New Graphic Novel Addresses Human Trafficking

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/17/human-trafficking-california-_n_2150518.html

     After reading Somaly Mam's book so far this week, I read up more on human trafficking throughout the web. I came across this article which speaks of General Kamala Harris vow to crack down even more on sex trafficking as well as forced labor in California. California is one of the nation's top four destination states for trafficking, which is a global industry reeling in over $32 billion a year. The board of law makers are attempting to strengthen the training so investigators and law enforcement are better equipped to spot victims. California passed Proposition 35 in which people who support human trafficking will pay the highest penalties possible. The number of victims identified has tripled in the last two years, but due to the awfully large number of people currently in these situations it's not good enough. Of those, 72% have been born in the United States. A substantial amount of foreigners would be in California due to it's closeness to other nations in the world.
     And in this day and age, people are able to lure other's in of all ages from their homes using the Internet by promising better lives and great pay, when really they are getting into something the complete opposite. How unsurprising that horrible people are using social media to recruit. Because of the ever so progressing form of trafficking, new ways of spreading awareness has to make its way. A local writer and illustrator have written a graphic novel that releases next year that brings attention to human trafficking. The video about it is at the bottom of the provided link. Addressing this dark world of modern day slavery and tapping into a newer demographic through this comic book called Home of the Brave taking place in a "third world" America, could go a long way. It makes me relieved that better awareness of the issue is in the future.
     Though Somaly Mam's book is just an account of the slavery in Cambodia, broken women of all ages are everywhere in the world, not to mention the United States. In the article, a victim of trafficking in L.A states, "My message for the victim out there is don't be afraid to come out," she said. "There's still hope." Though I do like the message, there are people in places of the world that are even more under the gun. Like Sry Roat from The Road of Lost Innocence. When she wanted to escape she asked a client for help but this man knew Li, whom looked over her. He tied her arms and held a pistol to the side of her head and shot her brains out. So, though in an ideal world it's best to seek help, I think part of the awareness in human trafficking is that it's not so simple to be able to reach out to the world. In Cambodia, this was extremely hard for Somaly because the lack of communication in Cambodian culture. So far this book has been disgusting to read because of the hyperactive sex drives in every single man. Literally, every man in this book can not help but rape. It almost seems rape is worked into the culture; and it baffles me wondering how many other nations have or had a similar outlook. While reading the book, I long for Somaly to meet someone who will not deceive her, and beat and rape her (even the police), but find her to be a beautiful human being. 

"With more than 20 million victims of human trafficking around the world, we've got a lot more to do." -President Barack Obama

Sex traffiking close to home

In discussing Somaly Mam's book this week, it has been difficult for me to remember that this is not an issue specific only to Cambodia. It is crazy to think that something like sex traffiking could be happening right in Buffalo, NY. It's easy to think that these kinds of things don't happen close to home and that we are always safe, even though this is obviously not true. The images that Somaly Mam depicts in her novel are extremely graphic and hard to read at times but the way that they reach an audience such as our class is incredible. 
I decided to look up sex traffiking in New York and see what kind of results would show up. Cases of human sex traffiking that are reported are actually all recorded and kept in a resource center(http://www.polarisproject.org/state-map/new-york). The site that I found includes reports of hotline calls as well as data from cases that reference human sex traffiking. I am currently interning at a domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center where we have a hotline for victims to call, so when I saw that there was something similar for sex traffiking this connection intrigued me. I am really enjoying the novel that we are reading but in some ways it has reinforced my idea that the issue of sex traffiking is not an issue of the United States. It would be nice to see more about this issue in a global perspective and not so focused in remote areas. 

Sex Trafficking in America

I googled "sex trade in America" and this interesting article was the first to pop up:

http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/resource/past-articles/enslaved-in-america-sex-trafficking-in-the-united-states

It is about a woman in America who fell for a man who was soon to become her pimp.  She makes a point about media though, which reminds me of past readings.  Commercials, ads, and movies have forced Americans to believe that they need to buy this product or look this way or go to this place, but it has also made things like the word "pimp" look glamorized.  A pimp is looked at as something a man ought to be. It's just seen as cool.  A few years ago my friend and I actually dressed up as pimps for Halloween.  We wore fur coats, big hats, used canes, and had gold teeth.  We thought of it as a joke.  But pimps and prostitution are the farthest things from a joke.

