All posts in people

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I suppose this is what we’d like to think of when someone says ‘prostitution in America’. something of yesterday, telling ourselves that ‘no way is she a hooker, standing right there in front of the store’, imagining it to be some sort of movie scene, where her pimp – be it Harvey Keitel or Gary Oldman – gets his comeuppance in the end and she gets to finally move out of the city and meets someone like Richard Gere. I Googled ‘pimp’ for this interview, hoping to get a violent photo to catch your attention, but could only find Halloween costumes worn by white frat boys. ‘human trafficking’ came back with a lot of images from Asia and Africa… but nothing on the good ole US. no sir, we don’t have that – a few whores here-and-there, sure, but an argument can be made for how acceptable it might be should they have the same treatment as those nice ladies in Holland. we don’t have it – got done with that whole slavery thing long ago and learned our lessons. we’ll give some money to UNICEF and make a Hollywood blockbuster about one of them marrying the chai wallah who won ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionare’ and all sleep easier, cause there’s always a way out.

but that’s not it.

that’s not it at all.

‘trafficking’ says Talia Gad, ‘makes people think of ‘international’ because so much trafficking (especially drug trafficking) begins with cross-border transportation. but human trafficking just refers to the illegal trade of people for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor.’

Talia, I should explain, is someone I met for a short few hours on my birthday a few years back in Los Angeles. I was immediately drawn to her manner of speaking – half sass and all honest. but an honesty that didn’t offend as much as let you know where her beliefs lie. over the years, we’ve kept in touch and I occasionally would see her posting something about ‘sex slaves’ or ’24-hour help line’ and, admittedly, write it off to someone else jumping on the Peace Train. but the Facebook updates kept coming and she then began a charity drive for the program she was volunteering with, so I sent her an email to ask about it all.

and then she emailed me back, witholding the gruesome details, but mentioning enough to turn my stomach.

I kind of hope it does yours.

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how’d you get involved in this in the first place?

I’ve been volunteering in this field since ’94 when I spent 18 months doing crisis phone response for domestic violence, sexual assault, suicide, etc.

Then in 2001, I volunteered doing hospital response for sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse for a couple of years. While that was all very intense, the sexual assaults were the hardest, particularly because the forensic exam is so invasive. But when you’re holding a woman’s hand while she’s going through the most difficult experience of her life, and you’re her only support, it’s easy to commit to it.

I learned about the Sexual Assault Resource Center when I was working at Planned Parenthood (doing prevention education), and I was asked to do a presentation about contraception. I fell in love with this place.

All the agencies I’d volunteered for in the past had been loaded with anger and despair: people with a the-world-is-a-bad-place-and-all-men-are-rapists attitude. SARC is first agency I’ve come across that is full of love and hope. It’s contagious. Have I mentioned how I love this place?

so what is SARC?

In a teeny nutshell, check out the fundraising page.

Our website is very sad, but we have a volunteer that’s going to hopefully help it look decent. In the meantime: www.sarcoregon.org

There’s a lot going on here. The heart of our agency is the 24-Hour Support Line that does crisis phone response as well as hospital support during an exam, police department support if reporting, and youth shelter support for trafficked kids.

And it might surprise some that Portland has some of the worst trafficking in the country.

We also do:
High School Prevention Education (10-session curriculum in 6 schools)
Case Management for Trafficked Youth
Latina Case Management Program
Mental Health Program for Individual and Group Counseling

I manage the Volunteer Program that does screening and training for 70 volunteers, half of which volunteer 25-60 hours a month on the Crisis Line doing phone and in-person response.

We do this with 10 staff at 2 sites for under $500K.

but when we talked, you mentioned ‘trafficked youth’ and that phrase is usually reserved for third-world countries, no?

Trafficked youth: Good question. You’re right: “trafficking” makes people think of “international” because so much trafficking (especially drug trafficking) begins with cross-border transportation. But human trafficking just refers to the illegal trade of people for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor.

