Social Science vs. Slavery
Slavery. For many Americans, the word conjures up images of African-Americans being loaded onto slave ships and the horrific suffering they endured as they made their way through the Middle Passage. These images are vile. The bloodshed should not have happened in the first place. What most people do not realize, is that the practice continues today around the world under the alternate term “human trafficking.” Still slavery, still disgusting, still unconscionable.
Some students in social science degree programs or sociology degree programs are aware of this black spot on humanity and want to graduate and work as anti-trafficking activists. These students know that a large part of being triumphant in wiping out this plague is through creating awareness.
Nicholas Kristof, a writer and activist, is one of these people. He writes about women’s and young girls’ experiences in the human trafficking trade so that these female voices can reach a larger audience and, in doing so, affect global change.
He says that when he writes “about human trafficking as a modern form of slavery, people sometimes tune out as their eyes glaze over.” Srey Pov is one of the young women he interviewed. She narrates her tale of being in a Cambodian brothel when she was only a young child of six years. She was sold by her family to her enslavers and was horrified to discover what was expected of her and the graphic abuse and violence she experienced.
Unfortunately, the majority of girls who are trafficked usually stop trying to run away because they do not believe society will take them back again (and they are tortured beyond anything we could comprehend). Srey Pov was adamant about escaping. She tried repeatedly and underwent degrading abuses when she was captured but she never gave up.
The reason trafficking and modern day slavery continues is because of customers. Simple supply and demand. Fortunately for Srey Pov, she escaped at age nine and is an anti-traffic activist today at age nineteen. She says, ‘now I think not all men are bad’ and she hopes to find a good man one day and get married.
An army of women like Srey are forming and these women are not standing down in the face of oppression. They represent the millions of female slaves worldwide and they are determined to shut down the trade for good. Combining with global efforts, some university students, here in the U.S., are also making it clear that slavery of any kind will not be tolerated and must be abolished. They are saying “no” to this pervasive social injustice and are working to make slavery obsolete.
