Don't Forget Your Daughters

So we Tivoed what was supposed to be the documentary "Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father", but actually was "Sex Slaves: The Teen Trade" and "Sex Slaves in the Suburbs." It was also a documentary, with two parts, but about a different topic (clearly). I went ahead and watched it.

It's shocking.

Young girls are being increasingly used as sex slaves, all over America. These are not all runaways or kids from broken homes, either. Girls are being kidnapped from schools, movie theaters, even their own homes, and being sold for sex.

They told one specific story about a 16-year-old girl who was lured away by someone she thought was a friend. This new girl started coming to school, and befriended the 16-year-old. She offered to take the girl to clean houses for the weekend with her "Dad" and earn some money. They convinced the girl's mother to let her go. Thinking everything was just as it seemed, the teenager didn't suspect anything until she took a drink of water and blacked out. When she woke up, she was being raped. She drifted in and out of consciousness over the course of 3 days, and was basically being raped every time she came to. She managed to place a call to her mother, but only got so far as "help me, Mama" before the line went dead. Because of that call, however, her family figured out something was wrong. The police said she was just a runaway, and that they couldn't help until she was missing for 72 hours. Frantic, the parents put up fliers and got help from outside sources (the kind that specialize in that sort of thing). While they were searching for her, the girl's 15-year-old brother spotted her in a car outside a gas station. He ran over, climbed into the car, and told her to get out. There was a man in the car who tried to stop the brother, but the 15-year-old pulled a knife on the guy and held him off so his sister could escape. It was days before the girl could be around any men - including her father or brothers. She didn't even recognize her own mother at first. Her clothes were torn, she had black eyes, she was bleeding heavily, and she had contracted multiple STD's. The hospital pumped a lethal amount of cocaine, meth, ghb, and other drugs out of her system. She was lucky to be alive.

This happened two years ago, and she's still trying to live with the scars. She actually saw one of the men who had raped her, while she was at the beach. He just looked at her, like what he had done to her was no big deal.

Unfortunately, her story isn't uncommon. Girls get pegged as "runaways" by the police, mostly due to the sheer number of girls that go missing. The police don't have the resources to chase every girl. So far too many of them slip through the cracks.

Drug traffickers have actually turned to human trafficking more in recent years. It's harder to get caught when you're a pimp. When you're selling drugs, you risk being caught with them on your person, or mistakenly selling to a police officer. When you're a pimp, the girl is the one putting forth all the risk. She's the one who gets caught.

The "product" is reusable and low-maintenance. The money goes entirely to the pimps - the girls don't see a cent. And the younger, the better. A young girl is considered cleaner, fresher, more beautiful - and have an innocence about them. That's why they're getting kidnapped. If a girl turns 5 tricks per night, at $100 a go, and a pimp has 3 girls, he's earning $1500 a night, 7 days a week. It's so easy, it's no wonder it's becoming so common.

Even craigslist is used to traffick girls. They put ads in the personals, selling sex. I had no idea! I've only ever looked at actual items on craigslist, like cribs and such. But cops are finding it all too easy to catch underage prostitutes, just by surfing craigslist. It's insane! I can't believe that the people running craigslist aren't doing more to prevent this sort of thing. Maybe it should be illegal altogether, having "personals" online. That would make things more difficult, that's for sure. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned meeting people? Sex has become way too casual in this day and age. One thing is for sure - I'm NEVER using craigslist again. I realize it may not be their fault that their website is being used for this sort of thing, but they don't seem to be doing anything to stop it, either.

This whole thing terrifies me. The world is becoming more and more evil at terrifying speed. What kind of evil surrounds us, when innocent girls are being forced to give up that which is most precious on a regular basis? I think I would literally go crazy if something like this happened to my daughter. I will do everything in my power to prevent this kind of thing from happening to her. I'm sure she'll be frustrated as she gets older, and call me "over-protective", but I don't care. I want Evie to be able to go out with her friends and have fun, but I'm going to be strict about it. She can only hang out with people who I know, and whose parents I am friends with. I don't want her walking to and from any place alone - she has to be with a group. Even two girls together can get snatched easily, so it's important that they stay in groups. I'm probably going to buy her a cell phone as well, and get whatever software I need to be able to track her location at all times. I know that lots of people would consider that a huge invasion of privacy, but as long as she's living in my house, it's my job to watch over her. When she turns 18, she can get her own cell phone plan and have her privacy. And it's not like I'll be sitting in front of the computer whenever she's out, watching her every move. But something like that would be very handy in an emergency.

Evie will probably hate me for all of this. But I would much rather have her grow up safe, whole, healthy, and hating me, than have something terrible happen to her. Just the thought of it leaves me cold.

Please, if you ever have a chance do something about this problem, take it! Terrible things happen when good people do nothing. Chances are, we'll never personally experience this dark side of the world we live in. But be aware of it. Protect your daughters. And remember in your prayers the ones who are already trapped and suffering. No girl deserves that.