Honor Shame Cases

Out of the thousands of people that have been human trafficking victims each year, only an insignificant amount of them is actually reported. Imagine being in 8th grade. Having all sorts of hopes and dreams. Now flash forward to dreams being taken away by a pimp that lures people into human trafficking. In short, this is true for Holly Austin Smith, a survivor of human trafficking. The punishment for the pimps that ruin the lives of these young girls is not severe. Therefore, there is not much help for the girls after they get rescued from this tragedy. A realization Holly had soon on and explains, “...Although I was soon recognized to be a victim, the specialized aftercare needed for a trafficking victim did not yet exist... Twenty years ago, there were no anti-trafficking laws in place. This pimp, who raped and lured a child into prostitution, served only 365 days in jail” (Smith). This young girl had recovered from this horrible incident all by herself. Many other girls in her position have gone through similar experiences and have been hurt by their pimp. In addition, the pimp will not receive much punishment. A sad story repeated across America and is very prominent in other countries. In America, most of the time victims are the ones that usually serve time in jail since in some cases it’s considered prostitution, even if it was forced by the pimp. In most cases, the pimps stay uncovered and if the victims of trafficking come forward as to who their pimp is, they

A woman, named Dellena, was involved in sex trafficking business. She made a documentary titled, “Human Trafficking Survivor Story: Dellena, California,” where she shares her experience as a victim. As a little girl, her mother was very negative and always put her down. Her parents were divorced when Dellena was just a child. Not before long her mother remarried. Dellena’s new stepfather molested her and her sister at the age of seven. Soon after her parents remarried, she was put in the foster care system for five years and her mother never once came to see her. One day her mother showed up and told Dellena she was going home. Dellena said, “The reason my mother wanted me home was because my stepfather wanted me home because he liked twelve-year-old girls. That was the perfect age for him” (“Human Trafficking Survivor Story: Dellena, California”). After being molested again, she ran away from her home. On the streets she met a 21-year old, who took her

In the article, Characteristics of survivors of juvenile sex trafficking: Implications for treatment and intervention initiatives, the authors conducted the survey to understand what factors could have possibly contributed to the decision made by teenagers to consider the act of sex trafficking. The belief amongst the authors was that those who have survived juvenile sex trafficking have had experienced some abuse/neglect or even trauma (Hargreaves-Cormany & Patterson, 2016, p. 32). Not only are the researchers wondering about the abuse/neglect, but do the young women have a secure attachment with their family and peers or more of an insecure attachment. By having a secure attachment means that the child has a close relationship with those around them and s/he feels as though their basic needs are being met; physically and emotionally. The teenagers with an insecure attachment are not surrounded with love, respect and nurturing; all the things that one needs to grow in a positive way. The group of individuals that would be interested in this type of research would be that of counselors in trying to figure out what would entice young ladies to want to be sex traffickers and how would one implement interventions and counseling methods. In having teenagers experience situations such as neglect, lack of support, homelessness or even stress, one could be at risk in pursing the act of juvenile sex-trafficking.

Most cases of modern slavery are started by a misleading lie, like the promise of an education, a normal job, food and board, or financial compensation. The victims often fall for these lies because they are usually from third world countries and will do anything that could possibly be for their benefit. Some parents of victims of child prostitution are lead to believe that their child will be working at a normal job for normal pay, but tragically this is

Comaz-Diaz (1995), suggests that value that is placed on girl’s virginity, the shame of the victim, and cultural silence against discussing sexual matters are family values that are invoked to prevent disclosure on sexual assault. Incomplete or inappropriate sexuality socialization in childhood may affect one’s ability to identify abuse and as a consequence delay or hinder the disclosure of sexual abuse in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Victims of sexual assault suffer from a wide variety of mental and emotional issues throughout their lives as a result of the experience. Results can range from depression, anger, feelings of loneliness, and difficulty when trying to formulate relationships of trust (Hyde 45). Victims experience a wide variety of psychological issues as a result of sexual crimes, which they will have to carry with them throughout their entire lives. Also, “Psychological problems can start later in life with changes in behavior- vague fears, feeling unprotected and helpless, nightmares, bedwetting, sleeping problems, fear to loss parents approval/love, need to please others, poor self esteem, anger, depression, withdrawal from activities, daydreaming, difficulty concentrating, behavior problems” (Hyde 47).

“ She was just seventeen when she got into prostitution- child trafficking- but she didn’t know she was a victim at the time. She had been beaten and raped by her father since she was twelve years old.” (Zhai Yun, 1.) Young victims of youth sex trafficking are not just kidnapped by unknown people into this. It can be by their father, mother, brother, or sister. It can be forced upon them by people who have come into their life claiming they can make it better. When in reality it just makes it worse. They have no idea what they are getting into and what is going to happen to them. They are fed with lies and false pretentions of what is going to happen. They are caught in a trap that is hard to get out of. Often they are to scared to try to run or be rescued. They just do what they are told so that they live or so their loved ones live.