Somaly Today

The book, The Return to Innocence, is such a fantastic book in my opinion. Once Is started to read it I couldn't put it down. This issue of sex trafficking really has shocked the hell out of me. I had some inkling that     it was still going on but from what we've talked about, ITS SO COMMON! I feel like we need to defiantly be more informed about this. Why isn't this being talked about in the presidential debates? They already openly talk about what women should or should not do with their body, why not look at it on a national scale? To me someones freedom is the most important thing. You can't help someone have health care if said person is never allowed to even steps into a hospital. Everyone is so worried about how to get richer; they don't even realize that people would love to just simply have money they could call their own. Perhaps having this book put into the history classes in high school perhaps will get people thinking about it the way I am now. I've been doing a lot of research on the topic, seeing if their is anyway I could some how help. We need people to know that sex trafficking isn't something that just happens in the movies, like Taken. It's something that's happening possibly right down the street.

Discussion about "The Road Of Lost Innocence"

"The Road Of Lost Innocence" by Somaly Mam is a story that saddens me greatly. Her story makes me realize that sex trafficking is a huge problem that many people including myself don't think about. Everyone should have to read this book so that it can open peoples' eyes to what is going on around the world including in our own backyard. Mam has told her story in such a beautiful yet saddening way that makes me want  to try harder to help fight this horrible problem. I never fully understood the pain and torture both physical and mental that these girls have to endure on a daily basis, even now I can't really understand what they have gone through. I also am now understanding how much corruption there is in the government in Cambodia and even our government here. The fact that Mam managed to fight her way through everything she has been through and come out the other side a better person makes her a warrior. Somaly Mam is a hero and by writing this book she is standing up to these problems and trying to make a difference. 

My Reaction to Mam's Book Thus Far

One important transition Somaly describes in the book that I have particularly noticed is from hopeless to hopeful. When she first got to the brothel, Somaly felt trapped. She tried desperately to have control of her body and her situation. She fought off the men who violated her and tried to block off her senses from the horrible things she smell and touched. But, as much as she tried she could not gain the control she so desperately needed. If she fought off the men she was punished, through starvation, physical violence, and other means. Though she tries not to feel things, as revealed by her viseral memories in the book, she was unsuccessful. At this point, she realized that it was much easier to simply give in and agree with her "owners", making life at least a little easier.
But, there was a shift in Somaly's compliance. Men began to offer her marriage, a way of getting out.She realized the only way she could escape was through the one thing that other people valued about her, her body. She tried to escape, revealling her regained hope and decided a rich husband was how should could really better her situation.

Gay Rights

Being on blogs and social networking websites I always come across great videos that always deal with subjects in our class. I recently came across this video called, College Humor: Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends, which played around with the idea of gay marriage and if it was not legalized there would be consequences. These consequences include marrying every straight male’s girlfriend because they will enjoy doing the same things together and she is able to talk about situations where they can relate.

Although I find this video playfully funny, I believe there is still a real issue here with gay rights. Without legalizing it we are forcing people in gay relationships to either stay unmarried or to relocate to another state. In my personal opinion I believe that whether this law would benefit you or not, we should legalize it so everyone has the option. It’s not about what you agree or disagree with, it’s about equality and opening up opportunities to everyone that are affected by this regulations.

Remembering back to our conversation with the Pride Alliance club on campus I cannot help but to think about the exposure their gay community is getting from the gay stereotypes portrayed in this video. It is important to see the wrong in stereotypes but I do believe it was necessary to get the point across for a subject like this.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/college-humor-gay-men-will-marry-your-girlfriends-video_n_2117777.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

