Sex Trade Abolitionist's Testimony

[J]ust in case, this is some pretty nasty stuff I'm about to get into. I've been giving less of a shit lately, and I'm more willing to engage people online & in real life about shitty libfem issues, sex work stuff, etc. And I've had plenty of opportunity to lately, with the legislation passing through the pipes. But some good things are coming out of it, friends & acquaintances are reaching out IRL to talk about this stuff and have legitimate questions. It's fostered some really great talks lately. As many of you probably know, my day-to-day job is as a homeless outreach worker. So I see a side of the world that a lot of people don't get to see. It's amazing and also extremely difficult. I meet some incredible people. Today I had an initial screening with a woman who really hammered in for me how awful the sex industry is. She was sexually abused and trafficked by her mother since age 3. She was sold to punters until she was 13, at which point she was placed into state custody. When she signed herself out at age 18, she went straight to the streets. A man picked her up soon after, and said to her, “You’re pretty, I can take you to a place where you can make enough money to put food in your belly and put a roof over your head.” He took her straight to a club, gave her an outfit, and told her to dance. That's where she was first introduced to both alcohol and hard drugs. Spoiler alert: she never did get that roof over her head. But she did get trafficked. Just last year, she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution again. She was raped, repeatedly, on livestream for different porn sites. When she escaped, she went into a program for sex trafficked women. One of the staff members there took her home and forced her to have sex with her husband. (there is an ongoing police investigation into both issues). I hear shit like this more often than I would like to. It infuriates me to the point of not even being able to speak coherently when I hear people defend and laud strip clubs, porn, prostitution, etc. Because I think of women like this client, and countless others I've worked with. Homeless women, vulnerable women, trauma that goes back to their childhood. I can't tell you how many women I've worked with who were sold as children to sick ass men. I can't believe people defend this. One person's desire to do cam work or escorting could never erase or justify the evil that happens in this world. I don't even see how people try to justify it. —friend of a friend