Daniqua Polk
Karen Morris
English 1102-HHH
4 March 2011
“Sex: is That All I’m Worth”
In the case of Jessica Richardson, like the, “one million children exploited by global commercial sex trade” (U.S. Department of State 2005), she got caught up in the lifestyle of prositutionwith the false promise of a better life. Richardson, who came from a respectable American family, at the age of four, was molested by three teens that lived next door to her. At the age of ten a close family friend killed her father. With such traumatizing events haven’t took place in her life, Mrs. Richardson viewed these events as being normal for a kid.
Being a child who has suffered such horrendous acts leading into her teenage years she acted out. Her world winded out of control and she started abusing illegal substances. When she experienced her first miscarriage at the age of sixteen she was sent to a GED program, and found work at a restaurant. That’s when Richardson stated, "I had never felt so special, so loved," when she encountered the forty-three year old man who proposed a proposition to her. In his proposition he stated, “if you’re already having sex, why not turn it into a business, and get paid to do so.” This lead to her summer of 1996 being introduced to prositution.
Being a teen so young in the business, Jessica Anderson, ran the risk of having broken bones, contracting several sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV/AIDS, and forced abortions. (National Human trafficking resource center).
As Richardson started out she was prostituting on corners, underground, and eventually led to escorting men for money, where she would usually leaving before the sexually promised acts. As her life took a further plunge downward, Richardson was being pimped for 12-hour work days, to make a minimum of 1,000 dollars to give to her pimp. To get her money she was forced to travel among the states of Oregon, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Washington and Canada (Hottle 2010). The extent of her bondage went beyond just mentally, but as far as her having to change her name to what her pimp wanted her to be called. Like in many cases, Jessica was blinded by her gifts that she received. She stated, “They know exactly how much to feed you to keep you in.” (Hottle 2010)
Mrs. Jessica Richardson story is so intriguing in the fact, her story gives you a firsthand encounter of a person who came from a well rounded family, but because of a traumatic event that took place early in her childhood she got swept in into a separate world that she probably would have never saw herself ending up in. In her case she was lucky because unlike the children and women who are kidnapped for this billions of dollars business she was able to run away from the situation pregnant and all. She had the chance to regain her life back and not be lost to her family forever. Even through her nightmare, Mrs. Richardson is a speaker for keystone, she relays her story to youths and victims of sex trafficking. She can now effectively point out the key mistake and red flags she ignored so young and hopefully prevent another from falling into the traps of the trafficking ring.
“Sex: is that all I’m worth,” both these women live today to tell of their life threatening experience in being involve with prositution. In their given situation they were taken for granted and their bodies looked upon as being a release instead of a temple. In society they would are perceive as prostitutes, with little self-esteem, and respect for themselves. Should this term really be used to identify them? Granted they were prostituting their bodies but, it was under false pretenses. Both of these women once belonged to well loving families, who held the same traditional values as any other American family. Due to their mis fortune and lack of thearpy, they ended up in the lifestyle of prositution, because it was the only thing they identified with as being okay. Neither one of these women would sat down and told what they were doing was wrong and illegal. They trusted their pimps in caring for them and providing them with what they needed. Never did they see the negative connotation resulting from their actions.
Today both of these women still stuff from the psychological, emotion, and physical aspects of their experience. Today Jessica Richardson is married with her four children, and fifth one on the way. She at one point moved away from the town when all of her negative experiences started with her mom, but moved back with her husband when she became strong enough to face her nightmare. She after nearly 15 years she views her whole experience as something she overcame, even with the negative opionions from her family and society. She believes it has helped her become a stronger person.. Due to stories like Jessica Richardson, it has opened up more of an avenue for more survivors to come forward and share their stories as well.
Today there are several organizations to bring justice to pimps, and sex offenders. Many countries across the world have made provision in their government to have laws and acts against exploiting women and children.
Works Cited:
· Hottle, Molly. “Former sex trafficking victim from Gresham shares her survival story.” The Oregonian. 21 Oct. 2010: n. pag. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
· United States. U.S. Department of State. The Facts about Child Sex Tourism: 2005. U.S. Department of State. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
· National Human Trafficking resource Center .The Campaign to Reserve & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking. Administration for children and families. 10 Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.
