As the oldest granddaughter of a judge, I am sure my grandpa never fathomed that I would someday become a trafficking victim. He taught me about civil rights, human rights and justice. Because we all are entitled to that, right? But this honorable man who was the president of the democratic society never imagined his precious grandchild would become a sex slave to a group of men for two long years. Nothing made me exempt from being targeted, nothing protected me from being raped repeatedly and men paying to do so and nothing was available to me later to give me justice and try to put back the pieces of my life.
Human Trafficking is the foremost youth and women’s rights issues of our time. Yet we hardly notice it. We misidentify it as child or teen prostitution. In reality, there is no such thing. Simply by federal definition, it is human trafficking. Yet we arrest these young victims. 100,000 nationwide and over 1,000 right here in Ohio.
These guys are Masters of coercion and trickery. They target the vulnerable and then use threats, manipulation and blackmail to force them into commercial sex or labor while they gain financially. It removes an individual’s freedom to choose and the victim feels as if they have no other alternative. No other options.
I grew up in the upper middle class of the mid-west. I was a good, Irish Catholic girl. My dad was a big executive. He got regular promotions and we were transferred every two years. Bigger houses, nicer cars. My sophomore year of high school, we moved from a small country town to an affluent suburb of Detroit.
Shortly after I moved there, I developed a crush on a boy. Since I wasn’t allowed to date until I was 16, he spent a lot of time just talking to me. Just being nice. And then one day he offered me a ride home from school. By then I had a crush on him, I was 15, thought this was great. But he ended up driving to HIS house first. Red flags went off in my head. I had been well taught. But I ignored the red flags and because I knew him and thought everything would be ok. He invited me to come inside and again I ignored the red flags I believed everyone was a good person.
But that afternoon, all the red flags were right and I was drugged and then raped. I was a virgin, Catholic and from a good family. It was devastating. I didn’t tell my parents because I thought they would be mad at me for disobeying and I would just deal with it o my own. But it got worse.
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