Changing the Narrative on Teen Sex Trafficking

george orwell once wrote

if thought corrupts language then

language can also correct thought

a bad usage can spread by tradition and

imitation

even among people who do and know better

as a writer and a speaker i spend a lot

of time thinking about words

and i try to be very careful in how i

use them i was a little girl and didn’t

understand what a word meant

instead of simply telling me my father

would always make me go and look it up

in the dictionary

to this day when i choose my words i

always make sure to look them up first

and you may be surprised with just how

many of the everyday words

we use have definitions that we may not

necessarily expect

for example if you look up the word

commerce a word we commonly use to

describe the buying and selling of goods

you’ll find that the definition also

includes sexual intercourse

i don’t know how you feel about that but

i have to admit that it threw me off a

bit

to think that the concept of

commodification of women’s bodies is so

ingrained in our culture

that merriam webster’s thoughts included

a reference book

was a bit shocking to me

but the practice really is as old as

time

as is the debate with how comfortable we

are with the thought of commercial sex

as a trade

while some have found the practice to be

liberating there are many who would

argue that reducing a woman’s earning

potential

to the value of her body is about as

empowering as saying

a woman’s rightful place in life is

barefoot and pregnant

to them commercial sex dehumanizes and

objectifies people by

reducing them to items that can be

bartered

it’s the marketing of the human body as

a recreational tool

to be enjoyed by whoever has the dollar

to spare

even if it is a topic that you would

prefer to shy away from

messages promoting a transactional view

of sexuality and relationships parade

every aspect of american society

whether it’s the young woman being

taught to marry rich and linda lover

will buy her expensive gifts

or it’s the constant bombarding with

messages that sexuality is the key to

fulfillment

i grew up in the south so in addition to

receiving all of these messages

i also heard a great deal about fast

girls

these were girls who dressed or acted in

a certain way that was

more mature for their age or more

commonly girls who were involved with

older men

sadly many people find it appropriate to

shift responsibility from

the adults who take advantage of a young

girl to the girl who was actually taken

advantage of

some people even managed to do it in the

same breath by saying things like

what kind of a man would want to be with

a child but

quickly follow it up with well that’s

what happens when little girls run

around being fast

i happen to be one of those young girls

as early as 12 years old when i hit

puberty and my body started to develop i

began to receive attention from older

men

i remember walking home from school and

having men blow

horns and lean out of their car windows

making suggestive comments to me

in my mind their attention qualified me

as more than just a little girl

i started viewing myself as one of those

girls who was mature for my age

and bought into the hype that aj nothing

but a number

and what was i supposed to think really

any parent who was slipped up and said a

curse word around their child knows that

we learn by emulating and that isn’t

limited to the home we learn from our

peers we learn from

what we take into the media we learn

from our cultural beliefs

and in a world where sex sells and

thirst traps are an easy way to get

attention

what do we really expect from young

people

and damaged daughters the history of

girls sexuality and the juvenile justice

system

lisa pascal describes in great detail a

history

of condemning wayward girls for sexual

immorality that extends

way back to the 19th century punishments

were given with

little to no consideration of whether

the sex was coerced or the girl was a

victim of

incest there was always an underlying

belief that the girl must have done

something to invite the sexual encounter

and that isn’t limited to the juvenile

justice system

in the 1940s criminologist benjamin

mendelsohn and hans von hindtek

went on to cultivate an entire school of

thought implying that

victimization could best be viewed on a

spectrum

in some cases some of the blame for an

offense could actually be placed on the

one who was offended

or in layman’s terms she was asking for

it

nearly 100 years later we are still

dealing with the ways that victim

blaming

has permeated our legal system up until

1994 in my home state of tennessee a 40

year old man could avoid a statutory

rape conviction

for having sex with a 14 year old girl

as long as he could prove that she was

promiscuous

and it was just in 2013 that the

tennessee court had to rule that a 42

year old man could not excuse his sexual

abuse of a 14 year old

because as he claimed she consented and

was therefore an accomplice

somewhere in the middle of those two

developments in 2004

as a 16 year old runaway i was arrested

and tried as an adult

for killing a 43 year old man who picked

me up for sex

all throughout my court procedures i was

referred to as a teen

prostitute there was actually a moment

in my trial when the prosecutor created

a naked photo that my trafficker took

with me

in front of the jury as further proof of

why they should condemn me to a life of

imprisonment

more than 10 years i walked around in a

prison of shame with the title of

prostitute and all of its inherent

stigma

attached to my experiences i couldn’t

even find space to process the sexual

trauma that i had gone through because

over the years i had developed this

little hiding space in my mind where i

went to whenever the topic came up

to this day even hearing the word teen

prostitute sends a feeling through my

body that’s like nails grading across a

chalkboard

in the years since my arrest

neurodevelopmental research has

come up with a ton of findings about the

teenage brain and

how it works differently from adults

when making decisions and

solving problems in short the part of

the brain that allows them to be

level-headed

isn’t fully developed they can make

reasonable decisions

in situations where they don’t feel

under pressure and have ample guidance

but

they’re more likely to react without

weighing consequences and

be susceptible to the influence of

others in situations where emotions are

heightened

it’s how an otherwise reasonable and

level-headed teenager can seem mature at

the dinner table when

discussing plans for college but

immediately go upstairs and film himself

eating tide pods because his best friend

challenged him to do it

add to that the power and balance

between adults and minors and it’s clear

to see

how teen susceptibility to be influenced

