Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself (#399) by Rachel Lloyd was a recommended book following a recent session on human trafficking I attended at our local YWCA.  What I learned at that breakfast was pretty horrifying even in the brief panel presentation.  But to read about what Rachel Lloyd describes in her account of her own experience and escape from "the life" and what she's done in response is absolutely stunning.

The sheer scope of human trafficking which exists right under our own noses is astonishing.  Our attitudes towards it, as touched on by Ms. Lloyd, are shaped by the culture around us.  We may feel empathy towards the young girls and women who are trafficked to the United States from Ukraine, Eastern Europe or even the Far East, and support programs designed to help them escape and start a new life.  What we fail to recognize are that most sex-trafficked victims here in the US are American girls, mostly of color and from poverty, who are bought and sold by the colossal economic engine of the commercial sex trade.  The twelve, thirteen and fourteen year old victims of this trade are mostly viewed by the average American as "teen prostitutes" who are in the business willingly, and are treated as criminals, remanded to jail and put right back out on the streets again after their sentences are served with no counseling or guidance, or programs designed to show them that there are other options.  If not helped, most of these girls will have an average life span of seven years after they enter "the life".  Prostitution is not a "victimless crime".  These children are the victims, and until our own attitudes change, we continue to contribute to their victimization. 

I recognize that I am equally culpable here, but that doesn't mean I can't change.  I think that's the whole point of Ms. Lloyd's powerful book, and GEMS, the agency she's founded in New York City to combat this problem, does give a small ray of hope.

Read Girls Like Us.  I guarantee it will be a revelation.