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Cracked.com: 5 Things I Learned as a Sex Slave in Modern America (not comedy)


Destino

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When you hear about modern-day slavery, you probably picture some third-world brutality occurring in Africa or Southeast Asia (and if you just muttered something about your unpaid office internship, go ahead and slap yourself right now). When you hear about sex trafficking, you imagine a gang of Eastern European thugs kidnapping women and getting chased down by Liam Neeson.

But, incredibly, human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States today. Statistically, Liam Neeson is more likely to sell his own daughter into slavery than have her stolen by some mysteriously brown Parisians. Cracked wanted to know how the hell this was possible, so we sat down with "Jane," a former sex slave, and asked her about her life.

NOTE: We don't have a policy of putting trigger warnings on articles, but if there exists anywhere on Earth an article that needs such a warning, here it ****ing is. In fact, if this doesn't disturb you, there is a good chance you are a crazy person.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_21538_5-things-i-learned-as-sex-slave-in-modern-america.html#ixzz3DRWWFhmV

This article is absolutely worth the click. It's weird seeing it pop up on a mostly comedy oriented site but don't let that stop you. It is disturbing and it may leave you upset.

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What's disturbing to me is how apparently common this and how it exists as an open secret all over the world and here in the US. That greed can override what I see as parental instincts so easily is infuriating. Stuff like this doesn't make me sad, it makes me angry. This simply should not happen.

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Damn. Just. Damn. This is why I'm not judgemental about sex workers. Many, if not most of them didn't come into it voluntarily and once they're in, I imagine it's not very easy to get out whether they're sex slaves or not.

 

The lesson learned for me from this article is that one should never just go to the parents of a child who tells a "crazy" story like this. 

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The whole thing in general makes me sick, but the fact that it was her PARENTS that started the whole thing is absolutely infuriating. Add to that all of the worthless pieces of **** who turned a blind eye and the idiots who were ostensibly trying to "help" her. "So this little girl says her parents are selling her for sex. I bet the best thing is to tell the very same parents and then take their word for it when they say 'totally not true, dude!' God I am brilliant, I really should help myself to more paint chips".

 

UGH

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Hard to believe that was as humorous as it was, given content.

Most of the girls I've known have the same story. Mostly the Santo whores who come out drinking late night. They're usually pretty grateful to be in America, with a chance to buy freedom.

People know just fine about slavery. Diamonds and cheap sneakers.

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This is a pretty big issue in Texas now, because Houston seems to be an international hub for this.

 

The problem with it is you tend to run into two viewpoints on sex workers - neither of which really helps. You have the Christian fundamentalist "put all those sinners in jail" variety which means that if you are sold as a sex slave, you are going to go to jail and either be deported or bonded back into the hands of your captors who will simply move you out of the jurisdiction. Or you have the libertarian viewpoint which treats this as transactional and doesn't want anyone really asking who these women are or where they come from.

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This is a pretty big issue in Texas now, because Houston seems to be an international hub for this.

 

The problem with it is you tend to run into two viewpoints on sex workers - neither of which really helps. You have the Christian fundamentalist "put all those sinners in jail" variety which means that if you are sold as a sex slave, you are going to go to jail and either be deported or bonded back into the hands of your captors who will simply move you out of the jurisdiction. Or you have the libertarian viewpoint which treats this as transactional and doesn't want anyone really asking who these women are or where they come from.

 

I get the fundie Christians, they are usually insane. 

 

But I'd like to think libertarians have a better moral compass than that. Yikes ....

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I get the fundie Christians, they are usually insane. 

 

But I'd like to think libertarians have a better moral compass than that. Yikes ....

 

Here comes zoony in 3...2....1

 

And actually I'm not talking about Ron Paul libertarians. I'm talking about the lassiez faire "it should be legal" attitude. I actually fall more on that side of the argument, but you just can't assume that a woman working in a massage parlor is an empowered feminist.

