sexual exploitation

In the Booth with Ruth – Stella Marr, Sex Trafficking Survivor, Anti-Sex Trafficking Activist and Advocate, Executive Director and Founding Member of Sex Trafficking Survivors United (Survivors Connect)

Sex trafficking survivor and anti-sex trafficking advocate and activist, Stella Marr, gives a powerful interview. “I was trafficked in prostitution in New York City for nearly ten years… Two of my friends from the life were murdered. My beautiful friend, April, died of suicide because the madam she’d called promised to send help then did nothing. April died waiting – to me it feels like another murder. My best friend Gabriel, who’d been trafficked from age sixteen, died of AIDS at age twenty-four. His family kicked him out when they found out he was sick, so he had to spend his last days living with a john who made him buy life insurance with the john as beneficiary. I fill with tears when I think of it… After being trafficked in prostitution, you feel linked to all the others who’ve been there. You want them to be okay. You are no longer merely yourself; you are part of a whole…”

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Stella Marr

How did you become involved in the movement against sex trafficking and sexual exploitation?

I was trafficked in prostitution in New York City for nearly ten years, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Two of my friends from the life were murdered. My beautiful friend, April, died of suicide because the madam she’d called promised to send help then did nothing. April died waiting – to me it feels like another murder. My best friend Gabriel, who’d been trafficked from age sixteen, died of AIDS at age twenty-four. His family kicked him out when they found out he was sick, so he had to spend his last days living with a john who made him buy life insurance with the john as beneficiary. I fill with tears when I think of it.

The public needs to understand that prostitution is sex trafficking. The term ‘sex trafficking’ reflects an…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Jody Williams, Founder of Sex Workers Anonymous (formerly Prostitutes Anonymous) and Trafficking and Prostitution Services

“The programs and laws that are being set up now need to have the input of people who understand how trafficking works if they really want to put a stop to this and create safe avenues of exit and recovery for the victims… By getting more survivors involved in the process of setting up these systems, we’re going to be able to make a dent in this horrific epidemic.” Jody Williams, Founder of Sex Workers Anonymous (formerly Prostitutes Anonymous) and Trafficking and Prostitution Services.

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Jody Williams

How did you become involved working with victims of sex trafficking and prostitution?

I’ll start back when it all started – with me in the sex industry. I say ‘sex industry’ because I was involved not just in prostitution. I was operating as a prostitute, as a dominatrix, in the phone sex industry, pornography, stripping, live sex shows, swinging, sex clubs, and madaming. I had been brought into this by a generational family of pimps who had their other family members and associates all across the United States in many different areas of the sex industry.

I saw firsthand how these illegal businesses would intertwine with legal businesses and so-called legal businessmen. I know how they would bring in medical doctors who would give the women birth control, illegal abortions, treat their STDs – all off the record in exchange for a trade of services between him and the ‘girls’…

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In the Booth with Ruth – Ed Drain, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and Activist

“For the past few years, I have agitated for the freedom of Sara Kruzan. Sara Kruzan’s story represents not just what happened to her so many years ago – but it represents what is still happening today. There are still children being abused: physically, emotionally, and sexually as a precursor to being the target of and predated upon by pimps… Kruzan was eleven years old when her pimp first targeted her and molested her. Today, girls as young as eleven are still being called ‘teenage prostitutes’ by news services like Reuters… My own feeling is that until the law recognises what manipulations, pressures and dangers are forced upon young girls, there will not be, and cannot be, justice for them. I think, in this one case, we have forced the powers that be to look at such things. I think we have progressed the whole movement in this way.” Ed Drain, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate and Activist.

Ruth Jacobs's avatarRuth Jacobs

Ed Drain

How did you become involved in the movement against human trafficking?

I found out about a woman who was trafficked to a massage parlour in DC. I was disgusted to learn that she had to ask twelve ‘customers’ or johns – men who pay to use her body, for help. It was a very brave thing she did because the traffickers would have beat her severely if they knew she had asked any johns for help. The business of the trafficker is aided considerably by the perception of the johns that the women or girls want to be there, which is, of course a lie. I ended up attending a happy hour where I heard from people from Polaris Project and from DC Stop Modern Slavery. At a later meeting of DC Stop Modern Slavery, the founder of that organisation, Ray Lian, asked if anyone would research and write letters…

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