Sex Trafficking has been a key component in “ degradation of human and women's rights” because they believe that these people are only good for sex (Deshpande Para 1). Often victims who come back, if they ever can, have a hard time adjusting back to normal life. These girls have trust issues towards men, and sometimes even women. They also could have numerous health problems ranging from STD’s to unplanned pregnancy or even worse “ broken bones, concussions, bruises and burns” can all be found on these victims of sexual assault. These girls could also have mental issues, such as anxiety toward older men and women, fear of going outside ever again and social issues. The saddest thing about this is not only are these victims going through a horrible amount of sexual abuse, they also have been ripped away from what they know and may love. Some people believe that women and some men are just objects and they are the ones that are often pimps in the sex trafficking, but this is a completely skewed way of thinking of people.

Rehabilitation for victims is available such as Freedom Place and Dream Center. Joy Friedman, a survivor of 27 years of sex trafficking in the United States, now serves as women’s program manager at Breaking Free, a Minnesota nonprofit group that helps women and children escape that world. On average, sex trafficking victims are between 12 and 14. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 U.S. children are sex slaves. Providing care for these victims is very important, their self-esteem is completely demolished and don’t know where to begin to fix themselves.

Forms of CSA include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child's genitals, viewing of the child's genitalia without physical contact, or using a child to produce child pornography. The effects of child sexual abuse include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, propensity to re-victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest. Approximately 15% to 25% of women and 5% to 15% of men were sexually abused when they were children. Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters and uncles or cousins; around 60% are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbors; strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. Studies have shown that the psychological damage is often particularly severe when sexual assault is committed by parents against children due to the incestuous nature of the assault. Incest between a child or adolescent and a related adult has been identified as the most

For many victims, who were abused as a child find it nearly impossible to tell their parents due to fear of not being believed. No one should allow their child or siblings or cousin to go through that pain alone and to be at a point where they feel like they can’t speak up or that they just have to live through that alone. Yet some people do and children all over the world are suffering alone. On the rare occasions that these children do speak up, the adults are usually too caught up in the effect speaking up will have on their families. For many adults there is this fear of what it would cost them to speak up especially in the cases where the assaulter, the victim and the person- who knows about the assault- are related. Why do as people value financial or emotional security over a child’s safety? It is a moral duty to put the lives and safety of these helpless children over both emotional and financial security. These adults also fail to act in a way to protect the child being abuse due to fear of the effect that speaking would have on the family especially in the third world countries that prioritize men over women. Still today, there are countries where women are crimilized and judges for being sexualy assaulted and that brings shame to the family which is why rape still goes wildly unreported and

About 6 out of 10 fall into the non-family member to the victim and 3 out of 10 of those cases are predominantly fathers, uncles, or cousins (U. S Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015). Law enforcement agencies were very well acclimated with Mel’s family, and tried to pursue criminal charges against the aunt and uncle; nevertheless, Mel did not disclose information to incur charges on the predators. Mel was the victim in this situation, and one of the reasons most victims do not disclose information because of fear, anxiety, and lack of support from the community and their family members (Adcocates for Youth, 2015). Mel experienced fear of shame and embarrassment, which is why the vignette explained that Mel’s personality traits became socially isolated and avoided places, people, and school

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic experience affecting the lives of not only the victim, but those close to the victim as well. Many think there is only one person truly traumatized, but in fact, everyone involved is affected. The victim has to deal with their experience the rest of their lives. They may be more at risk for other mental issues as well, including depression. The family involved has to deal with its pain, often causing hardship and discord within the family. This is especially true

Sexual abuse to children happens across every socioeconomic status, ethnic, cultural, religion and education. Getting treatment for a victim of child sexual abuse is a difficult process because of the lack of trust by the child. When child sexual abuse occurs the victim’s family has a difficult time talking about the abuse, which leads to the family pretending the abuse never happened. Once the family

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem and can happen anywhere, to anyone, and at any time. Human trafficking is known as “modern day slavery”. In this world, there are two types of human trafficking: labor trafficking and sex trafficking. Because human traffickers mostly target teenagers and young children, friends and families are terrified to think that their loved ones can be taken at any moment. It is devastating to find out if a loved one has been, or is, a victim of human trafficking. The friends and families of the rescued victim(s) can be greatly impacted. The situation can negatively affect a victim’s relationship with family members and/or friends, due to the trauma the victim had/has obtained, the victim(s) must be rehabilitated to live a normal life, and the experience allows the families gain more knowledge on the signs of human trafficking.