"I am in the process of freedom"
- Trapped Indoors: Survivor Interview (stellamarrundercovercallgirl.wordpress.com)
- Eden Movie, Based on the Life of Trafficking Survivor, Activist & Artist Chong Kim (secretlifeofamanhattancallgirl.wordpress.com)
- Terrible Beauty: Angel K on Prostitution & the Inadequacy of Language (survivorsconnect.wordpress.com)
- How a Holocaust Survivor Helps Prostitution Survivors (survivorsconnect.wordpress.com)
- Eden, Film about Trafficking Survivor Chong Kim, a Huge Hit at SXSW Festival (survivorsconnect.wordpress.com)
Love that Romero quote.
I just started reading Sex Trafficking by Siddharth Kara and am finding it enlightening, to say the least. His solutions to ending this inhumane practice are obvious but complicated to put into practice. How can we get people in the States to get behind a campaign to end trafficking when so many keep turning a blind eye to domestic abuse/violence? Why aren’t we harder on these husbands/wives/partners whi mentally and physically abuse women, men, and children? As a society, if we don’t end violence and abuse in our own homes, how can we expect to end it in the streets? It breaks my heart knowing so little is and can be done until our leaders and the justice system gets real about prosecution and punishment. And we have got to stop start standing up for ourselves and not let the insults bring us down. I say, call me a whore or a slut or a bitch. Those words don’t define me or any woman. Those words only define the bullies and abusers who like slinging them in our direction.
Stella…..I think its great, not only that you and your sisters have rescued yourselves, surviving horrors most of us will never comprehend, but that the Internet has given you a way to find and support each other as not possible in the past. One more portion of hope to hold onto, I think, for those still ensnared in that life….
Also, I think that anyone, anyone at all, who is NOT inspired by the strength and courage you and your sisters have found, and shown, has lost all connection to their own humanity….. that said, you have my support and admiration, as well as all the good vibes I can send your way, for what it is worth…. take care, and Blessed Be, sister…..
Very inspiring that you are filled with so much love and hope! So happy you found your path to freedom!
Those are very beautiful words. Thanks for sharing them. =)
In our weakness we find our strength. Thank you for being strong. The world needs this very much.
I can’t think of any other place more fitting than here to say, “thank you,” for writing your story. It’s taken me a long time to be able to read your blog–too familiar, too painful. I feel less shattered about beginning to address my own world of being prostituted by reading your blog. I can’t read it every day, Stella, but thank you for posting on WordPress.
Trafficking is so normalized people don’t even see it, so it’s hard for me to let myself look at that really scared kid who also focused on moments of freedom (like running through the night and feeling the breeze) so she (me) could handle the dark realities.
Thank you, Stella. Thank you so much.
Meredith
Stella – Thanks for living out your freedom! I too follow 9to20 and am encouraged to continue seeing stories of hope. May God Bless your life, may your words heal others, and I promise to do my part in the fight against Human Trafficking! Thank you
Kisses from The Cockroach!
xoxoxooxoxox
Stella not only am I impressed by your blog here, but you also have the same name as my late Grandmother. Your information hits close to home for me as I am in the same city as Natalie Holloway. I am not sure if she was involved in Human Trafficking or not, but her parents lost a beautiful young lady and daughter. My heart goes out to anyone involved in this or any other areas, i.e. prostitution.
THANK YOU for the work you are doing through your blog here. It definitely shows that you have a “committed heart” in this matter.
I think that your site is one of the best reasons to have an internet. Sex trafficking is a complex issue that deserves our society’s immediate and focussed attention. It is through blogs like this that I have hope we will one day be able to put this disturbing industry firmly into the history of humanity.
I’m moved by your story. You are a brave woman and though you don’t know me and it may mean nothing, I am proud of you. Following your blog will be enlightening and sobering, and hopeful.
Archbishop Romero had his own hell to contend with, and knew very well what he was saying in that powerful remark you so aptly quoted. In a way, small or large, every one of us is imprisoned or threatened, whether by the abuse and violence of others or by internal tortures or blindness we have not overcome. Your work in ‘outing’ sex traffickers and others who perpetuate such darkness is a vital task on the front lines opposing its hold on us all. Thank you.
Kathryn