By Jane Wells | Director, Tricked
The last few weeks have been a contentious time in the United States with much focus on sexual assault and the judicial process. Regardless of one's political views regarding Supreme Court appointments, no one is denying that sexual assault is a global problem. A problem facing girls, women, boys, men and the transgender too.
At 3 Generations we have been paying special attention to how this filters down to those who are caught up in the complex business of sex trafficking. The Kavanaugh hearings remind us all that while we must apply standards of fairness to those who accused of sexual violence, the murky area of credibility is always present.
Lowest on the credibility spectrum are those who work in the sex industry. We know from victims we have met and filmed, that they are frequently raped, assaulted and some even murdered. Indeed, it is the most dangerous occupation in this country. Yet few perpetrators are ever brought to justice because a girl or boy forced into sex slavery has so next to zero perceived credibility within our justice system.
Over the last few weeks we were disturbed by the stories of former victims of sex trafficking who told of trying to report violent crimes of rape and assault who were literally laughed out of police stations. This is not acceptable. But we were delighted to learn this week that Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor of sex slavery, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Her testimony and her story raise the bar for victims of sexual assault across the world. Her credibility is enormous and the Nobel Peace Prize an indisputable achievement.
Our work on this crisis is far from done. We are raising awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual violence and supporting movements to stop it. If we can help raise the credibility barrier for victims then those who deserve to be behind bars for violent crimes will be brought to justice and those who are innocent will walk freely as they deserve. First we have to undestand what sexual violence actually looks like and who the victims are. That is a critical part of our work here at 3 Generations.
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