In Honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

AN EXCERPT FROM HALF THE SKY:

"What about trafficked girls?" Nick asked. "Are you keeping an eye out for them? There must be a lot."

"Oh, a lot. But we don't worry about them. There's nothing you can do about them."

"Well, you could arrest the traffickers. Isn't trafficking girls as important as pirating DVDs?"

The intelligence officer laughed genially and threw up his hands. "Prostitution is inevitable." He chuckled. "There has always been prostitution in every country. And what's a young man going to do from the time he is eighteen until he gets married at thirty?"

"Well, is the best solution really to kidnap Nepali girls and imprison them in Indian brothels?"

The officer shrugged, unperturbed. "It's unfortunate," he agreed. "These girls are sacrificed so that we can have harmony in society. So that good girls can be safe."

"But many of the Nepali girls being trafficked are good girls, too."

"Oh yes, but those are peasant girls. They can't even read. They're from the countryside. The good Indian middle class girls are safe."

Nick, who had been gritting his teeth, offered an explosive suggestion: "I've got it! You know, in the United States we have a lot of problems with harmony in society. So we should start kidnapping Indian middle-class girls and forcing them to work in brothels in the United States! Then young American men could have some fun, too, don't you think? That would improve our harmony in society!"

There was ominous silence, but finally the police officer roared with laughter.

"You are joking!" The officer said, beaming. "That's very funny!"

Nick gave up.

This book is a powerful, eye-opening journey in to the daily, commonplace plight of women outside the United States. The excerpt above is just one of the many examples of the backwards attitudes and flawed reasoning that leave millions of our world's women and girls mistreated, malnourished, abused and undervalued.

Until I read this book (which is uplifting, despite the nature of the content), I knew that women in other parts of the world were less than valued, I knew that sex trafficking happened, but in no way could I have ever imagined the severity with which women (I say women, but really much of this abuse happens to pre-pubescent girls) are taken advantage of.

In honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness day, I challenge you to check this book out of the library and at least read the first few chapters. Or do some research while you're looking for something to distract you from work today.

Or, if reading isn't really your thing (which wouldn't make much sense since you're reading this), go rent Born Into Brothels. It's a documentary about brothels in India as seen through the eyes of the prostitutes' children. Very powerful. I saw this documentary when I was a junior in college and can honestly say that it was my first real glimpse into the terrible misogyny that exists outside the US. And while it is certainly a powerful call to action, it does not give a global perspective the way Half the Sky does.

Or, if fiction is more your thing, read A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's a heartbreaking story about women in Afghanistan (but it does have a redeeming ending). And if you didn't know better, you'd think the story was taking place a hundred years ago... you know, back in the dark ages before women's rights even existed. But sadly it is a modern tale, and the attitudes expressed by the male characters in the book are unfortunately not the work of fiction.

And I know that women in America often complain about not being equal to men. We sometimes make less money, get hit on or harassed by our bosses and are sadly the more likely gender to be victims of rape and domestic violence. But really, American women need to spend less time and effort complaining about their slightly lower pay and more time thanking God that by the luck of the draw they were born into a country where they are not under constant threat of being kidnapped and imprisoned in a brothel.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think that sex trafficking doesn't exist in America. I know that most American prostitutes are enslaved by their pimps, but at least we live in a country where this tragedy is being addressed. At least our police officers and law-making officials understand that the mistreatment of women simply because they are women is wrong.

We have annual 3 day walks for breast cancer awareness in this country, and I'm pretty sure than unless you've been living under a rock, you are aware of breast cancer. Yet, very few people are aware of the severity of sex trafficking and misogyny worldwide and it effects millions more people than breast cancer. So today, and my hope is for many days to come, educate yourself on this issue... this issue that has been put on the back-burner for too long.