Survivor Resources
YouTube Videos
Thresea Flores, Daily Point of Light and Women of Worth Honoree
Human Trafficking - Learn More About Holly's Story
A Survivor of Child Sex Trafficking Shares Her Story
Dreams Die Hard
How to Record Silence
Voices of Survivors
Movies
Cargo: Innocence Lost
A compelling documentary, Cargo: Innocence Lost, unveils the dark underworld of sex trafficking through compelling interviews with some of the country’s top officials on the subject, victims’ advocates and victims themselves, who were rescued in Texas. Award-winning director and writer, Michael Cory Davis (Svetlana’s Journey, Hollywood Film Festival 2005 winner, best short), makes his second directorial foray into this must-see, thought-provoking film that is interwoven with a raw, intense narrative based on numerous true stories from victims of the sex trade. Cargo: Innocence Lost explores how the business of sex trafficking has become a $9 billion dollar a year industry and why it still remains a shrouded crime in our nation.
Very Young Girls
Very Young Girls is an exposé of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in New York City as they are sold on the streets by pimps and treated as adult criminals by police. The film follows barely adolescent girls in real time, using vérité and intimate interviews with them, documenting their struggles and triumphs as they seek to exit the commercial sex industry. The film also uses startling footage shot by pimps themselves, giving a rare glimpse into how the cycle of exploitation begins for many women.
Sex + Money: A National Search for Human Worth
“Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth is a documentary about domestic minor sex trafficking and the modern-day abolitionist movement fighting to stop it. Since September 2009, the crew has traveled to over 30 states and conducted more than 75 interviews with federal agents, victims, politicians, activists, psychologists, porn-stars, among others.”
The Price of Sex
“The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.”
Not My Life
“Not My Life is the first documentary film to depict the horrifying and dangerous practices of human trafficking and modern slavery on a global scale. Filmed on five continents over a period of four years, Not My Life unflinchingly, but with enormous dignity and compassion, depicts the unspeakable practices of a multi-billion dollar global industry whose profits, as the film’s narration says, “are built on the backs and in the beds of our planet’s youth.”
Nefarious – Merchant of Souls
“Nefarious, Merchant of Souls, is a hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. From the very first scene, Nefarious ushers you into the nightmare of sex slavery that hundreds of thousands experience daily. You’ll see where slaves are sold (often in developed, affluent countries), where they work, and where they are confined. You’ll hear first-hand interviews with real victims and traffickers, along with expert analysis from international humanitarian leaders.”.
The Day My God Died
The Day My God Died is a feature-length documentary that presents the stories of young girls whose lives have been shattered by the child sex trade. They describe the day they were abducted from their village and sold into sexual servitude as, “The Day My God Died. ” The film provides actual footage from the brothels of Bombay, known even to tourists as “The Cages,” captured with “spy camera” technology. It weaves the stories of girls, and their stolen hopes and dreams, into an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery.
Books
Slavery in the Land of the Free
by Theresa Flores & PeggySue Wells
A Student’s Guide to Modern Day Slavery, Slavery in the Land of the Free is a follow-up project to bestseller, The Slave Across the Street. Geared toward teens and young adults, and those who love them, former trafficking victim and bestselling author Theresa Flores teams up with award-winning author PeggySue Wells to deliver a must-read book for the next generation who want to end human trafficking and the enslavement of their peers and siblings. With statistics, stories, and graphics, Slavery In The Land Of The Free presents students with a clear picture of how trafficking happens and how prevalent it is in our world today.
Walking Prey
by Holly Austin Smith
Walking Prey is an academic non-fiction book about the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), including child sex trafficking, in the United States. Although I do share my personal story in Walking Prey, this book is much more than a memoir. I discuss predisposing factors, community risk factors, and the mindset of “willing victims”. A child victim who does not self-identify as such is often referred to as a “willing victim,” as was I at age 14 in 1992.
Stolen
by Katariina Rosenblatt
Stolen is the true story of one survivor who escaped—more than once. First recruited while staying with her family at a hotel in Miami Beach, Katariina Rosenblatt was already a lonely and abused young girl who was yearning to be loved. She fell into the hands of a confident young woman who pretended friendship but slowly lured her into a child prostitution ring. For years afterward, a cycle of false friendship, threats, drugs, and violence kept her trapped. Stolen is more than a warning. It is a celebration of survival that will inspire.
Sold
by Zana Muhsen
Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance.
In Pursuit of Love: One Woman’s Journey from Trafficked to Triumphant
by Rebecca Bender
Through her own gripping story of escape from human trafficking, Rebecca Bender teaches us what trafficking in America looks like – and what we can do about it – as she reveals the light of God in even the darkest places. In Pursuit of Love is a riveting read that will give you the confidence to pursue your own purpose and take you on a journey to places you never thought possible.
I Am Not Your Slave: A Memoir by Tupa Tjipombo
by Tupa Tjipombo
I am Not Your Slave is the shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent. As she is transported from the point of her abduction on a remote farm near the Namibian-Angolan border and channeled to her ultimate destination in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, her three-year odyssey exposes the brutal horrors of a modern day middle passage.
Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls are not For Sale
by Rachel Lloyd
Rachel Lloyd’s riveting survivor story is the true tale of her hard-won escape from the commercial sex industry and her bold founding of GEMS, New York City’s Girls Education and Mentoring Service, to help countless other young girls escape “the life.” Lloyd’s unflinchingly honest memoir is a powerful and unforgettable story of inhuman abuse, enduring hope, and the promise of redemption.
Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America
by Francis Bok
May 1986: Seven-year-old Francis Bok was selling his mother’s eggs and peanuts near his village in southern Sudan when Arab raiders on horseback burst into the quiet marketplace, murdering men and gathering the women and young children into a group. Strapped to horses and donkeys, Francis and others were taken north into lives of slavery under wealthy Muslim farmers. For ten years, Francis lived in a shed near the goats and cattle that were his responsibility. After two failed attempts to flee—each bringing severe beatings and death threats—Francis finally escaped at age seventeen.
Cry Purple
by Christine McDonald
This is the story of the author’s journey from almost two decades of prostitution, crack addiction and prison to her present life of blindness, motherhood and happiness. She has survived brutality and discrimination with astonishing resilience and optimism.
A Shield Against the Monster
by Ann Marie Jones and Carol Hart Metzger
Traffickers and pimps have playbooks with explicit instructions for breaking and selling girls for sex. Ann Marie Jones, a survivor of sex trafficking, and Carol Hart Metzker, an activist and an ally for survivors, are fighting back. Together, they created a playbook to help parents, teachers, and community members—who cherish children—to protect kids and prevent new victims.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words.
The Slave Across the Street
by Theresa Flores
In this powerful true story, Theresa Flores shares how her life as an All-American, blue-eyed, blond-haired 15-year-old teenager who could have been your neighbor was enslaved into the dangerous world of sex trafficking while living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit. Her story peels the cover off of this horrific criminal activity and gives dedicated activists as well as casual bystanders a glimpse into the underbelly of trafficking. Involuntarily involved in a large underground criminal ring, In this book, Ms. Flores discusses how she healed the wounds of sexual servitude and offers advice to parents and professionals on preventing this from occurring again, educating and presenting significant facts on human trafficking in modern day America.