What Was That Like - a storytelling podcast with amazing stories from real people
Society & Culture:Personal Journals
Content warning - this episode includes descriptions of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Listener discretion is advised.
Here in the United States, slavery is illegal. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and it was ratified later that same year.
That amendment reads in part “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
But the fact that it’s illegal doesn’t mean it’s non-existent. The more common modern-day term for it is human trafficking.
The numbers for this are staggering. Hundreds of thousands of people are forced into sexual exploitation just here in the US. And many of them are children.
Ashton Kutcher is an actor, and he’s a father. He’s also become a major activist in the fight against human trafficking, through his foundation and the software that his team has created.
There’s another person who’s also very active in this fight. Her name is Jill. She knows about human trafficking because she was a victim of it. She’s had some truly horrifying experiences – things that no person should ever have to go through.
But she’s still here, and she’s doing everything she can to help put an end to it. And part of that fight is telling the story of what it’s like – from the inside.
I wanted to mention one thing that you might notice while you hear Jill talking about what happened to her. She laughs. She might be describing something that was truly terrifying, but part of talking about it is laughter. She and I actually discussed this, and she is aware of it. It’s not because she looks back on what happened and actually thinks it’s funny. Each of us relates to trauma differently, and a little bit of nervous laughter is just her way of coping as she talks about her experiences.
Jill’s podcast: https://anchor.fm/boughtbythehour
This book is a good resource to learn more: Forced Sex Trafficking: What It Is and How You Can End It by Christopher Armitage https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09X5XX94N/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
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96: Danny found a baby in the subway
95: Amy's office was bombed
94: Barbie's dog was stolen
93: Brook lost a leg to a shark
92: Andrew head-on crashed his snowmobile
91: Bonus episode - Childbirth Stories
90: Emily was a surrogate
89: Alex was trapped under an ATV
88: Tim lost friends on September 11
87: Victoria's neighbors brought horrible news
86: Jen was robbed at gunpoint
85: Bonus episode: Jessica's story
84: Robert was in a gunfight with pirates
83: Shareen was rammed with her own car
82: Michael was abused with a sewing machine
81: Monica discovered the family secret
80: Ricky doesn't buy groceries
79: Emily was caught as a drug mule
78: Jeff was convicted of murder
77: Monica lost her boyfriend
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