No way out? Yes, she found one. For the next three days I will be bringing you a three part series written by Stephen Mayes that started in The Oregonian yesterday. A heart crunching story that will leave you so ticked at a dad that you will think killing him wouldn't be enough punishment. A story of a twelve year old girl that went from no way out to "being a kid" again. A story that inspires an attorney involved in the case to reach beyond this girl's story to help others. The twelve year-old is such a hero that she was willing to be identified for the story but The Oregonian followed their long standing policy of not identifying victims of sexual assault. The twelve year-old wants the story told as she thinks if other girls find themselves in a similar situation that her story will help them. Read the following story and weep. Tomorrow is the court trial. Wednesday is the inspiration.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/headline_tk.html
I couldn't help relate this to another story in The Oregonian just a few days earlier that said Portland is one of the main centers of human trafficking. A young girl is abused. She runs away from home. She lives on the street. Becomes a throw away. Then she goes missing. Here is a link to a story about human trafficking:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/01/human_trafficking_industry_thr.html
We need to stop parents from abusing their children. Most of the time, but not always, it is the father abusing his daughter. If we can stop the abuse early on then maybe we can also stop human trafficking.
How can we help? Be aware of the problem. That is the main reason I am posting these articles on the blog today, to make all the readers here aware of the problem. Once you are aware of the problem then you can look for signs of it. At work. In your neighborhood. Among your relatives and friends. Be there as a responsible adult that the teens in your world can confide in.
I hope the twelve year old in the story goes on to a productive life as an adult. I hope her dad dies a painful death in prison. I hope human trafficking stops.
What is your reaction to the two stories? Could there be a correlation between the two stories?
About Me
- William J.
- First, I think the birth sign is wrong. 6-21, some papers say Gemini, some Cancer. Guess that means I have so many personalities that I can do group therapy alone. For those that don't know how to read Google profiles I have put what I really mean in ( ). Hot (Good looking enough to be in movies(if I buy at ticket). A body like a God (Buddha). Romantic (Thinks begging is foreplay.) Physically fit (Heart trouble. Put 911 on speed dial before we get initmate.) Good Provider (has good life insurance in case you forget to put 911 on speed dial.) Loyal (has reference letters from Mom and parole officer.) Intelligent (scored 1600 on his SATS but you have to total the scores of the four times that I took the test.) Looking for someone compatible (Be between 30 & 99 and not inflatable.)
4 comments:
The only correlation I see between the two stories, both of which disgust me beyond belief, is that some men are just pigs, out to satisfy their desires with absolutely no concern at all for the damage done to their victims.
With apologies to pigs, who are probably model citizens compared to child abusers.
I wonder if making prostitution legal might cut down on the trafficking. To follow the guidelines I've heard from Nevada, the girls would be tested regularly, so it would be safer for the customers, and it would add to tax revenue, maybe quite a lot.
It wouldn't stop abusers of children, however, and the penalties for them when they are caught can't be too harsh for me.
Hi Pat
Makes me embarassed to be a man, extremely disappointed in my gender.
The correlation that I see is runaways often run away from home because they are sexually abused. That puts them on the streets where they are likely to be either forced into prostitution on the streets or put into human trafficking.
I am not opposed to legalized prostitution but I am not so sure it would help that much. A lot of the trafficking is to other countries like China. Still legalized prostitution would take the pimps out of the ball game. And it certainly would reduce the spread of aids if the girls had to be tested.
Bill
I find both stories disheartening (with the exception that "ashley" is now getting help), but nor surprising. I've known too many women who were sexually abused as children, most often by family members, and edited too many manuscripts based on actual experience.
As to the human traffic, it's been going on for way too long. Thirty years ago, when I was with Golden Gloves, I heard too many stories from cops (the GG were supported by the Mpls Police Assoc). I dated an undercover cop for almost two years and trafficking was a major problem, even back then. On a few occasions, he might get a call when we were on a date and he asked me if I'd talk to the girls, especially if it was obvious they were recently on the street and there was no female officer immediately available. It was an education.
Kids ran away from home, were "helped" by older guys and women on the street. Once they were warm and "safe" and fed, they were expected to do "favors" to help pay their way. IF (big if) they were given a choice, it was the favors or the streets, banished from the only assistance they'd found. If they were troublesome, they were shipped off to another part of the country, where they knew no one and had no option of returning home, or were shipped out of country. It was a big business in Mpls, back in the mid to late seventies, and I doubt it's changed a whole lot.
The correlation is that many of the kids who ran away from home did so because of abuse at home, whether physical or sexual. As a consequence, being forced into prostitution wasn't a new issue for many of them. The only difference was that at home they had constant abuse with no payoffs and when they were turned into "pros" they had more freedom and some money to spend, nice clothes and, quite often, the "johns" treated them better than the home abuser did. Since they didn't feel they had any choice (safe places and shelters for pre-teens and teens were basically unheard of), life as a prostitue sometimes seemed the best alternative.
Awareness is part of the issue. The willingnes to step up and call the cops or social services is part of the issue. A bigger part of the issue is funding to provide enough caring social workers and educated cops who know how to deal with the situation, be it a case of suspected abuse in the home or family or a suspicion a runaway has run from physical/sexual/
emotional abuse. We have laws, we just don't have the means to supprt them. We have guidelines, but we don't have teachers, neighbors, whomever, willing to step up and verbalize a suspicion. Until we really do become our brother's keeper, until we're willing to become involved in others' welfare, the issue will remain. And I think it extends from childhood abuse to elder abuse/neglect, quite frankly.
Putting away soap box now...
Hi DR
Don't ever put away you soap box, I love them and often agree with them!
Ashley is amazing and you will find out just how amazing in the next two segments.
I live in my own little world and have for many years thought that sexual abuse was just a few on the wrong side of the tracks and how clueless was that. I am now aware of it and hope that if someone needs help they come to this older guy because I would find them help.
I am glad that you agree about awareness being one of the issues, everyone needs to be aware of it and quit denying it.
Bill
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