By Holly Smith — From her column in the Elite Daily
As an advocate against all forms of human trafficking and child exploitation, I’m grateful this issue is gaining the national attention it deserves. However, as a survivor of child sex trafficking, I’m concerned about many of the images used in efforts to raise awareness around this particular topic. As advocates around the country prepare for this month’s awareness efforts, I’d like to take a moment to address specifically the efforts surrounding child sex trafficking in America.
In 2009, I happened upon a documentary about sex trafficking in India. I watched the stories of women and girls who had been forced, lured, or born into working in brothels. There was one young girl in particular who struck me. Working in the sex trade had become so normalized to her that, after she had been rescued by an advocate, she ran away from services and returned to the brothel. This was the moment in which I realized I might also have been a victim of sex trafficking. In the summer between eighth grade middle school and ninth grade high school, I met a man at a shopping mall in New Jersey. This man convinced me to run away from home, and, within hours of doing so, he ordered me into prostitution in Atlantic City, NJ. I was ultimately arrested by law enforcement and returned to my parents; however, like the little girl in India, I returned to Atlantic City on my own weeks later.