Sigh…  Life can be so boring.  Men are so stupid.  24-year-old Jessica was disenchanted.  She was dissatisfied with the dating scene, dissatisfied with her friends.  She was bored, and she wanted to meet new people.  But finding friends after college can be so hard.  Everyone seems to already have their own clique, or they’re focused on new careers, new adventures.  Jessica had a group of friends, but she still felt a little lonely.  She needed a change, but wasn’t sure where to start.  She’d heard about a local bar that was popular for people new to the area.  She wasn’t new to the area, but she thought she’d go.  Maybe she’d meet someone interesting.  The first couple of times she went weren’t bad.  They weren’t super exciting either, but it was something to do.  There was this one girl who was always there and who seemed to know everyone.  Jessica wanted to meet her.  She seemed intriguing, like someone who would make a good friend.  Apparently, the feeling was mutual, because after a few visits to the bar, she and Jessica started to chat and develop a friendship.  Jessica began to trust her.  Her name was Maddy, and Jessica felt like having Maddy as a friend was a step towards a more exciting life.  Maddy encouraged Jessica to try new things, to experiment… have a little fun.  They bar hopped, they wine tasted, they shopped.  One evening during a particularly fun day of bar hopping, Jessica felt strange.  She knew she’d drank more than she should have but she had never felt so out of it before.  Maybe she just needed to sleep.  She told Maddy – who seemed to be fine – how she felt and said she wanted to go home.  Maddy agreed, said she’d drive, and that’s all Jessica remembers.  Until she was awakened by a strange man staring down at her, shaking her violently to wake her up.  Where was she?  Why were her hands and feet tied?  Who was this man?  Where was Maddy?  Jessica’s horror was just beginning.  She was branded, repeatedly drugged, and forced to have sex with multiple men multiple times a day.  Every day was a blur of pain and unconsciousness.  Jessica’s quiet, boring life, and her freedom, were long gone.

22%, or 4.5 million people, are victims of forced sexual exploitation according to the International Labor Organization.  The same organization reports that $99B in global commercial profits are driven by sexual slavery.  As with any crime, this statistic is only based on what we know.  Accurate, reliable statistics are difficult to obtain.

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