And I feel weird about even when I stand up and say I’m a human trafficking survivor, because I feel like all of a sudden people think I’m a prostitute. And I’m not, and I don’t know what’s wrong with talking about being a prostitute, but it’s just weird, you know, like the, the stigma.
[…]
I haven’t heard of anybody doing it, I think that people should be going into places where women already at risk, like the um, uh, exotic dance kind of clubs that there’s a great potential there to reach women that are at risk. I think that’s, that’s where I encountered my traffickers and I think that’s a great venue to stop things… Um, first of all, I think that there should be kind of, if you’re going to have a, a strip club in Nebraska, I think you should be certified that you’re giving presentations to prevent exploitation of women and sex trafficking. If they were required to have that by their license, I think that a lot of education could take place and reach vulnerable women.
[…]
Yeah, and you know, like, there’s studies that people that have the experience of a person, peer support, gain trust faster initially. So in crises, where it’s real critical to gain trust, I think a peer could gain that trust faster and get assistance for that person, whereas they might just say, “No thank you to someone else.” It just seems like there should be more involvement of survivors, period, in every venue.
[…]
I’d like to see people get education, primarily. Because I feel like education is the reason I could go forward with my life…if you’re involved in sex trafficking…if you have education, it’s easier to walk away. And so I think that building education primarily is really important for women…
[…]
But you know, I still have to live with that and I still have to figure that out, and I’m doing it on my own. It just seems like if I were able to talk to more survivors, there could be more that could happen…for healing….I’d like to see a certification program for survivors…for peer support nationally…so that you know…all these people can employ peer support along with social workers...A lot of people have, gone back afterwards, and I think that peers could gain trust faster and, and, stop some of the recidivism.
[…]
And if we don’t have expungement in Nebraska, we look bad, because we’re really further punishing survivors…it seems like that’s an important part, too, that expungement for the victims. And I don’t know how often youth get punished, but hopefully that’s a thing gone by for Nebraska, but.
[…]
People that buy sex are sex abusers, that there’s something wrong with people that want to purchase sex from the get-go, and if you think about our most intimate relationships, the people who want to enter money into our most intimate relationships with people, there seems to be something wrong…Well, I think that they should align people that are purchasing sex -- should get some type of offense to their name and that should be aligned with some type of treatment. They have a problem, they need treatment.
[…]
I’ve been thinking a lot about text message campaigns to…a woman who’s in the lifestyle of…you have all these messages in your head about who you are and what defines you and you know, lot of those messages keep you there. If you could give people, like, text messages of encouragement, something that will give them the messages they need. You know, I know people have physical needs, basic needs and so forth, but there’s cognitive needs that women need to, to change their, their world, too.
[…]
And you know, when people [survivors] speak, I usually see the same faces…Are people not willing to stand up? Are people not being found? Why are women so afraid to speak? And there should be support there… Um, it just seems like there should be more involvement of survivors, period, in every venue…I think having a speakers bureau where people can be more visible would be really important…It needs to be more than rescue. It needs to be about, allying and partnering. As long as you’re not partnering with survivors, then you’re helping them. And by helping someone, you’re implying they’re helpless and kind of disempowering them. If you are partnering, then you’re putting them on the same level as you. And more is possible.
Narrative as found in Shireen S. Rajaram and Sriyani Tidball, “Nebraska Sex Trafficking Survivors Speak —A Qualitative Research Study,” Faculty Publications, College of Journalism & Mass Communications (2016)
