Imagine the worst thing that could happen right now. Moving across the country and leaving friends behind? Being kidnapped? A loved one dies? These are all valid answers, but prepare to hear about one that most people have not thought much about before: human trafficking.
According to the International Labor Organization, approximately 1.4 million individuals worldwide are being subjected to sexual slavery at any certain point in time. Yet, most Americans imagine trafficking to be an issue far from home. Yes, helpless individuals might be kidnapped, tricked, or forced to provide sexual services against their will on the other side of the world, but not here, some would argue. Not in America.
Guess again.
The sick reality is that human sex trafficking runs rampant here in the U.S., even though it may be better camouflaged in American society, which is more likely to condemn something so repulsive.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that there are hundreds of thousands of Americans held in bondage—most of which are young women and children, some as young as six.
The issue of sexual bondage even hits as close to home as right here in St. Louis. In April 2011, KSDK reported on 30-year-old Washington University student Katie Rhoades as she revealed her past as a trafficking victim.
Katie was a runaway, already troubled, when a woman promised to help her out of her situation. Katie was lured by the promise of a better life. Before she knew it, she was entangled in a life of prostitution, and Katie felt trapped with no way out.
On the outside, Katie looks just like any other WASHU student. But inside, she’s been tried and torn in ways that her fellow students would never believe.
Sexual slavery victims experience evils impossible to imagine. Another particularly heart-wrenching story comes from ABC News in 2006.
Debbie, as she’s called in an effort to protect her identity, was just fifteen when she was kidnapped from her own driveway, tied up and blindfolded, and taken to an apartment.
That’s where she was gang raped and sexually degraded—her innocence stolen. Debbie’s captors kept her in a dog crate and placed an ad for her on Craig’s List. After this, men of all sorts—young, old, even married—showed up to abuse her.
Debbie never tried to escape because her captors had threatened to harm her family and friends, a very common tactic of these criminals. Finally, following a lead, police found Debbie tied up in the apartment. By this time, Debbie had been abused and kept in that crate for forty days.
Frankly, it’s appalling to live in a world where young girls would have something like this to fear. But no matter how hard any person tries, wishing this away or simply ignoring the reality of the situation will do nothing to help ease the burdens of those who are so painfully abused by the evil of sexual slavery.
At the least, anyone can raise awareness. Simply informing others of the trafficking epidemic that exists can influence hundreds to thousands of individuals to get involved. For those who feel especially convicted about this issue, there is a multitude of organizations and foundations to help fight it.
Yes, the horrors of human sex trafficking may never come near to touching Westminster students or someone they know, but sadly, they might. Either way, there’s someone just like each and every student, maybe just a few miles down the road, who experiences these unthinkable horrors daily. That should be enough to do something about it.
