We all awoke early and ate a hasty breakfast in order to begin our documentaries/movies on Human Trafficking. We voted on watching the MSNBC dateline documentary and the movie Trade. After some technical difficulties, we began our exploration on this intriguing topic. The MSNBC documentary focused on sex trafficking occurring in our own country. It opened with the story of a middle class teen who was forced into prostitution by a fellow student who threatened to kill her family if she did not comply. The documentary opened our eyes to a new aspect of human trafficking- the fact that it can happen to anyone, even teens in our country, and trafficking is not limited to foreigners. The documentary also revealed law enforcement officers cracking down on the issue and how police are patrolling the streets for prostitutes and arresting them. Our group found this controversial- why are the victims being arrested instead of the pimps?
We also watched the movie Trade which was based on the 2004 New York Times article by Peter Landesman. The movie focused on two stories, one of a young virgin and another of a young woman tricked into sex slavery. The thirteen year old girl is kidnapped while riding her bike. Her older brother was initially involved in promoting sex for money, but he risked his life to save his sister from being sold to the highest bidder, meanwhile assisting in the arrest of her pimp and saving other young women from being sold. The young woman left her son behind in Poland to create a better life for him in the United States. Unfortunately, the young woman was tricked into prostitution where she was raped, sold, and beaten. The movie revealed the truths about sex trafficking and left unforgettable images in our minds, propelling us to open our minds to the extent of the problem and engaging in possible solutions.
Next we jumped on the metro, three stops to L'Enfant Plaza, and headed into the US Department of Health and Human Services building. After dealing with security, we met with the Program Specialist in the Trafficking in Persons Program. After a brief overview of the issue, we began firing questions about the government's role in addressing foreign and domestic forms of trafficking. She surprised us with data about the extent of labor trafficking in comparison to sex trafficking. We learned that foreign victims are eligible for certain types of aid which are unavailable to domestic victims. While they do not provide direct victim services, they award grants to organizations that provide an array of services and opportunities. After yesterday's broad introduction to attacking this problem, today's discussion was more narrowly focused on the government's response to this issue.
Next, half of the group hopped back on the metro while the others decided to walk in the rain back to the hostel, making a detour through Starbuck's (of course). After a delicious burrito dinner, games of Uno and Taboo we engaged in a deep reflection. We commented on statistics about all types of exploitation and marginalization of women and children. We shared our opinions on the objectification of women, labeling of pedophiles and cultural relativism. We found it especially interesting that society glorifies the sexiness of school-age girls while simultaneously demonizing the demand aspect of human trafficking.
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