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Here comes zoony in 3...2....1

 

And actually I'm not talking about Ron Paul libertarians. I'm talking about the lassiez faire "it should be legal" attitude. I actually fall more on that side of the argument, but you just can't assume that a woman working in a massage parlor is an empowered feminist.

 

I don't think the people who are in the "it should be legal" camp are for sex slaves...  But I am going to benefit of the doubt that you were meaning that...

 

I think the sex trade should be legalized regulated (which means you ask who they are and where they come from) but obviously whatever that is described in this article is NOT what people on my side of the camp is pushing for.

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Are cops in Texas still arresting under age prostitutes as criminals instead if seeing them as the victims that they are? I know that this was a national problem until recently when it finally started to change. The willingness if people to see sex workers as products for consumption and as such, see them as less than human is disturbing.

I get the fundie Christians, they are usually insane.

But I'd like to think libertarians have a better moral compass than that. Yikes ....

Libertarian moral compass? I'm assuming you just wanted to take a swipe at Christians because I'm not seeing the moral positions in libertarianism. They are about absolute individual and property rights and letting individuals make their own decisions (moral or otherwise).
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I don't think the people who are in the "it should be legal" camp are for sex slaves... But I am going to benefit of the doubt that you were meaning that...

I think the sex trade should be legalized regulated (which means you ask who they are and where they come from) but obviously whatever that is described in this article is NOT what people on my side of the camp is pushing for.

I agree. There's not much of any rational reasoning that I've heard to explain why it shouldn't be brought out of the shadows.

The girls I've talked with over the years have all had cops as customers, either for money of for the favor of turning a blind eye. I think even worse than the criminalization of drugs, making the oldest profession illegal unnecessarily makes criminals of far too many people. Usually this means the women because of course the Johns are all innocent dupes led astray by fallen women. [rolleyes]

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I agree. There's not much of any rational reasoning that I've heard to explain why it shouldn't be brought out of the shadows.

The girls I've talked with over the years have all had cops as customers, either for money of for the favor of turning a blind eye. I think even worse than the criminalization of drugs, making the oldest profession illegal unnecessarily makes criminals of far too many people. Usually this means the women because of course the Johns are all innocent dupes led astray by fallen women. [rolleyes]

 

Please explain rational reasoning, and why I do I get the feeling this thread has been hijacked to promote a different agenda. 

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I agree. There's not much of any rational reasoning that I've heard to explain why it shouldn't be brought out of the shadows.

The girls I've talked with over the years have all had cops as customers, either for money of for the favor of turning a blind eye. I think even worse than the criminalization of drugs, making the oldest profession illegal unnecessarily makes criminals of far too many people. Usually this means the women because of course the Johns are all innocent dupes led astray by fallen women. [rolleyes]

I'm not sure the sex trade can ever be "out of the shadows". Porn is very much a legal trade in the US and the horror stories that come out of that industry are alarming. People seem very willing to make great exceptions for what is ok when it comes to porn.

None of this addresses the issue of human trafficking of course because they can be trafficked into legal businesses. Child sex slaves would not be affected by the legalization of prostitution.

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I think even worse than the criminalization of drugs, making the oldest profession illegal unnecessarily makes criminals of far too many people.

Selling is legal.

****ing is legal.

How come selling ****ing is illegal?

- George Carlin.

None of this addresses the issue of human trafficking of course because they can be trafficked into legal businesses. Child sex slaves would not be affected by the legalization of prostitution.

Good point. The girl in the OP was, if I recall, sold at age 15, as a wife.

The fact that marriage is legal doesn't seem to make it impossible for people to be sold into it.

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Please explain rational reasoning, and why I do I get the feeling this thread has been hijacked to promote a different agenda. 

...as opposed to irrational reasoning.  :P As for the hijacking, I don't think so. I think this is sort of a natural offshoot of the OP. If you want to leave it at "Oh my, that's horrible" without discussing something that is likely to decrease the practice, I don't have an answer for you.

