Thank you.
“I am writing this as a survivor of human trafficking. I entered an exit program in 2003, which is where I met Natasha Falle. She was the counsellor and manager of the program at Streetlight Support Services. She was so understanding and inspirational that I asked what I should do to escape the hell I was living in. While completing four weeks of group counselling on understanding violence against women in the sex trade, she suggested I take an abused women and counsellor program at George Brown College. I had no idea that I was even a victim of trafficking. I simply thought I was a lost soul who was helping my 'boyfriend' out with his bills. He was my pimp and I didn't even consider myself a trafficked woman. I soon noticed a biased teaching perspective that many of my professors shared. They seemed to think that prostitution was a woman's choice and made it seem feminist. I could barely contain myself from screaming out, no! This is not a choice but a lack thereof. It is not empowering but an abuse of power over me, my body, and by my pimp. If we as women, teachers, senators are to fully understand the complex and deep-reaching tentacles of the beast that is the sex industry, we need to have a more balanced dialogue that includes abolitionists' experiences and information. We need to listen and learn from the ones on the front lines: the survivors. With all due respect, I ask that you help shape the future for counsellors, front-line workers, and police officers with a more realistic and true view of the ugly and oldest oppression, prostitution, and recognize how prostitution and sex trafficking are indeed interconnected.”
Can I read the next one?