While I know human trafficking exists, the subject is not something I think about on a regular basis. While on feministing.com I saw a link about a German ad campaign to combat trafficking. I clicked on the link and saw a petite blond woman crammed inside a clear suitcase. It turns out that Amnesty International in Germany shocked people in German airports by putting ads on a suitcase that say “stop slave trade” going around the carousels with a volunteer shoved inside. “According to Amnesty International, over 500,000 women and girls are victims of human trafficking every year.”
The photo alone of this poor girl was deeply disturbing. And then it made me think. Thousands of women and young girls are taken away from their families, often to another country every year. They are forced to be prostitutes, housekeepers, involved in criminal activities, and some are forced into oppressed marriages. These women are beaten, raped, starved, psychologically abused, dependent on drugs, and financially broke among other things. They are being enslaved and bought, sold, and smuggled. This disgusting trade is an international business that profits over 9 billion dollars every year according to the FBI. This is sexism and female oppression at its worst. While strides have been made that put American women on the forefront of female equality, the war has not been won and we must never stop fighting. Feminism has gone through many changes throughout the past thirty years. Now more then ever there is no room for accepting this treatment.
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