Trafficking In The Film 'Very Young Girls'

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The documentary Very Young Girls followed the story of several sex trafficking victims in New York. It put a particular focus on the psychological aspects of trafficking: how the pimps made the girls feel loved and acted as a father figure for them. The victims were manipulated into blaming themselves for the abuse they experienced. They felt powerless and isolated, as if they had no other option than to continue to live under control of the trafficker. Some girls like Ebony struggled with staying away from the life, almost like an addiction. Ebony believed the only way this way of life would end for her was with death. Many of the victims were trafficked at an extremely young age. Sometimes, instability in their home life causes them to leave. Dominique’s mother shamed her and …show more content…

This makes the recovery process all the more difficult because even when the victims are physically removed from their traffickers, some still feel like they need to return. One of the girls said she still loved her trafficker, even though she knew it was wrong. The traffickers are experts at manipulating these girls into staying in their exploitative situations. The two main vulnerabilities they utilize are their age and the instability of their home life. These girls are young, with low levels of education and lack of wisdom about the world, which makes it easier for the traffickers to delude them. They also use emotional manipulation to create an environment that at first seems more welcoming and loving than their home life. For the traffickers, it is extremely easy to victimize these girls and then sit back and collect the money, and their job is hardly hindered at all by the authorities. The lack of help from law enforcement shows another aspect of the problem: there is no risk for the traffickers, because punishment is almost

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