In 10th grade I have a very progressive Social Studies teacher who decided to say fu
ck the curriculum and teach about modern societal plagues. One subject we studied at length was sex slavery and in a very confrontational way with discussions of news articles and hard hitting documentaries like the ones posted in the original post. I could tell not everyone in the class took it that seriously, but there was something particularly heinous about this that really resonated with my sense of justice and it's a topic I have been following ever since.
Growing up and living in Vancouver B.C., I would often find myself looking at shipping containers stacked up by the docks and wonder how many people were inside them. Vancouver is a growing nexus point for all things illegal in North America and usually the starting point for most Vice related crimes that trickle down the Pacific Northwest. For those unaware, I am actually a Criminal Justice major with aspirations of joining a police force and getting a detective assignment. One assignment that I would like to try would be as a Vice cop, largely because sex slavery is one of those crimes that just revolts me to the point of blind rage.
The sad thing is it's the same tune that was sung in the 19th century, "Come to America, your life will be so much better", and while many immigrants have thrived in this great country, just as many have had horrible experiences. It's the oldest marketing hook in the business, prey on either the naivety or desperation of people, and these groups that bring these girls in do just that. Focusing on poor Eastern European or South East Asian countries where prospects are low and people are really willing to in effect sign their life away at the chance of something better. From what I've read, it's not unheard of for these organizations to take away these women's passports and practically hold them to ransom, and there's no real recourse. If a girl manages to get away and go the police, she's in the country illegally and will be deported, and the organization will cut their losses and move out before an investigation can be planned out. It's also not uncommon to just move them from town-to-town, that way the girls never get too familiar with the John's and any investigations in progress get stalled as agencies have to share information and guess their next move.
The worst part of this is that this type of behavior isn't limited to just prostitution. Last year in Vancouver,
a woman was charged with slavery against her house keeper, whom she took her passport and paperwork and pretty much held it to ransom. That story led to another similar sounding story with
two nannies and another one involving hotel staff, but I am unable to find that news article at this time. All of these are just from Vancouver Canada, a city that constantly prides itself on being voted one of the best cities to live in, but we really have a seedy underbelly that we do our best to hide.