Monsters are Real, they are HERE
I will never forget knowing, I could not fight him anymore. He did not want the sex, he did not want me and he certainly did not want love…He wanted power! He did not look like the monsters that I feared, but in that moment he was a monster and had it not been for my intuition I would not be here today.
I am describing my rapist. He was handsome, he was popular, he was clever and he was a predator. I lived to tell, but unfortunately not everyone else did. I am here to tell you today; these monsters are real and they are more dangerous than ever. What you do not know can hurt you, but that is not even the worst part. What you do not know can put your children at risk.
The sad reality is that our children are facing monsters today, that are the worst kind because they blend, they have power, they have wealth and frankly most of us are oblivious to the fact that they exist. It is hard to warn children about something that most do not comprehend.
I am talking about unspeakable evil. Children forced into sex acts, sold over and over again, many forced into porn. These kids are victims. They are victimized, they are tortured, they are objects in an unspeakable world of terror. Their innocent souls are sold to the devil himself. Some are killed, some take their own lives and some are so beyond repair they become the abusers.
The people behind sex trafficking blend in the crowd, they walk among us, they look like us, and they are often protected by evil. I have heard the words “Sex Trafficking” and been oblivious (as many of us are) until recently. Thank God, I met the author of “No working Title.”, Dr John A. King. I now understand a world that I did not think would ever impact me. I am here to say, I am a rape and abuse survivor. I suffer from PTSD, but the author of this book opened my eyes to abuse and survival.
I never thought sex trafficking was a “real” problem here in the US. I looked the other way. I was busy. We are all busy until we realize that what we are doing takes no real precedence over saving the innocent souls being sold. The level of brutality and unspeakable acts against our youth not only make me physically ill at times, for me it triggers my own PTSD. More than once these stories have brought my own “triggers” and the night terrors back, yet I force myself to listen. I force myself to understand the magnitude of this problem. I was silent at 14 when I endured being raped and that cost someone else their life. Today I have a voice.
I cringe looking over at him. A man in every sense of the word, but a child when he endured acts of brutality mixed and twisted with someone’s sexual fantasy. As the pain surfaces his fiancé grabs his hand. I realize my own pain. I wonder if I could be as strong as he has been. “No working Title” to me is a mirror in some ways, but a very scary reality that I am naive to this level of abuse. I had blinders on. Many of us do.
There is always hope. I see in him and his fiancé who has stood with him through the recalls through the pain through unimaginable terror, there is hope. There is hope because people like him exist. People like his fiancé exist. There are still people in this world who choose love over pain.
You are reading this article for a reason. I am not sure what your reason is, but today I encourage you to have a voice. Today I encourage you to take a stand. Today I encourage you to break an evil pattern of abuse. Today I encourage you to save a child, maybe it is your inner child that was abused and coming out, maybe it is your friend’s child or maybe it is saving your own child! Sex trafficking is here, it is real and it kills.
Amber Rodgers is part of the GTAV advocacy team.
She is available to share her story with your organization.