The Trap: Modern-day slavery
July 5, 2018 11:19 AM   Subscribe

The Guardian takes a look at the burgeoning sex trafficking industry abusing incarcerated women in the US. The documentary (ten parts of 3 minutes each) is available for free online here.
posted by stillmoving (15 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Christ. I imagine a lot of terrible people are very happy about the current situation in the US for purely personal, economic reasons.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jesus, the first 30 seconds of that is brutal. So Orlando is appealing to sex traffickers because the men are looking for something more entertaining than Disneyland? That's some dystopian shit, right there.

And as to the economics...it's slavery.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:09 PM on July 5, 2018 [10 favorites]


Fucking christ. Just when I think shit can't get worse.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:23 PM on July 5, 2018


Forgive me if I've just missed it, but is there an article or series of articles, or is it just the video series?
posted by Rock Steady at 12:35 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Just when I think shit can't get worse...

...someone declares, "Challenge accepted."
posted by otherchaz at 12:39 PM on July 5, 2018 [4 favorites]


Pretty sure it's just videos. I didn't see a corresponding article, but would have preferred that as well.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:52 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


And the adolescent/teenage girls separated from their immigrant parents are a perfect source of workers for Jeffrey Epstein or his successors. I'm shocked and annoyed that this hasn't been a subject of public discussion.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:55 PM on July 5, 2018 [8 favorites]


And as to the economics...it's slavery.

No, no. They're "prisoners with jobs," even a summer blockbuster gets it.

Anyway, Happy 4th. We might not be the worst country in the world, but having to point that out every day shows how far we are from the best.
posted by grandiloquiet at 2:10 PM on July 5, 2018 [6 favorites]


This was very well done but it was not 10 parts of 30 MINUTES each. They were 3 minutes each. The entire thing is 30 minutes.
posted by dobbs at 2:50 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]


Apologies, yes, 30 minutes total. The article linked is about the making of the documentary. Wasn't able to find more written work about the project.
posted by stillmoving at 3:20 PM on July 5, 2018


Mod note: Edited the post text accordingly so people aren't like "yes but...FIVE HOURS?" etc. Carry on.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:54 PM on July 5, 2018


It's a shame on society. Trafficking is enabled by the hypocrisy of puritans, just like the war on drugs. Maybe in a somewhat better future world the unionized Escort Collectives could regulate things properly.
posted by ovvl at 5:58 PM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


The documentary sucked me in - I meant to watch the first 3 minutes and just watched the whole thing. Very powerful and horrifying and also... darkly hopeful? Sort of? Because it’s evidence of the capacity for people to escape, even if the odds right now are horrible.

I am ashamed to say this, but seeing the difference between the woman’s “during sex trafficking” photos and her current state, I realized I’m probably ignoring people around me who have the same potential to grow and change.
posted by samthemander at 6:27 PM on July 5, 2018


Trafficking is enabled because there are people who want to buy other people. As long as there's profit to be had, trafficking will exist.
posted by Gorgik at 6:46 PM on July 5, 2018 [5 favorites]


Really, there is nothing particularly "modern" or "new" about this, just the ebb and flow of popular attention and care.

Trafficking is enabled by the hypocrisy of puritans, just like the war on drugs. Maybe in a somewhat better future world the unionized Escort Collectives could regulate things properly.

Puritan hypocrisy contributes to concealing the crime and often exacerbates the problem, but trafficked sex work continues even in places where robust protections for decriminalized sex workers. There continues to be a market despite other, even legal, outlets. The problem is in the willingness of traffickers to exploit other people and consumers to numb themselves to the possibility that they may be exploiters themselves, and we all are, even if you aren't a sex work customer.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:55 AM on July 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


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