New slavery

The last class discussion we had really stuck to me. After reading the expert from Kevin Bales book I was waiting anxiously to go to class to talk about it. And to be honest as I was reading the first story in my head I was saying "Wow, this must be from the 50's or early 60's at most," when I found out that it was from 1992 I was shocked- how could this be still going on??!!? I was more disgusted that I had never heard of any modern day slavery before this reading (other than the Kathy Gifford scandal). I can't think of any other reason as to why the modern slavery is being hushed other than money. The people who are gaining from the use of slaves don't want to give up their wealth. Even in class when Jef asked us if we would continue buying items like sugar for a higher cost if we knew it wasn't from fair trade, mostly everyone said no because we are too poor to buy it. But lets think about it, anyone who is attending college is far from being poor like these people who are forced into slavery because they are truly poor. If we gave up on our iphones and downgraded to a regular flip phone we would save enough money to buy the higher priced sugar. And that is just a small change that people could make to support fair trade products. But people just don't want to give up the ability to creep on someones Facebook or look at someones tweet while not being able to access a computer. The innocent people who are forced into slavery can't even eat or sleep comfortably let alone have the luxury to use Facebook or Twitter.

I am trying to imagine what the world would really be like without the use of slaves at all, and the more I think about it the more I believe that the world would probably not be able to run at all. We so heavily rely on slave use that to give it up would be like asking the world to stop using cars and factories. Nothing would get done and trade would be impacted. It's like we have created a world where slaves is a main component or a key to success in the world. I feel like there's nothing I can do about this problem, we have gotten ourselves too deep into this mess.

I've found a sit where you can learn more information and learn what you can do to help the people who are being enslaved. https://www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx?pid=584 There you can donate and find out others things you can do to help the cause.

Who is Really Wearing the Penis?

As if Lady Gaga didn't already have enough of a hypothetical penis, here she is on the front of "The UK's Biggest Magazine" wearing a giant black strap-on. We all know that Gaga is really into making big statements, but is this really a statement. It definitely has the shock value that Gaga would want. Yet it was mentioned in class that this may not be as much of a statement as woman may think. Do woman really need to wear a penis to make a statement? Is the penis the only thing our society views as powerful. Really if we think about it anything masculine is viewed as powerful, while anything feminine is viewed as weak. Or is it when a woman puts on a penis she is embracing her inner power as a woman. Some kind of feminist statement. There are so many ways we could interpret this photo. By putting on this penis do people just assume that Gaga is a lesbian. It seems whenever a woman tries to make a statement by showing her masculinity it becomes viewed as an act of  being a lesbian. When it comes down to it though there really is know way we can control how people interpret a photo like this. So I say good for you Gaga you wear that penis better than most men!!!!

Dragon Bait

Everything is scary!
Everyone's posts have me all riled up, and now I don't know where to start.
Ryan Gosling has a major point. I always noticed that in movies, and more and more lately I am becoming convinced that violence is becoming more acceptable in young people's movies, and movies that are half-for-kids (like KICKASS, for example, which was pretty well done), and that mild sensual kissing or clothing removal is considered obscene. Of course, he is going to be in Gangster Squad, and what are the chances there won't be any cheap sex and violence thrills? I just saw 007, and it was awesome. My friend Todd the other day told me about how he got smacked by his Mother for using the word "sexy", but the thing is that very same kid also watched the Godfather with his Mom before, like, second grade. Another fine film!
I want to say "What's wrong with sex in the movies! Sex never hurt anybody!"
But of course it has.
I have strong feelings about pornography. I have seen a only a fraction of it out there, but I've still seen quite a bit (my friends are coarse, of course). I have seen the very cliche long-fingernail-silly-music stuff, I have seen spoofs of other movies (Lord of the G-String, In Diana Jones), I have seen hardcore, gay, and fetish porn, and honestly I feel that porn is sex turned into violence. I have also seen such a phenomenon as LOL Porn, or porn gone wrong, which can be pretty funny (picture awful fake orgasms that look like brain damage).

No bones about it, porn degrades women, it plays off of people's insecurities, and it exploits power structures that already exist and serve to oppress. Usually I find the plots in pornography distasteful and boring, and they therefore do not excite me much. I don't mean to be a prude, of course... and to each his own. Except when it comes to child porn, or porn that MIMICS child porn. These incite such wrath in me. It's so insidious too, the way pornographers can inject things suggestive of child porn into movies.

My critique of cyberspace is only that it makes us THINK we lose our freedom, that we are more identifiable and known and exposed, but really, we are more anonymous. Or rather, we are more confronted with our insignificance, or our own... what am I trying to say?
Rodriguez, from our readings, says this:
"The architectural structure of the world wide web is rhizomatic; no linear progression to guide users." (pg. 371)