Smile Like You Mean It

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-01-04 12:01:00 UTC
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Recently, the New York Times did an excellent piece highlighting one aspect of sex trafficking which some people find the most difficult to understand: trafficked women and girls in the sex industry often look like they're having fun.  The NYT story follows a girl named Sina, and recounts,

Sina mostly followed instructions and smiled alluringly at men because she would have been beaten if men didn't choose her. But sometimes she was in such pain that she resisted, and then she said she would be dragged down to a torture chamber in the basement.

Sina is not alone.  Many trafficking victims put on a good show, because the consequences of looking angry or depressed are worse than the pretending.  This makes it even harder for law enforcement and rescue workers to identify who is in the brothel of her own free will and who is there against it.  It also makes it easier for sex tourists to justify to themselves what they are doing, believing they are helping rather than harming the women they buy.

It's a real challenge, and one I'd like to offer to you, readers.  Below are picture of three girls.  Are they trafficking victims, or models, or a combination?  If you think you know the answer, how do you think you can tell?

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
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