There are billions of reasons I could name as to why I love being a woman. I feel like we have this massive community and support group that we can collectively call our safe place, and I feel so lucky to be a part of it. If I’m going out in my favorite red dress that makes me feel like a badass, I feel so honored when women compliment me! It’s like that extra gratification to a good girls’ night out! Or if I get the wonderful privilege to interview and promote an incredible girl gang of movie-loving podcasters, there’s an extra sense of accomplishment and pride that I get while writing that piece and presenting it to all of you.
Another added bonus I love is the sense of protection and support we have over one another! This past summer I had a really crappy experience with a possible human trafficking experience, so I wanted to write an article to encourage easy safety precautions to take in case you ever need them. Although this is a heavier topic, I really encourage you to please read as much as you can. It, by no means, has to be my article! I try my best to inform as much as I can, but I’m just a 21-year-old film student trying to stay safe. Obviously, this subject is a serious topic, so if at any point you need to take a break or stop reading, please do what feels best for you.
Don’t Ignore Gut Instinct
I know this one sounds really obvious, but the first time I thought I was going to have a human trafficking experience, I didn’t even know it was happening. I was walking with my friend on my college campus, and there was a car circling in the parking lot by us with tinted windows. We love to go for night walks, and since we were together and carried pepper spray, we assumed we’d be pretty alright if we stayed on campus. They circled around for about fifteen minutes and kept coming closer after each lap. My friend was the one that moved us to the grass divider in the middle of the road after she pointed it out to me. My gut instinct at the time was to run, but at that point, my adrenaline was so high and I was so scared that I couldn’t see any logical place around us to run to. The car we had driven in was about a mile away, my phone kept disconnecting so I couldn’t call anyone and I was honestly so frozen that I couldn’t move.
The crappy part about being a woman is that you can’t just be a woman; you’re a target. I never want to minimize an entire gender to be a single thing (because we are SO much more than that) but that’s how we are, unfortunately, seen by human traffickers/predators. In an interview with imprisoned human trafficking workers they stated, “when I sell a drug, I can sell it once. But when I sell a girl, I can sell her thirty times a day, seven times a week.”
Being Polite and Being Safe is Not Interchangeable
As someone that fairs more on the optimist end, I love to see the best in people. It’s one of my favorite qualities about myself. However, it can also be something that you should carry with caution. I’m also a big people person who can talk for hours, which is something I think can be really rewarding, however, it’s also been something I’ve seen first-hand can carry some safety features with it.
The same friend I mentioned previously is the same person I went on another walk with on a separate occasion. We took a different route than usual, which was wrong on our part, but again, we were together, had all the other precautions I mentioned previously, etc. This instance actually happened within a week or so of the other one I mentioned, however, I can’t remember which happened first. We were walking on a street, not an alley or a darkened area, just a sidewalk on my college’s downtown area, and this woman started talking to us. We kept our distance and kept our eyes on her in case anything happened. After a minute or two of her talking, she started talking in circles and it was really difficult to follow an exact train of thought. Then there was this car that was shooting down the street, really loud, which of course made us jump a bit. This process happened for the next few minutes, the car coming around a total of three times before my friend pulled me across the street with a firm grip that I’m still appreciative of. I thankfully don’t know for sure if this was a human trafficking experience, but whatever it was, it couldn’t have been good. I believe the woman was trying to distract us and the car was trying to cancel out any noises we could’ve made until we were taken.
Stay Surrounded and Ready for Anything
This past summer was a really big wake-up call for me. All of these instances are somewhat up in the air, but this is one I’m the surest of because it still lives in my mind the most clearly. I was going up to a Target near where I was living at the time. I usually put earbuds in while I shop because it helps me focus a bit better, however, I always wait until I’m in the building to play the music, so I can hear if anything is happening around me while I’m walking through cars and everything. After I got out, I noticed this man, medium-build, baggy hoodie and a baseball hat walking on the sidewalk along where cars normally face. I started walking in the street, going to the entrance when I heard him start giving my description of what I looked like, my build, etc. I booked it in as I saw a white construction van doing laps around the parking lot. While I was inside I saw him follow me through a few aisles as much as he could, so I started looping through as many as I could to lose him. I eventually just left as fast as I could and ran to my car with my keys between my fingers, pepper spray at the ready and locked my car before I even closed the door. I did see the white van on the other side of the lot but it didn’t come near me again.
What I should have done in this situation is ask a worker or another trustworthy individual to walk me near my car. Fear is such a large part of these situations, and that has impacted every instance I’ve had, so if it’s possible for you, please make sure you’re taking these precautions and safety steps as gut-reaction as possible.
These three instances happened within less than a single year.
Other precautions to take:
- Lock your (car, house, apartment, etc.) door as fast as you can
- Don’t follow anyone anywhere, even if they seem in distress or trustworthy
- Don’t touch any notes, markings, cash, etc. on your car
- Make as much of a scene as possible, especially if someone has grabbed you
- Carry something legal to protect yourself (pepper spray, Birdie, cat claws, etc.)
- Download apps like Noonlight, The Stop App and Redlight Traffic to report suspicious behavior for yourself or those you see
Organizations to Check Out:
I was very lucky to not have gotten into any situations worse than this. There are hundreds of thousands of instances where, unfortunately, they don’t have as happy of an ending.