THE STIGMA OF SLAVERY RUNS DEEP

People ask, “How do you get your ideas?” The idea for a story on “white slavery” came from my hippie hitchhiking trip to India in 1968-69. But then researching the subject wasn’t that easy. I was living in Santa Barbara the time. It was 1990, before Google searches and instantaneous Internet access to research.

The Santa Barbara Public Library is a beautiful traditional Spanish building and is relatively sizeable for a small town like Santa Barbara. I searched the index cards for “white slavery” but there were no books at all on the subject. Then I asked one of the librarians Olivia Flisher for help. She suggested I check the Library of Congress book, a colossal tome you’d imagine finding a monk scribing in. She flipped it open and flapped open the huge pages, running her finger down the page and coming to “white slavery.” She looked up at me. “It refers you to ‘prostitution.”

It was like a sucker punch. “No,” I said. “How can that be?” I looked at the page, incredulous. I just couldn’t believe it. “But white slavery is rape.” Olivia’s reaction was the same as mine. We were both shaking our heads in disbelief. I haven’t forgotten that moment all these years because of the sheer injustice of that stigma.

But I’ve learned as I’ve gotten to know more about this subject that the stigma is more than half of the battle that victims of sexual slavery face. It’s a major reason why most women don’t break out of slavery. Because once they are forced into prostitution society, their families, their religions, their judicial systems turn against them.

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