery. It may help the rehabilitation process for them to know that people out in the world do care and to have someone to talk to.
ReplyDeleteMartha, This is a very interesting idea. I think you should take the lead on figuring out whether this would be a good project or not. You can make this part of your work for the class. Let's talk about it soon!
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