My friend, Steven Wen is the founding board chair of Love True, the anti-trafficking organization I helped found and still love dearly. In a post recently published on the Point Community Church’s blog, Steve answered the questions, What is sex trafficking? and How can we help its victims? He has agreed to guest post part of the article here.
You’re sitting in the corner in a dark room. In the distance, you hear gunfire and explosions. Shouts are coming from the hallway. Suddenly, the door is kicked open. A man that looks a lot like a movie star enters and holds out a photo of a blond towards you. He asks, “Have you seen this girl?” You shake your head, so he continues down the hallway, guns blazing.
He wasn’t there to rescue you. But as you look at the open door, you realize something: you’re finally free.
We’ve all seen scenes like this in action movies. But if it were real life, what happens next?
You need a place where you can feel safe, a place where you can be restored. Here’s the harsh reality: there are very few places in the country where you, a victim of sex trafficking, could go.
In the time that you were trafficked, you have been exposed to worst type of physical and psychological abuse. You have been degraded. You have been sold and traded like cheap jewelry. You’ve had to endure evils that no one should ever be exposed to, and the only way to survive has been to put up mental and emotional barriers.
This is how you survived.
But now, it’s time for those barriers to be removed. You need to remember your self-worth. You need to be loved. You need to remember who you used to be. Do you like the color blue? Or maybe it’s yellow. Do you like to play piano, or is sports more your thing?
These simple things have been ripped away from you. It will take time for you to reestablish each of those little pieces of your life. But that process can be long and difficult and painful.
Back in the summer of 2012, I was asked to join the board of directors for Love True and be part of a team to help guide this new organization forward in its goals of ending sex trafficking through efforts in Prevention and Restoration. But what did I really know about trafficking? The reality of coerced prostitution is very different from what most of us were exposed to in movies like Pretty Woman.
The truth is far more insidious.
Since human trafficking victims can be men or women, adults or children, and foreign nationals or U.S. citizens, trafficking is a crime that cuts across race, nationality, gender, age, and socio-economic background. Human traffickers typically prey on individuals who are vulnerable in some way. Some examples of high-risk populations include undocumented migrants, runaways and at-risk youth, and other oppressed or marginalized groups. Kids, sometimes barely in their teens, are targeted. They are often wooed and presented with gifts and “love.” But it’s a bait and switch tactic. As soon as the targets are comfortable, they are coerced through manipulation and violence into prostitution and literal slavery.
Trafficking in NJ is real. Thankfully, awareness is increasing. Laws are being made to fight trafficking. Law enforcement officials and first responders are being trained to recognize trafficking. But this takes time and money and lots of effort. We at Love True continue to work to raise awareness and end sex trafficking. We want these young women to thrive again…
-Steve Wen
Learn more about Love True’s prevention and restoration work by finishing Steve’s article at the Point Community Church’s blog or by visiting Love True’s website.
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