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Hi. I ran across you site after reading a testimony from human trafficking.com. It is very good feeling when you see sites such as yours trying to bring awareness and promote understanding of this very difficult subject. I am a survivor of forced prostitution, although I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones and my experiences were mild compared to most, they have been the reason for compassion on bringing the harsh realities of forced prostitution to my community. Here is my story:
No child wakes up in the morning and says I want to be a hooker when I grow up.
No body wants to have sex with 5 or even 10 strange men everyday. There is an endless amount of reasons why people end up prostituting themselves.
Running away from a home filled with incest, sexual and physical abuse, drug addictions, or being homeless and feeling like they are left with no other option.
Imagine living from minute to minute, waking up each morning and asking your-self, "am I going to live to see this afternoon"?
Imagine having to trust a complete stranger enough to get into his vehicle and go to a secluded place - not knowing what could possibly happen. Coming home each night and scrubbing your skin raw just to try and feel clean.
The rapes, stabbings, and beatings that prostitutes suffer do not stop them from taking the same risks over and over. What prevents this is their silence.
How the Pimp 'n Ho game works:
A pimp seeks out a young girl usually a runaway or loner. He shows off his fancy car, clothes, jewelry, and money leading her to believe that she too can achieve a life of luxury.
At the first opportunity he moves her from her hometown to an unfamiliar state - where he is the only thing that looks familiar.
There they start the abuse becoming physically and sexually violent forcing them into unwanted sex. He controls where she goes, what she does, and whom she can speak to he takes all of her money so she is financially dependent on him hoping to prevent her escaping.
I have seen all of this and I have experienced it. I too believed the lies that were told to me. I too was beaten if I didn't have enough money at the end of the day. For nearly six horrifying years I survived the brutal rapes, assaults, and harassment.
I survived the fear and torment from a man that promised to kill our daughter and me if I ever left him. I survived threats and intimidation from other pimps, strangers and police. I survived being drug from state to state and forced to prostitute myself.
I survived being sexually exploited and being treated as no more than a piece of human garbage. I would actually say that I am one of the lucky ones and my experiences were mild compared to what others like me have been through. I am still alive today.
Leaving prostitution is by far harder than to be introduced. When I left LA I left with my daughter and one bag. I returned to Seattle to no where to go, and the pimp that I just left had turned all of my friends against me. I felt that I was left with only one option.
I thought about getting a job, but how was I going to pay rent until my first paycheck? Who would hire a convicted prostitute? Would minimum wage cover all of the monthly expenses as far as rent, utilities and childcare? Who would rent to me with no rental history and working a job that paid minimum wage? I felt like there was no other way to make ends meet so I continued to prostitute myself.
I was arrested in October of 2001, and the prosecutor was asking the judge to give me a 60-day sentence. At my arraignment I pled not guilty. The Judge accepted my plea and tried to issue me a SOAP order. I explained that I had been living on Pacific Hwy South for several months and that a SOAP order would interfere with mine and my children's living situation. He had said that the environment was not a good place to raise my children and I shouldn't be prostituting myself with kids to raise.
Without any facts he had already determined that I was a prostitute. Doesn't the law say that one is to be presumed innocent until proven guilty?
Now I was ready to give up. My kids deserved so much better than I could give them. I felt lucky to be alive. That's when I met Tony.
He showed me that I my life wasn't over. He made me feel like no one had ever made me feel. He wasn't there to use me. I didn't feel like a 'dirt whore' when I was with him. Most of all he didn't feel sorry for me, he saw through the mask that I wore.
I called a local shelter and went to live there. While living at the shelter I applied to a couple transitional living programs and was accepted through the YWCA. The program requires a monthly service fee, which is 30% of my monthly income. For 20 hours each week, I am required to be in school, working, or working on my mental health. I meet with a case manager once a week to set weekly goals and see how things are going.
Seattle Mental Health Center is where I was diagnosed with agoraphobia with panic disorder. I take 100mg of Zoloft everyday to help to be able to walk out my front door.
I believe that if it weren't for Tony and the YWCA, I wouldn't be here today. Imagine if there were a safe place similar to the YWCA for these women to escape to. I see a city with fewer victims of exploitation and violence. I see fewer victims of people like Gary Ridgeway to stalk. Sometimes people are dealt a life they don't deserve, why does this mean they can't be given the chance at a better one?
Would you mind if I put your link onto my site?
Your work and dedication has helped or inspired many others I'm sure of it.
Jen *******