Practice What You Preach

The class was given a task to choose an article that has occurred in the past six months that displays the struggle of women. I chose an article that is about a victim of sex-trafficking. This intrigued me because I had not realized that many people are exposed to sex-trafficking at an age as young as nine. Did you know the average age in which children are exposed to sex trafficking is twelve? 

Today I rose to the front of the class and presented the article "America's Sex-Trafficking Victims" by Natalie Kitroeff of the NY Times. The article discussed the hard life that "Lisa"--a pseudonym used in order to protect her identity--was born into. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father was a rapist. Lisa's mother drank excessively and she was born with fetal alcohol syndrome which disabled her learning, memory, attention span, and her speech. Starting at the age of four she was raped by her own father and the men he invited over for ten years. When she was eighteen she testified against her father with the help of Andrea Powell and sent him to prison for 45 years. 

Surprisingly, Lisa's disparity caused her to not knowingly meet her pimp. The money that her exploitation earned was given to her pimp and she was just a source of income rather than a woman. Because a john refused to pay her she was disowned. This was a turning event because she realized that she deserved better. Now she spends her time at FAIR Girls doing yoga and making jewelry. (To read the actual article here's the link: Lisa's Story. 

I did more research and found that 55% of sex-trafficking victims are from the United States. These children perform 10-15 sex acts a day for 6 six days a week. These statistics surprised me and makes me want to learn more about the topic. I would also like to learn about the physiological mind of these "pimps" and why they do this. I understand they would like to become financially successful but why exploit children? From this assignment I learned that everyone in the United States is a target. It doesn't matter where you come from, your economic standing, or how old you are, you can still become a victim of any crime. 

Fifteen people presented before me and it enlightened me. I was exposed to topics that didn't seem of great importance to me at first, I think these news worthies helped me open my eyes and look at all the things society has done to oppress women, consciously and unconsciously. A take away from today's activity is that there are many loop holes in politics.

A renowned professor at Brown University, Wendy Schiller, came to talk to our class today. I loved her enthusiasm and she taught us that you should never start off a question saying "I think this is a dumb question but..." She also talked about women in politics because she does teach political science and many others that I can't recall. I really enjoyed her presence because she's a prime example of someone who didn't follow around her boyfriend.  Instead she wanted to be in politics and have a career of her own. In essence, she wants women to be self reliant than have to depend on a man.