The Making of a Girl (in the Sex Trafficking Industry)

by Amanda Kloer · 2010-07-26 07:00:00 UTC
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Do you ever wonder how child trafficking victims are made? How a 12-year-old girl can go from being into soccer or Justin Beiber or science fiction books into being raped and abused by several men a night? It's a process which is, sadly, so easy, it can be outlined in about five minutes.

In their short video The Making of a Girl, GEMS (an anti-trafficking NGO based in New York) describes in amazing nuance all that goes into the making of a girl who is victimized in the commercial sex industry. You can watch the video here or below, with more thoughts after the jump.

I love how this video captures the nuances of child sex trafficking that make the issue so complex and difficult to address. Parents of trafficked kids might not be bad or abusive parents, but just struggling themselves with hard times. Young girls are curious about the world of sex (and sometimes drugs), and want to emulate what they see in pop culture. Pimps, like other abusers, know that they best way to get a victim to stay a victim to to make them fall in love. They aren't always or even often violent, but alternate abuse with affection to keep the victims hopeful that this time it will be different. And child trafficking victims sometimes have true moments of happiness between the beatings and the STDs. And like all of us, they cling to the happiness in their lives and block out the pain.

One of the biggest challenges in ending child sex trafficking is that teens who have been forced into the sex industry will often refuse to turn in their pimps. To most of us, this decision seems incomprehensible. Why wouldn't you want to see justice for the man who abused you and profited from your rape? But The Making of Girl can explain why the feelings child sex trafficking victims have toward their pimps are complicated, and why some might be reluctant to trust a service provider or prosecutor.

Regardless of the relationship between a child and a pimp, regardless of how the child ended up in prostitution, anyone under 18 in the commercial sex industry is a victim of trafficking. A complex person with a complex story and complex needs, but a victim all the same.

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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