Three survivors of human sex trafficking—Anna, John, and Carla Jacinto—share their stories. 27 million people are trafficked worldwide. They describe forced pornography, childhood abuse, and daily assaults, then discuss the moments and people who helped them escape and why speaking openly matters.
The following program contains mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
You may be shocked by this statistic. 27 million people are victims of sex trafficking. Even more shocking, human trafficking could be happening in your own backyard.
I thought sex trafficking was just prostitution. I found out that pornography can be a form of sex trafficking. When I was a junior in high school, I met a man. He was 40 years old. He asked me to be a part of his art project. They were more innocent at first. Over time, the photos became sexual in nature, more extreme, and I was forced to do unthinkable things that no one should have to do. There was times I would wake up on the kitchen floor naked, and he would say, oh, you were sleepwalking, when really he was drugging me. I found thousands of pictures of me in a drugged state. I looked so dead. I realized looking at these pictures that he was distributing them.
My first memory was a sex act with a female family member at 4. It seemed like it was abuse everywhere I went. Family members, their friends. I was taken to parties. I was used in those environments. It wasn't safe anywhere.
Desde los 12 años a los 16 años de edad, me tocaban más de 30 hombres al día. Me pegaban todos los días. Me veía yo misma como una basura. Ni siquiera había una persona que te pueda ayudar. Cuando nace mi bebé, me la quitaron. Estuve un mes con él y me lo quitaron. Y ahora era la amenaza de que si no hacía todo eso, pues prácticamente iban a matar al niño.
These invisible chains, and I started self-harming by cutting. I knew if I didn't deal with my problems, I'd probably end up dead or in jail.
9 years ago when I was 45, it all came back like an old 8mm film. My wife at the time found me in the backyard with a gun, screaming hysterically, saying that they raped me and abused me. I just wanted the pain to stop. I received a phone call from someone out of the blue just asking me how I was going. It made me stop and think that maybe I could still contribute something. Maybe there is hope.
¿Cómo salí de aquí? Gracias a un cliente que me ayudó. Nunca me tocó, nunca pensó que era un objeto sexual, una cosa, sino que era alguien importante, que podía ser alguien importante para el mundo, ¿no? Me metió la idea de huir y eso fue lo que pasó.
I started speaking, trying to be that voice for overcomers of human trafficking, helping them find their voice.
Y ahorita para alzar la voz y decir ya basta.
I want to bridge a gap between people, particularly men, and give them permission to talk about this stuff. Because if I don't do it, then who's going to do it?
My name is Anna, and I'm an overcomer of sex trafficking.
I'm a survivor of sex trafficking.
Yo me llamo Carla Jacinto, sobreviviente de trata de personas.
Join us now our two survivors, Anna and John, who I want to thank personally for being here today and opening up and. And I wanna ask you, because you acknowledged being drugged and exploited, how did you uncover the truth?
I uncovered the truth after he passed away. I met up with someone, they gave me a huge box of pictures, and that's when I opened it up and I found there were thousands of them. And so it really came down to an awareness of what it looks like, but also a change in perspective of what power and control really does to a person.
And John, we think you know, more of women being exploited or young boys in a homosexual connotation, but in your case, it was women that were taking advantage of you.
Yeah, it was my most intimate female family member and her friends.
And when it starts at such a young age, at age 4, this is your normal, this is your reality, so it's even more difficult for you to see it as a very Unusual, unkind, cruel.
In fact, if I didn't participate, then I would have no physical contact or affection. The only reward I received, the only contact I received, the only affirmation I received is if I performed as required in that situation or at a party situation. So that was my normal. And people, when they ask you, well, why didn't you break out or run away? You know, I tried it once and I was taken back. and told that intimate family members don't do that to boys. And from that point on, it was like, well, this must be normal.
