Heather Stockdale is the Executive Director of Georgia Cares, the single, statewide coordinating agency connecting services and treatment care for child victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Northwoods is proud to support the work of Georgia Cares by publishing this guest blog article.
Entertain me for a moment and follow along with this exercise.
Visualize that you are a young 15-year-old girl. Your mom and dad split up when you were young, and now your mom works two jobs trying to make enough money to support you and your little brothers. You are left home alone most of the time and feel isolated.
Now, think about never feeling like anyone has truly loved or cared about you, and then finally finding someone who does. He buys you nice things, treats you nice, and says he loves you. Then, think about this man suddenly forcing you to do things you didn’t want to do. Imagine that this person, who you thought loved you, started abusing you. Then, he started selling you for sex. Think about being raped repeatedly, by strangers who you don’t know. Think about contracting a STD after being forced to have sex with these other men. Think about being constantly threatened with violence, and being beaten when you do not comply with your abuser’s demands. Think about what it would be like to constantly lie about how old you are, or what your name is. Think about being arrested for prostitution, while your abuser is free. Think about becoming pregnant by your abuser. Think about being threatened to never tell anyone what was happening to you, due to fear for your life or for the life of your family.
You are probably thinking that this visualization was a pointless activity. Why did I make you think about those things? How dramatic. That doesn’t happen here…right? Wrong.
I made you think about this because this is a day in life of one of the victims that we serve. Child sex trafficking victims. And it does happen here, in the United States. These are not immigrants or foreign nationals, these are our kids, U.S. citizens. They are being bought and sold for sex every day, treated as a product in the supply and demand chain of the market. If this horrible crime was perpetrated against one child, that would be enough. But it happens to thousands of children in the United States alone every year. 100,000. That is the number of American children who are victims of sex trafficking each year according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Now after reading this, you know. You know this is real and exists in the United States. You can’t ever say that no one told you. Hopefully, after finding this out, we have ignited a spark in you…a spark that will make you care. Why? Because if you know and you care, you might tell someone, you might look for this in your community, you might want to learn more, you might want to help someone, you might do so many different things because you care.
I care too. Let’s stand together. Together, we can end domestic minor sex trafficking.
This guest blog from the executive director of Georgia Cares, Heather Stockdale, raises awareness about ending domestic minor sex trafficking.