It was 1992 when southern New Jersey housed Holly Austin Smith. Entering the summer before ninth grade, Holly feared she’d get bullied in highschool and that she’d lose touch with her closest companions. Arguments with her parents constantly led her to feel as if she was a foreigner. It didn’t help that she already felt detached from her half-brother and half-sister.
Family issues were just one of the components leading to a tragic moment in her life. While at the roller rink with her friends a teenage boy seeming to be the DJ called her over from his booth. Not knowing any better she entered his area and was pressured into sexual activities. As a 12 year-old at that time, Holly believed they were dating; however, that wasn’t the case, and ever since then she’s fallen into a spiral of depression.
“I felt worse and worse afterwards,” she said, “like nobody wanted to date me. I felt like I was ugly.”
Her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and Holly was kept from the truth–drawing her further into the dark. With no one to turn to, it was no surprise that Holly confided in an older man who complimented her model-like beauty.
They met at Ocean County Mall when she caught his eye out of her group of friends, making her feel intriguing. After the exchange of numbers, Holly was unknowingly the man’s next subject for human trafficking.
Holly was persuaded into running away with him, being promised that he was going to introduce her to celebrities and fame. She was taken to a motel and told “the rules,” and that her name from now on is Stacey Kumbas. Later that night she was placed in a taxi with another girl named Nicki headed to Atlantic City. Although no one said exactly what was happening, Holly knew she was caught in a whirlwind where she knew no way out.
Human trafficking can be seen as modern-day slavery towards men, women, and often children. It is the abuse of individuals either physically, psychologically, and in fixed cases it’s the impact of one’s social caste. It is displayed in different aspects, one of them being pornography. Pornography increases sexual threshold in a sex-charged culture, usually with the sexual portrayal of women or men.
The message of human trafficking is mentioned in movies but viewers disregard the true meaning. In the movie “Pretty Woman,” human trafficking is being portrayed by a young prostitute falling for the Prince Charming that women fantasize. The movie’s portrayal of human trafficking is as though hookers and prostitutes are saved by wealthy men looking for love.
Having more than 2 million victims and happening worldwide, the trafficking business’ popularity continues to be fueled by the acceptance of the trade of humans in cultures.
In Thailand, women find themselves vulnerable to human trafficking through interracial marriages, and some brand themselves off to their preferable audience as a way to better their economic status. The problem has grown to the point where free educational courses in Thailand have been offered to help women who want to avoid scams when entering an interracial marriage.
“Our course will teach women how to conduct themselves, about the laws of their destination country, and how to prepare before going,” said senior ministry official Patcharee Arayakul to Global Citizen.
The trade of people between trafficker–”Pimp”–and buyer–”John”–is more convenient than the trade of drugs because the pimp sees the victim as a renewable source that can be used over and over again; drugs, on the other hand, are sold once and have to be bought again after use.
Millions of men, women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world every year. According to Homeland Security, human trafficking makes billions of dollars in profit per year and is second to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime. Human trafficking is a situation that can’t be overlooked any longer.