Domestic trafficking begins when girls (mostly girls, although boys are also trafficked, particularly those who are gay or transgendered) find themselves without care and support either because they were kicked out of their homes, have run away, were sold by drug-addicted parents in exchange for drugs or rent, or any other series of events that leads to them finding themselves alone.

Then the sequence looks something like this:

* Dude comes up to a vulnerable girl and says, “Hey, baby. You’re so beautiful. I’m going to take care of you, feed you, and show you how good life can be.” Having nothing else, she buys into it.

* The next couple weeks/months are spent with food, clothes, and a caretaker, as well as a growing dependence on drugs — that plus her being further removed from her family, friends, and school.

* Then the Dude springs something like this: “Hey, baby, we’re running out of money, and I need you to earn your keep. How about you have sex with my friend like you do so good with me. That’ll help us out so much.” By now she needs him, and she knows that he’ll be mad if she doesn’t, so she turns her first trick.

* The cycle spirals from here. The relationship becomes more and more controlled, and she has fewer and fewer options (“I have no one else to turn to, and at least he loves me”). The physical abuse increases. She turns more tricks to earn him money and maintain his affection.

* Pretty soon her boyfriend (yes, she still thinks of him as her boyfriend) is making her earn a minimum dollar amount each day, and if she doesn’t, she doesn’t get to eat. Or she doesn’t get drugs. Or worse. A fairly common deal is that $300 a day keeps a girl from getting a beat down.

By the time we meet them, they’re terrified to leave the Life. These dudes are violent, as most sex trafficking is driven by gangs, so that even when their boyfriend-pimps get picked up, the girls are still in danger. Girls also get disappeared, which is what keeps us from being able to do street outreach; just talking to them can get them disappeared.

The abuse is extraordinary. Think of a venn diagram where these girls are at the intersection of domestic violence, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, gang violence, and general fucked-upness. That’s where they live. With a bunch of other girls in the stable (yes, the pimps refer to their girls as their stable). Have I mentioned that the average age of girls initiated into trafficking is 13?

and where do you all step in?

SARC has an active caseload of about 70 girls between 2 case managers. The average girl’s file stays open for about 3-6 months, which means that we’ll see about 150 girls a year [this will change when we get funding to support more than 2 case managers].

We generally have to wait for the girls to get picked up by cops for prostitution and brought into shelter.  Sometimes we see them just once, but it’s typically for long enough to bribe them with a change of clothes, toiletries, a blanket of their own that they can take to crash on someone’s couch — anything to offer some sense of comfort. They usually decline the help, but at least they know it’s there. Most often they run (it’s not a lock-down shelter), but we still keep hope that they’ll turn up again, especially if they stick around for long enough to hear about the options they have to leave.

It often takes us a few times of meeting up with them before they’re ready to trust us enough to risk leaving the Life. But when they do leave — get straight, go back into school, or are reunited with people that will care for them — that feeling is what fuels us to keep working at it.

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I could have asked a lot more questions, as I had quite a few, as I hope you do too. if you click on the above link, you can see that Talia reached her personal goal of raising fund, so it’d be easy to pat her on the back and close this window. but like she said, Portland has some of the highest trafficking numbers in the country, and that isn’t something that just stops. so, sure, money if this something that grabs you. and if anyone is handy with designing web pages, I know they’d appreciate the help. it just really kind of seemed more important to let it be said, to let it be known, that things like this still happen, are still happening even in our own cities.

and I reckon if more people start to realize that, then people like Talia will be able to spend more time on the phones with the people who need to talk, as opposed to having to talk to people still need to work on their listening.

do what you want if you will, but if any of this made you stop for a second, then pass it on.

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note: with complete transparency, I did preface this interview with a mention of Movember. and we’ll get to that, but putting a photo of my facial hair didn’t exactly seem right in comparison with people who are actually putting their hearts into help.