Girls Like Us and the Global Discourse on Trafficking

“…show me the crude tattoo of her pimp’s name that he’d hand-carved into her inner thigh as he sat between her legs holding a gun to her head.” This paragraph continued to reflect on one of Lloyd’s experiences of, “Kimmie, who was stabbed in the vagina by a group of men and left to die in the street, reminds me about the violence of johns” (Lloyd).
         
          While reading Girls Like Us, what struck me the most were the pictures Lloyd painted of the extreme violence these women and girls face while living “the life”.  This quote in particular made me extremely uneasy and angry.  These two scenarios depicted are unfortunately the norm for those who are trafficked and exploited and not just by their pimps, although pimps do use systematic violence to control these women. In the essay Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries: An Update on Violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the authors point out how much of the violence women and girls experience through trafficking is by the johns themselves. In recounting one woman’s experiences, “The job required her to tolerate verbal abuse, being grabbed and pinched on the legs, buttock, breasts and crotch… sometimes resulting in bruises and scratches… and severe pain… physically brutalized...hair was pulled as means of control and torture…she was burned with cigarettes by customers who raped her” (35). After reading this particular story and already knowing by what means pimps use to keep women exploited to ultimately make money, I felt like this violence is more deep rooted in society than previously thought. The entire sex industry is fueled by overall violent attitudes toward women and, apparently, a belief that given the “right” situation this is okay. Reading this type of graphic material makes me wonder how any law enforcement who sees this or people who read this could think this type of life is a choice and a criminal act on the part of the woman.

Word count: 323

Works Cited

Farley, Melissa, Ann Cotton, Jacqueline Lynne, Sybille Zumbeck, Frida Spiwak, Maria E. Reyes, Dinorah Alvarez, and Ufuk Sezgin. "Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries." Journal of Trauma Practice 2.3-4 (2004): 33-74. < http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/pdf/Prostitutionin9Countries.pdf>.

 Lloyd, Rachel. Girls like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself. New York: HarperCollins, 2011. Print.

Service Learning Log #2

Activism:

            During this past week most of us took the trip to the Fellsmere farmworker community to help them with preparation for their second community garden. I had the most amazing time working with this community of people and the other volunteers. We helped them clear a plot of land of tree roots and rake the area so they could get ready to plant, one of the farmworkers said that with the amount of help we contributed in one day saved them almost a week of work. Overall this trip was a success for our class and the community. Next week I'm hoping we are able to get moving on the other fundraising events as well as, how we are going to contribute to the women to women conference on April 14th and figuring out what we are doing with our Global partner, which we now have! I think a major pitfall of our work is that aside from our fundraising, we have not actually given anything to the community we are working with, we ourselves have not constructed an event, etc., that fulfills a need that the farmworkers have expressed they have and we now have to figure out how can are going to help our global partner.

Reflection:

            Going to the community garden this week illustrates what Betty Wells says in the text Women’s Activism and Globalization, “Food knits closer community ties by bringing people into a closer relationship with each other and the place where food is grown” (150). Working side by side with the farmworker community of Fellsmere is a perfect demonstration of how we as a class have worked to accomplish an understanding and closeness with this community, which is what YAYA is constantly working to create. Bells also points out how, “globalization alters power relations and gives rise to new forms of resistance” (143). When I look at what our community partner and the farmworker community are doing with the construction of multiple organic gardens, I see a new type of resistance in place, one that removes them from the oppression they may face in their work lives. This face to face contact with our community partner and the farmworkers makes me feel like global and transnational feminism and activism may actually be possible, especially when connecting local communities with global issues.  

Reciprocity:

             I think that this week we have given our community partner a lot of physical work, which has ultimately helped make progress with their plans for a second community garden, as well as, materials for future volunteers to help with the gardens. I personally, have gained a little insight into an amazing community of people I did not know about before this week, a community I hope to work with in the future. I would hope that the class as a whole has gained something similar to this and that everyone has been humbled by this experience, but also motivated to do more.

Word Count: 492

Works cited

Wells, Betty L. "Context, Strategy, Ground: Rural Women Organizing to Confront Local/Global Economic Issues." Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. 142-50. Print.