Word Count: 849
Dina Chan, a victim of sex trafficking says, “Is it right? Is this justice? My “sisters” and I, we do not create the demand, we are the objects; the demand comes from the men, the men come to us. We are cheated, deceived, trafficked, humiliated, and tortured. Why? Because men want us, and we bring money to the powerful. But we are powerless". Through all of my research, I have found that solving a problem doesn’t always mean busting people, it doesn’t always mean putting people in jail for what they have done wrong. If we want to stop a problem, we need to start from the root to prevent it, and in the case of sex trafficking, reduce the demand for it.
Sex trafficking started long before it was recognized by a greater public; it didn’t get much attention until the 1980s “when female activists started protesting the exploitation of women and girls in prostitution and pornography”(Hughes) At which point, “[d]ebates raged for years among feminists about ‘free’ and ‘forced’ prostitution, and whether or not all prostitution should be included in the definition of sex trafficking.”(Hughes) Since then, sex trafficking has become much more common and much harder to prevent.
Jeremy Bentham was the founding father of Utilitarianism and once said, "Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment, you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow-creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul.”(GoodReads) As these words reveal, Bentham believed it was essential to minimize the amount of pain in the world and maximize the amount of happiness. He also believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. There are many parallels here with the sentiments Dina Chan expresses through her own story.
In Chan’s story, she talks about how over the years she has made a lot of money for her pimp, but as Bentham said, you can do something to add to the pleasure of others or you can diminish something of their pains. By the logic of Utilitarianism, the most just course of action would thus be to create happiness for the majority of people in the world, when others suffer, we suffer, and when others are enslaved, we can't truly be free or happy-- knowing we're living in a world where that sort of injustice and inequality and immoral behavior is happening.
Although this issue is something we don’t hear about on a daily basis and thus seems uncommon, it is in fact happening every day under our noses, in our own towns and cities, in our own neighborhoods. It is kept so underground that barely anyone is educated about it; oftentimes people don’t know what to do if they come across someone who they think may be in danger of it. There are about 21 million victims of sex-trafficking on earth right now, and from there, it is split up between continents, 11.7 million victims (56%) of the global total in the Asia Pacific Region, 3.7 million victims (18%) in Africa, 1.8 million victims (9%) in Latin America, 1.5 million victims (7%) in Developed Economies and European Union, 1.6 million victims (7%) in Central and South-eastern European countries, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and there are 600,000 (3%) victims in the Middle East.
There are many organizations that are working tirelessly to put an end to this issue, such as Half the Sky. Half the Sky began as a book written by a couple who traveled to Cambodia to help women stuck in trafficking and ultimately bring them back to their families. The couple then turned the book into a movement to educate people on the tragedy that is sex trafficking. This movement gives you the opportunity to support the girls trapped in sex trafficking and give them the chance of starting anew. The two who started this movement, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, have since been traveling around the world, bringing the women back to a normal life, then continuing to check in even after their rescue to make sure things are running smoothly in their new lives.
In the end, people need to be aware of what is happening all around us, all the time. We need to be educated and be willing to help those that are enslaved in this horror story of a reality. There is more than often no escape from this lifestyle that has been forced upon more humans than we know. Any small amount of support will be worth so much to so many people. So WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO? - PREVENT HUMAN TRAFFICKING! - WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO IT? - NOW!
Dina Chan, a victim of sex trafficking says, “Is it right? Is this justice? My “sisters” and I, we do not create the demand, we are the objects; the demand comes from the men, the men come to us. We are cheated, deceived, trafficked, humiliated, and tortured. Why? Because men want us, and we bring money to the powerful. But we are powerless". Through all of my research, I have found that solving a problem doesn’t always mean busting people, it doesn’t always mean putting people in jail for what they have done wrong. If we want to stop a problem, we need to start from the root to prevent it, and in the case of sex trafficking, reduce the demand for it.
Sex trafficking started long before it was recognized by a greater public; it didn’t get much attention until the 1980s “when female activists started protesting the exploitation of women and girls in prostitution and pornography”(Hughes) At which point, “[d]ebates raged for years among feminists about ‘free’ and ‘forced’ prostitution, and whether or not all prostitution should be included in the definition of sex trafficking.”(Hughes) Since then, sex trafficking has become much more common and much harder to prevent.
Jeremy Bentham was the founding father of Utilitarianism and once said, "Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains. And for every grain of enjoyment, you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow-creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul.”(GoodReads) As these words reveal, Bentham believed it was essential to minimize the amount of pain in the world and maximize the amount of happiness. He also believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. There are many parallels here with the sentiments Dina Chan expresses through her own story.
In Chan’s story, she talks about how over the years she has made a lot of money for her pimp, but as Bentham said, you can do something to add to the pleasure of others or you can diminish something of their pains. By the logic of Utilitarianism, the most just course of action would thus be to create happiness for the majority of people in the world, when others suffer, we suffer, and when others are enslaved, we can't truly be free or happy-- knowing we're living in a world where that sort of injustice and inequality and immoral behavior is happening.
Although this issue is something we don’t hear about on a daily basis and thus seems uncommon, it is in fact happening every day under our noses, in our own towns and cities, in our own neighborhoods. It is kept so underground that barely anyone is educated about it; oftentimes people don’t know what to do if they come across someone who they think may be in danger of it. There are about 21 million victims of sex-trafficking on earth right now, and from there, it is split up between continents, 11.7 million victims (56%) of the global total in the Asia Pacific Region, 3.7 million victims (18%) in Africa, 1.8 million victims (9%) in Latin America, 1.5 million victims (7%) in Developed Economies and European Union, 1.6 million victims (7%) in Central and South-eastern European countries, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and there are 600,000 (3%) victims in the Middle East.
There are many organizations that are working tirelessly to put an end to this issue, such as Half the Sky. Half the Sky began as a book written by a couple who traveled to Cambodia to help women stuck in trafficking and ultimately bring them back to their families. The couple then turned the book into a movement to educate people on the tragedy that is sex trafficking. This movement gives you the opportunity to support the girls trapped in sex trafficking and give them the chance of starting anew. The two who started this movement, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, have since been traveling around the world, bringing the women back to a normal life, then continuing to check in even after their rescue to make sure things are running smoothly in their new lives.
In the end, people need to be aware of what is happening all around us, all the time. We need to be educated and be willing to help those that are enslaved in this horror story of a reality. There is more than often no escape from this lifestyle that has been forced upon more humans than we know. Any small amount of support will be worth so much to so many people. So WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO? - PREVENT HUMAN TRAFFICKING! - WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO IT? - NOW!
Sources:
- •, Donna Hughes. “Combating Sex Trafficking: A History.” Fair Observer, 8 May 2014, www.fairobserver.com/region/north_america/combating-sex-trafficking-history/.
- Chan, Dina. “Modern Slave Story: Sex Trafficking.” End Slavery Now, 5 Jan. 2015, www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/dina-chan.
- Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
- “Jeremy Bentham Quotes (Author of The Principles of Morals and Legislation).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/59867.Jeremy_Bentham.