They have been forced into a life of being bought and sold for sex, often by the people they trust the most – father, mother, spouse, other relatives and lovers.
But when the women try to tell other people who are close to them about it, they are not believed, according to a new report about sex trafficking in Nebraska.
"There is a woeful lack of awareness about the subject among community leaders, law enforcement, teachers, health care professionals and the general public," said Shireen Rajaram, Ph.D., associate professor, health promotion, social and behavioral health, UNMC’s College of Public Health.
Dr. Rajaram and Sriyani Tidball, assistant professor of practice, College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, co-authored a report, "Nebraska Sex Trafficking Survivors Speak – A Qualitative Research Study" that was commissioned by the Women’s Fund of Omaha. Results from this study were used by the Women’s Fund to develop the booklet "Nothing About Us Without Us."
"People generally believe sex trafficking is a problem in other countries, but it’s happening in every state in the U.S., including Nebraska," Dr. Rajaram said.
"Our nation has failed to call trafficking what it is – a public health problem."
The first-of-its-kind report in Nebraska includes the voices of adult women survivors of sex trafficking as it documents their perspectives on the "3Ps" paradigm: to identify strategies to prevent sex trafficking, provide protection and support for survivors and prosecution of the perpetrators to reduce the demand for sex trafficking.
Of those interviewed, 17 women live in the Omaha-Lincoln area and five live in rural Nebraska. As children, 12 of the women had been in foster care and one had lived in a group home.
"This is probably some of the most humbling work I have done, but I also feel it is really powerful to hear from women who have been marginalized, stigmatized and criminalized most of their lives," Tidball said.
"Our hope is that their voices will be included in the development of all policy, advocacy, awareness and prevention campaigns in order to develop effective and strategic ways to reduce trafficking," she said.
"The ultimate goal is for this research to begin unifying the community – including service providers, law enforcement, policy makers, and the general public – in creating a robust, survivor-informed approach to systems change," said Meghan Malik, trafficking response coordinator for the Women’s Fund.
Key findings and recommendations
The study revealed the complexity and lack of awareness among all segments of society on the issue of sex trafficking. Planning is underway to create a comprehensive statewide plan to combat trafficking in Nebraska. There is an urgent need to implement strategies to address prevention, protection and prosecution simultaneously.
Prevention of Sex Trafficking
Finding: Lack of awareness, stigma and trust
Recommendation: Includes programs to raise awareness of sex trafficking among all segments of society, educate and train frontline professionals and conduct outreach programs.
Protection of Survivors
Finding: Survivors have unique needs in their short- and long-term recovery.
Recommendation: Includes referral protocols to meet the immediate needs of survivors and their children through free support services including a recovery program, rehabilitation services and medical care, and expunging of a sex trafficked survivor’s criminal record. Survivors may need trauma therapy and medical care for the long term.
Prosecution of Perpetrators
Finding: Stiffer penalties, better follow-up by law enforcement instead of unjustly blaming women for prostituting themselves, and a rehabilitation program and shaming strategies for buyers.
Recommendation: Includes harsher penalties for sex trafficking, follow-up investigations of reported incidents, shaming strategies such as a sex trafficking registry and publicly identifying perpetrators, and such rehabilitation programs as a John’s (customers) school to reduce recidivism of buyers and sellers.
Other Strategies
Finding: Technology helps sex trafficking flourish and remain underground, but also can be used for education and outreach; include survivors in solutions.
Recommendation: Collaborate with survivors in all aspects of planning, implementation and evaluation of comprehensive statewide efforts, and establish inter-agency collaboration.
Essential first steps:
- Tailoring the existing practices and programs to meet local needs;
- Prioritizing and evaluating activities;
- Focusing on existing strengths; and
- Providing trauma-informed services that are culturally, LGBT, gender, and developmentally appropriate.
Voices of survivors
Survivors quoted in the report illuminate some of the problems they faced:
"You know, they prey upon girls out here in the Midwest because we’re naïve, because we don’t know about the big cities… We’re a lot more trusting…and they love to hit these small towns. I mean, that’s a big thing. People don’t realize. They think because in a small town, USA, population 1500, that they’re safe. No! They’re more vulnerable than anybody else. You know? You don’t even lock your door."
"The first time it happened that’s not what they called it, and it wasn’t even considered. I didn’t figure out until like years later what had actually happened to me and what it was."
"I think for me that was, like, my biggest issue…They labeled me as a prostitute and not a trafficking victim. And, I had to explain to a lot of people, like yes, I might have been doing prostitution, but it wasn’t my choice. It wasn’t like, if wanted to stop, I could stop, you know? There were times where I wish I could’ve stopped and I tell people all the time. I say I’d rather have been dead than doing what I was doing a lot of times, but I didn’t have a choice."
"That’s the problem, because nobody is really believing that it’s happening…Nobody believes, even when your parents don’t believe you, so you don’t trust nobody else to believe you….Because you’re taught, what happens in the house stays in the house. You know, you don’t say nothing, but deep down inside, you know it’s not right. But a lot of people are brought up like that – you don’t talk, you don’t say nothing. You know, or it’s your fault it happened."
"People use discomfort as an excuse to not get involved or to not discuss it, to not talk about it…You know we’re all individual and don’t butt into my business and those kinds of things…but, the people who are vulnerable, the people who need us to speak up, we can’t just keep walking past them every day and expect them to be OK. If we want to get to prevention, we have to stop being passive bystanders in this."
Learn more
UNO to host Aug. 17 panel discussion
A panel discussion – "Human Trafficking: Yes, it Happens in Nebraska" – will be held 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Aug. 17 at UNO Thompson Alumni Center, Bootstrapper Hall, 6705 Dodge St. It will be sponsored by the Women's Leadership Council of the United Way of the Midlands in partnership with the Women’s Fund of Omaha.
Panelists are:
- Meghan Malik, trafficking response coordinator, Women's Fund of Omaha, will serve as moderator;
- Anna Brewer, former FBI Special Agent and Women's Fund of Omaha sex trafficking training consultant;
- Rachel Pointer, liaison, Free the People Movement;
- Shireen Rajaram, Ph.D., associate professor, UNMC College of Public Health; and
- Alicia Webber, human trafficking task force coordinator/project manager, The Salvation Army's Fight to End Trafficking Program.
Lunch is $15 per person, but people are invited to attend without purchasing lunch. RSVP by Aug. 3 to Mikaela Borecky at Events@UWMidlands.org or 402-522-7908.