Sex Trafficking Causes Pain

Sex trafficking causes pain in every case. Whether for a day or a decade, sex trafficking causes pain in a multitude of ways.

Lasting Pain

From diseases to physical damage and the emotional trauma that comes with being purchased as an implement for the sexual pleasure of another, sex trafficking leaves a mark that cannot be completely erased. It may or may not be visible to bystanders. A survivor might be able to heal, but that comes with its own pain.

I am a nurse. Well, I was for 27 years. In a hospital, there are often wounds that require the dead and damaged tissue to be removed for healing to be active. I once observed a physician pull rotted flesh from an elderly woman’s amputated limb without any anesthesia or really, even much of an explanation for preparation. Her screams never left me. The cruelty of the cure was more severe than it needed to be.

Cruelty or Cure

There is a young woman in Tennessee who was trafficked for the purposes of prostitution as a young teen. At 16 years old, she killed one of her abusers. He was a buyer. A 43 year old man who bought her to use for his sexual gratification. That is almost as much as I know about Cyntoia Brown. I do know the situation she was in, very well. I lived that. The rapes, the beatings, getting dumped on the side of the road, being treated like trash by the adults, especially authority figures, like police degraded my ability to maintain hope in humanity.

Cyntoia Brown has been in jail for killing her abuser for years already. She received a sentence of an additional 51 years this month. I cannot imagine the reason. Unless she is currently a menace and currently a threat to society, I would hope she would be treated as the victim of a crime that she is and awarded clemency. 

I wrote a letter to Governor Haslam which reads: 

“Dear Governor Haslam,
While I do not have intimate knowledge of this case, I do have experience as a juvenile sex trafficking survivor. Ms. Brown was similarly trafficked. Violence is inherent in prostitution and even more so when juveniles are involved. Their inability to control the situation put them at significant disparity. The men we encounter(ed) have body mass, experience, and every resource imaginable beyond our own.
The fact that she killed one of her abusers is important, but it shouldn’t be determinative if the rest of her life. I say that because of the tremendous traumatic suffering involved in trafficking and incarceration. She has suffered. Again, I don’t know her personally, but unless she has currently been deemed a menace, she should receive healing and restoration from the incredible grief she has borne already.
I beg you, Sir, to provide an independent, nonpartisan investigation to ascertain her current status and provide clemency for Cyntoia Brown. 
There are many juvenile and adult sex trafficking survivors who would testify at the horrors she undoubtably suffered at the hands of buyers and her trafficker. If you are interested in hearing us. Again, I ask for your consideration in this case. 
My contact information is below. I am eager to hear from you or to hear news of your intervention in her case.”

Others have also. I hope and pray for justice for survivors everywhere. I hope people will address this horrible practice of buying and selling people. 

For Life All Ways,

Darlene