 

I'm not sure the sex trade can ever be "out of the shadows". Porn is very much a legal trade in the US and the horror stories that come out if that industry are alarming. People seem very willing to make great exceptions for what is ok when it comes to porn.

None of this addresses the issue of human trafficking of course because they can be trafficked into legal businesses. Child sex slaves would not be affected by the legalization of prostitution.

Yes, there are horror stories that come out of the porn industry. Any idea how much worse it would be if porn were illegal? Obviously nobody knows for sure but I'd suspect it would be much worse.

 

As for the effect of legalization, you're probably right that it wouldn't stop it completely. However I think the effect would be similar to Roe v. Wade on back alley abortions and the end of prohibition on bootlegging. Sure it still happens, but at a much lower rate. The test case for this might be The Netherlands. However I've seen data that show sex trafficking has been increased by legalized prostitution there, and other data that say otherwise so I'd say thats inconclusive.

 

As for child sex trafficking, that's happening now and more should be done to stop it. However if legalized prostitution was well regulated, at the least it would probably be a neutral factor and perhaps might decrease it a bit by not giving those wanting to prey on kids a dark, seedy place to hide.

 

I'm not fully convinced of all this but past experience with other vices seems to support legalization.

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I'm not convinced that turning humans into commodities to be consumed is a good thing. Prostitution is a terrible business and while it can be fairly harmless in very specific instances it can also be a meat grinder that chews up desperate women, legal or otherwise. It's not something I'd support and it's not something I'll ever agree is ok. I don't think women are empowered by creating an industry that seeks to make lots of money by turning them into whores. Legalization turns it into an industry like any other, it don't be a blissful land of independent contractors paying their way through college with greater societal respect. It will be companies in need if product to keep the customers coming in the door. That product is women and I have no doubt that they'll be a premium on youth.

We should start a separate thread on this however because it is a separate topic.

Sex slavery is real and happening all around us and it's amongst the most horrible crimes possible. The amount of attention this issue gets is tiny when you consider how widespread the problem is. Why don't people care more about this?

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Sex slavery is real and happening all around us and it's amongst the most horrible crimes possible. The amount of attention this issue gets is tiny when you consider how widespread the problem is. Why don't people care more about this?

I absolutely agree with you on this. However my answer is pretty cynical. I think it's a combination of denial "That sort of thing doesn't happen in our type of community. We're good, god fearing people" and of protecting a business that a lot of people don't want to see go away. A whole boatload of people from all walks of life are paying for it; lots more than many would ever think. Given what I've been told about that by people who would know, I occasionally look around at meetings and social gatherings and wonder which of the people near me are "purchasers".

So society will continue to arrest prostitutes as much as possible while doing just enough arresting of their customers to make it look like they're actually doing something about it. Focusing law enforcement efforts on the prostitutes also has the added advantage of allowing a blind eye to be turned to how/why many of those prostitutes end up in the business. At the very least there's now a movement afoot to stop prosecuting children forced into the business and instead get them into programs to help them reintegrate into society. That's a startI guess.

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Sex slavery is real and happening all around us and it's amongst the most horrible crimes possible. The amount of attention this issue gets is tiny when you consider how widespread the problem is. Why don't people care more about this?

 

Can you think of anything darker?  Aside from Dahmer stuff, I really can't and I think people have a natural fascination with stuff like that because they're open and shut cases, isolated incidents that have a beginning, middle and end.  I remember a buddy of mine in college having to do a paper on serial killers and he linked me to crimelibrary.com where I stayed up all night reading about Dahmer, Ramirez (by far the most terrifying, IMO) and others, half scaring the **** out of myself the other part fascinated as to how humans can do something like this.  

