Sex trafficking has become a severe threat to our society. It usually targets the female sect of our society, especially young and naive girls. People perceive it as if it’s just a problem in “other countries,” but if we take a closer look, it might be happening somewhere around us, close enough for us to be targeted as well. Here, I will share 8 Books to Raise Awareness About Sex Trafficking.
Whenever I turn on the news these days, most of the headlines I find are full of negative things happening around us, especially crimes against women are raising. One of the most heinous crimes against women is sex trafficking. One needs to be well aware of spotting a racket in this era. I wasn’t having much knowledge about it before, but now, I can safely say I have the required knowledge because I took the initiative to read a few books related to it.
Sex trafficking means when a person is trafficked to exploit them sexually. Such a person is forced into sexual acts and is a form of human slavery. Sex trafficking breaks a person physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. It is such a severe crime, yet people aren’t talking about it enough, and hence, such rackets keep on operating for a long time. It is essential to educate people about it right from the beginning.
The question that arises is how can we educate others (and ourselves) about it? Well, what is that thing you turn to whenever you need to gain knowledge about anything? That’s right, books! So, let me share a few books that are a must-read if you ask me.
8 Awsome Books to Raise Awareness About Sex Trafficking
Read and recommend these books in order to spread awareness about the topic of sex trafficking and it is making people suffer.
1. Stolen
Full Title: Stolen: The True Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor
Author: Cecil Murphey and Katariina Rosenblatt
Publishing Date: 2014
Genre: Biography
Description:
This book is based on a true story of a sex trafficking survivor, Katariina Rosenblatt, who escaped that trap more than once. Katariina, who was already an abused young girl yearning to be loved, was recruited while she was with her family in hotel Miami Beach by a young woman who pretended to be her friend but slowly lured her into the ring of child prostitution. Readers will know the frightening truth of our society as she shares her horrifying experiences.
2. Girls Like Us
Full Title: Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
Author: Rachel Lloyd
Publishing Date: 2011
Genre: Nonfiction
Description:
The author, Rachel Lloyd, shared her story with us in this book of when she was a thirteen-year-old vulnerable yet tough girl with no responsible adult to support her and how she survived the pain and the abuse she had to go through. She had become a victim of a sex exploitation racket which she was able to break free from and how she met more people in her life with the same past and helped them.
3. Trafficking and Prostetution Reconsidered
Full Title: Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights
Author: Bandana Pattanaik, Jyoti Sanghera, and Kamala Kempadoo
Publishing Date: 2005
Genre: Nonfiction
Description:
This book is a little different from others. This book argues against some general perceptions of people with regard to human trafficking and prostitution. It is often seen that trafficking and prostitution are considered to be synonymous but the authors debate otherwise. Along with the topic of sex trafficking, this book also voices several social issues like human rights and migration.
4. God in a Brothel
Full Title: God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey Into Sex Trafficking and Rescue
Author: Daniel Walker
Publishing Date: 2011
Genre: Christian Literature
Description:
This book is also based on a true story of an investigator who went undercover by infiltrating a multi-millionaire sex trade industry and released several young children from a life of slavery and prosecution. The author shares his personal thoughts of how he followed a life of discipleship and unlikely redemption.
5. Half the Sky
Full Title: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Author: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Publishing Date: 2008
Genre: Nonfiction
Description:
Even though sex trafficking is not limited to, but is most prominent among females. This book draws our attention towards various women in Asia and Africa who’ve been struggling through their devastating lives and among them, is a Cambodian teenage girl who had been a victim of sex slavery. This book expresses the anger and disappointed towards crimes like sex trafficking, among others.
6. Sex Trafficking
Full Title: Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery
Author: Siddharth Kara
Publishing Date: 2009
Genre: True Crime
Description:
This book doesn’t waver and sticks to the topic of sex trafficking, especially of the females. The author shares the horrors and distortions that he witnessed with his own eyes. He first got acquainted with this horrifying thing in Bosnian refugee camp in 1995. He travelled many areas including India, Nepal, Vietnam, Burma, and so many more countries. He was a first-hand witness of humans being sold like commodities and how they were exploited.
7. Sold
Full Title: Sold
Author: Patricia McCormick
Publishing Date: 2006
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Description:
Even though this is a fictional book, it doesn’t seem like one as the emotions depicted are just too realistic to be considered as unreal. Sold into prostitution by her step-father in the name of supporting the family, this book follows the story of a thirteen year old girl Lakshmi who is now a sex slave for a wealthy woman named Mumtaz who she is now trapped with. The only thing that’s keeping her alive is her friendship with other girls and her mother’s words that say “simply to endure is to triumph.” Will Laxmi ever be able escape the hell?
8. The Seductions of Qualifications
Full Title: The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence, and Sex Trafficking
Author: Sally Engle Merry
Publishing Date: 2016
Genre: Nonfiction
Description:
We see every day on news channels and in newspapers, various numerical figures. The world is such in this era that everything can be measured. This book investigates the various methods and techniques applied to analyze the numbers in the production of matters like gender violence, human rights violation, and sex slavery. It is argued in this book that even though such figures convey some truth, they fail to acknowledge them despite creating an environment of social change.
Conclusion | 8 Books to Raise Awareness About Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking, sex slavery, and prostitution are no small crimes. They are some of the most heinous ones. I hope that you would go through these books that I recommended above at least once to get familiar with the concept of sex trafficking so that you stay aware and also help the ones around you.
Also, if you liked these recommended books, I have more for you:
