Human Trafficking: Are You at Risk?

Many of us walk around Gambier in the black of the night with no fear; we wear scandalous outfits on Halloween, passing it off as one night of complete and forgivable slutdom, and we tear through magazines, perusing the glossy ads and salivating over the designer couture. That’s life, here at Kenyon in the year 2012 where iPhones are more common than VHS tapes and lingerie-style apparel is often seen on the beer-soaked floors of an Old Kenyon lounge. There’s a well-known feeling that Kenyon is a bubble and it’s true – we’re isolated and sheltered.

Or so we think.

A talk by Theresa Flores shocked me and yet, almost didn’t distress me enough. It’s not that human trafficking — the recruitment, harboring or transportation of a person using force, fraud or coercion — isn’t horrific and unbelievable, because it is. But we have become so numb as a society to the rampant sexualization that takes place we don’t even take notice of the cultural factors contributing to this abuse. As Ms. Flores said, take a look at those glossy ads in the magazines; we don’t see the outright display of raw sex, we see glistening eyes and toned, tanned skin–a lifestyle that we envy.

But where does the jealousy of a glamorous life melt into an unrealistically sexualized one, containing false pretenses that led people astray? Why does Vitamin Water feel the need to display an almost entirely naked woman on their ad or A&F need a boy holding something that resembles jeans over his crotch to sell a nondescript item? In a world plastered with images of overt sexuality, displays of sexuality and even violence become so normal to us as to seem socially acceptable.

                                                                                             The Controversial Dolce & Gabbana Rape Ad

Ms. Flores discussed the blatant way that media portrays sexuality, and it’s acceptance in society, as one of the pathways for success of trafficking. It’s incredible how the detachment of a population to scenes that one hundred years ago would have been so explicitly scandalous, are now conventional.

As a culture, we worship unrealistic and unachievable goals. We admire persons who in actuality don’t exist and if they do, they’re artificially airbrushed into unattainable ideals rather than human beings. How is it that a popular Halloween costume for a male is a pimp costume? Society views being a player as acceptable and even revered, whereas a girl is labelled a slut and discriminated against for the same behavior we sanction for males. Ms. Flores makes this point to show how our society and our culture, allows for things such as human trafficking to happen. How we are so accustomed to sexualization that we don’t realize the girl in skimpy clothing walking into a seedy motel with a few guys is being coerced; we don’t view the magazine ads practically depicting rape as violent – we interpret them as sexy. We find no wrong in the fact that the average girl living in the Playboy Mansion is just 16-years-old, there under the pretenses of “modeling”.

We’re at risk. No matter what time, what area, what age or physical appearance, women as a whole are targeted much more often than men. It’s not to say that men aren’t also forced into sexual slavery, but they’re much less likely, about 20% of the trafficking population compared to the female percentage of 80%. Ohio is the 5th leading state in trafficking, with Dayton having the largest strip clubs per capita than any other American city, the abundance of highway systems and the proximity of international borders.

We are the women of the future. No doubt it can be empowering to wear the clothing that makes you feel good and there should never be a moment when a woman is afraid to wear or say something for fear of being taken or judged. No one has the right to take you and force you into sexual slavery against your will. But it happens, and it happens often. With 350,000 American kids at risk of being sexually exploited each year, a whopping 35% sold into the trade by their own family members and trafficking the second leading and fastest growing crime in the world, we must always be cautious.

Theresa Flores was tricked into the trade by a crush. Flores’ story was alarming in how relatable it was. She was fifteen, crushing on a boy who wore Ralph Lauren polos and trousers to school instead of the grubby jeans other boys favored. After six months of flirting and making coquettish eye contact, she accepted a ride home from him, wooed by the glamour of a trans am, a hot car at the time, and the suave demeanor of the guy. He pulled out of the parking lot headed in the wrong direction claiming he had to stop by his house and Theresa, a smart girl for whom all the red flags went up, denied his offer to come inside. But then he offered the few words we all have heard and melted at, thrown caution to the wind for:
“I like you.”

So at fifteen-years-old, Theresa Flores walked into a boy’s house. They were classmates; they were even what could be called friends. And she sipped a soda unknowing that it was drugged, dazed as he raped her then drove her home. Afraid and embarrassed, she told no one. So when the boy came up to her a few days later with a pack of pictures, claiming his cousins had taken photos he now planned on blackmailing her with and that she had to earn them back, thus began Theresa’s struggle in the dark world of human trafficking. It was then that Theresa became enslaved to the boy she had crushed on, being called night after night to sneak out of her house, into a different car and house and into the arms of another paying man. None knew she wasn’t of age, none knew she was doing it unwillingly. In fact, no one spoke to her at all. For years, Theresa was used for her body; continually attempting to buy back those cursed photos. She had liked a boy and trusted him, what she got was a pimp and even worse, a pimping circle that surrounded her area and sold her body to countless men.

How easy it is to like someone, to have a crush, to accept a ride home from school. In a world that’s quickly modernizing, sexuality has followed the trend: becoming increasingly accepted and influencing younger and younger persons within generations. We don’t even blink when a horrible news story comes on the television, so accustomed we are to the words “trafficking”, “prostitution”, “rape”. It’s almost like we’ve become a world where horrors and tragedies are dulled and lessened in their impact; we are numbed to words and stories and even fear. We don’t imagine it could happen to us.

We live in a world that has grown used to words whose connotations are even darker than we can imagine, we have strong survivors like Theresa Flores who speak out and yet human trafficking still exists. Children every day are consumed by the shadowy hands of violation and used against their will. In the modern era when we as women feel free and able to express our individuality, we must not forget danger is around.

Now this isn’t to say you should live in crippling fear of the world or people around you. But be wary, be conscious, be safe. Find ways to recognize and be true to your sexuality without placing yourself in danger.

Human trafficking is real; it’s an eminent threat that barely garners media attention and is, in fact, the second leading crime internationally. Don’t stand by and let it happen; fight for your freedom. Fight for the freedom of countless enslaved men and women, children and homeless struggling to break out of the human trafficking circuit.

If you’re serious about getting involved, visit www.traffickfree.com or contact Ms. Theresa Flores at tflores@traffickfree.com