 

The murder stuff makes for good campfire stories, creepy tv documentaries, movies and allows us to look in without getting involved.  One guy like Dahmer going nuts is an isolated incident, but in the sex trade story, it's a whole different ballgame.  As this article explained, it's an entire underground thing, it's massive instead of being just one person and therefore more intimidating and scary.  I think the majority of people like to dip their toes into things like this for awhile to see what's going on, but don't want to dive in and do anything.

 

I also think this doesn't get much attention because people want to stay as far away from this as possible.  Think about it, what kind of sideways looks would you get if you wanted to volunteer to...I dunno, work with former sex workers to help rehabilitate them?  Or go on a one man crusade to bust up a sex slave ring and alert authorities?  It's the exact type of crime where the people that want to prey and be involved get involved as a disguise to get closer to their victims.  It's the same thing as priests who want to be closer to choirboys and it's the same as the teachers that want to bang their students.  But again, those are isolated incidents, not an underground ring of people who have created an industry, it's not just your Catholic priest who is asking a boy to stay after choir practice.  If that article is to be believed, this stuff is going on everywhere around us, who knows who you've come across in your daily life that could be a part of this?  Could be your doctor, your lawyer, mailman, co-worker, neighbor, family member, etc.  No one wants to think about that.

 

And speaking of industry, that's another reason why no one wants to attack this.  Again, if the article is to be believed, it's a billion dollar industry.  How much of that money goes to keep this stuff on the hush, security measures and paying off people (politicians, I have no basis but would you be surprised if any have been paid off?  I wouldn't) who really could make a difference.  

 

However, this isn't the first I've heard of this lately, I do believe this story is gaining more steam.  I saw a poster for this on a bus or a bus stop somewhere recently.  Odd placement, but it got me thinking about this so when I saw the story posted, I wanted to read it.  But anyway, think about when one of these rings gets busted, wouldn't you love to see who is on the payroll?  That's the part I'm most curious about.

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Spaceman, I think you hit it on the head.  For the people who operate these trafficking rings, it's almost the perfect crime.  The kids that get pulled into it generally don't have anyone keeping close tabs on them (or in this girls case, they just don't care).  Beyond that, in the US we tend to think of this stuff that happens in other parts of the world, like Thailand or India.  There's no question the problem is magnitudes worse in those places, but its far more common than any of us believe here.  Finally, we still live in a society where sex workers are deeply stigmatized for what they're doing, so it makes those very people unwilling to go to authorities, because they don't believe they will be trusted.

 

Finally, I saw a lot of people demonizing the people who didn't do anything for the girl when she tried to tell them.  I don't accept what they did, but its human nature to believe these things just don't happen and that there must be a better explanation. When it comes down to it, we'll do something, but our bias is to cling to the most PG version of the story possible ("oh she's just upset because she got in trouble with her mom.") I don't like to think its true, but realistically most of us in this thread would've been duped by that explanation.

 

That final point plays a huge role in why a lot of these guys don't get prosecuted.  The kid will tell someone.  They'll tell an authority.  The authority will tell the appropriate division within the police to investigate, etc.  By the time someone interviews the supposed perpetrator, the story has been whitewashed several times, and its easy to explain it away. This is one of the reasons many people think Jerry Sandusky got away with his crimes.  By the time Mike McQueary's report to JoePa got to a proper authority, 'I saw him boning a kid in the locker room,' probably became, 'He saw Sandusky in the showers with some kid, and it just seemed off for some reason.' That second explanation is pretty easy to cast as "just a big misunderstanding."

 

It shows that we're so morally disgusted by these things that we can't even talk about it, but the net result is these guys getting a free pass to continue what they're doing.

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To the point above, I'll be completely honest...I had no idea this stuff happened in the USA, mainly for the reasons outlined above.  Just didn't think that would happen in the States.  I mainly thought it happened in 3rd world countries and european countries like that movie Taken.  

 

To your last sentence, I was more horrified that the mother was playing a part in all of this.  I can understand a piece of **** father, stepfather or uncle, but a mother?  Unbelievable.  

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