in emotional situations

make them inherently more vulnerable to

be preyed upon and less

capable of giving meaningful consent

when the trafficking victims protection

act was put into federal law it was sure

to define

any commercial sex act with a person

under the age of 18

as the most severe form of human

trafficking

just as severe as brutally forcing

defrauding or coercing someone into

trafficking

what a lot of people miss in the act is

that anyone involved in any way

whether soliciting or purchasing a

commercial sex act involving a minor

is guilty of sex trafficking

that means there’s no such thing as a

trick when it comes to teenagers

there’s only traffickers the fact that a

minor cannot consent to sex with an

adult is a key part of this

because of the difference in brain

function and power dynamic

youth are considered an intrinsically

vulnerable population

and sex trafficking when applied to

minors doesn’t require blatant

force fraud or coercion because the

force fraud and coercion is inherent in

the act

of taking advantage of a vulnerable

individual

but as a culture we have yet to fully

reconcile the term sex trafficking

victim

with the teens who have traditionally

been labeled fast or promiscuous

we essentially view these kids as asking

for it

and erase the fact that their children

responding to the influence

predation and manipulation of adults

children responding to the

hypersexualized messages that

our society is constantly feeding them

as much as we discourage victim blaming

when it comes to sexual assault

we still find a way to imply volition on

the part of these children

who are clearly being violated

much of that sense in the fact that not

everyone really understands

how sex trafficking really happens

contrary to popular belief

most sex trafficking victims are not

kidnapped at gunpoint and

locked inside of a room where they’re

made to sell their bodies crying

hysterically all day

while waiting for someone to come rescue

them

in fact the 2011 study by researchers

with baylor university analyzed press

releases and online media reports from a

nine year period

and found that fewer than 10 percent of

faces actually involved kidnapping

it’s predominantly the psychological

holds the manipulation

that often lure youth into the life

in all actuality many female victims of

domestic minor sex trafficking share an

experience that’s similar to my own

you meet a guy he listens he gets you he

draws you in

promises you the world and before you

know what you’re ready to sacrifice at

all in order to be with the man that you

love

there’s almost nothing he can ask you to

do that you would tell him no because

he’s finally giving you the attention

and the affection that you’ve always

wanted

until of course he doesn’t and by that

time you learned to make excuses for him

by blaming yourself

and once you’ve got to the point where

you’re desperate for him to love you the

way that you thought he did in the

beginning

he has you right where he wants to

and it’s there that you become trapped

in a cycle where you believe your best

is never good enough

and you will never be more than what he

says you are

the life of a person involved in the

world of sex trafficking is not pretty

and 99 of the things they have to resort

to in order to survive

won’t place them on the ideal end of any

victimization spectrum

we still seem to struggle with wanting a

victim to fit a certain mold before we

actually see validity in their

victimization

as a matter of fact you’ll be

hard-pressed to find any talk about the

experiences of young boys who are just

as susceptible to being exploited

as young girls our culture has shaped us

in a way that we’re more comfortable

embracing social media narratives about

unmarked vans snatching innocent girls

off the street and forcing them

into sex slavery when in reality

we should be less worried about

suspicious white vans in our

neighborhood

and more worried about the blatant

whitewashing and victimization that we

perpetuate in our communities

it all comes back to the power of the

language that we choose

when we label these kids as prostitutes

or promiscuous

instead of sex trafficking victims and

exploited youth not only does the stigma

of that word determine how they’re

perceived by the community but

it actually works to marginalize them in

a way that keeps them trapped in the

same

cycle that abusers use to control them

in the first place

so what does all this mean for the fight

to end sex trafficking

if we don’t know what a victim of sex

trafficking looks like

how can we stop it

in 2017 researchers in georgia found

that 57.2 percent of individuals in

their study believe that

there are just some teens who choose to

prostitute themselves

this is a study of mandated reporters

individuals whose work puts them in

constant contact with children and who

are required by law to report suspected

sexual abuse a different study published

findings in 2019 that discuss the lack

of clarity of what constitutes a victim

of minor sex trafficking

among service providers and the impact

that it had on service provision

one missed opportunity to identify a

victim of sex trafficking

is one missed opportunity to many

when the very people were put in place

to protect the young people fail to see

them as needing a protection

we have a serious problem it’s like your

doctor failing to see that a gaping hole

in your chest is cause for concern

and what’s worse is when you yourself

can’t see that the hole in your chest is

reason to seek out a doctor in the first

place

and that’s exactly what it’s like when

you can’t identify yourself as a victim

of sex trafficking because

the world around you tells you that that

word doesn’t apply to kids like you

in order for us to effectively combat

sex trafficking in our country we have

to change the narrative

it’s actually not that complicated

whether we’re talking about community

members

legislative bodies surface providers or

impacted individuals

the language that we choose the stories

that we tell the narratives that we give

life to

all shape our responses to sex

trafficking

if as george orwell said a usage of

language can spread by tradition and

imitation

even among people who should and do know

better than people who know better can

do better

and create new tradition by spreading

facts

if at the end of this video you just

take five minutes to have the same

conversation with someone else

you can play a role in reshaping the

norms surrounding the teen

sex trafficking epidemic

that is the glitter project the

grassroots learning initiative on teen

trafficking exploitation and rape

and that is how we can begin to create a

society

where boys and girls are not goods to be

sold

victimization can’t be viewed on a

spectrum

and there’s no such thing as a team

prostitute