Last Tuesday, approximately 70 individuals gathered
at Hillside church in Duluth and formed a captive audience as a brawny woman
with fervid eyes rose to face them. Joy Friedman began to speak and it was
instantly clear that the fortitude suggested by her robust physical frame was
more than matched, rather heightened, by the tenacity of her spirit. Once a victim of sexual exploitation herself,
Friedman came to educate community members, specifically business
professionals, on the realities and necessary responses to the commercial
sexual exploitation occurring in the Duluth community. Her knowledge and
passion to combat sexual exploitation was evident and inspiring. As one of 5
staff running the Breaking Free organization in St. Paul, Joy works “to educate and provide services to
women and girls who have been victims of abuse and commercial sexual
exploitation (prostitution/sex trafficking) and need assistance escaping the
violence in their lives.”
Using Breaking Free
as a model for future response efforts in Duluth, Friedman highlighted several
branches of the organization that are making it effective in bringing
restoration to the lives of victims. The need for the following three programs in
Duluth was emphasized, among others:
1. Permanent
and temporary housing
Permanent housing may seem like a means of
enablement, offering no incentive for victims to work and stand on their own.
The reality, however, is that with only temporary housing women and girls are
given a timeline for exiting a program, whether 12 months, 24 months, or
longer. For many of these women it may take a good portion of a year to begin to understand what issues
they have and how to begin facing them. With healing only beginning and likely
few or very basic life skills, finding a stable job and housing on her own may
be daunting enough to send a recovering woman back to earning the only living
she has known how to make.
2. Drop-in centers
Drop-in centers and
lifelines need to be accessible and available when and where the women and
girls can be found.
3.
Life skills education
The average age of entry into prostitution in
Minnesota is 14. Entering at such a young age does not afford much life
experience or teaching to perform simple tasks. Friedman recounted stories from
Breaking Free of fires starting because girls didn’t realize they needed to
stay near the stove while cooking chicken or that is was a good idea to clean
up grease and oil on the stovetop before lighting another fire. Simpler yet,
some of the victims don’t recognize the need to brush teeth daily, much less
how to. There must be a program to teach basic life skills as well as more
advanced skills such as how to build a resume or interview for a job.
Aside from these 3 programs, to more effectively support and care for victims of sexual exploitation and combat the industry itself, Duluth could develop other programs currently in use by Breaking Free such as women's and youth programs, a "John's school" (a program for offenders), and health/street outreach programs.
Aside from these 3 programs, to more effectively support and care for victims of sexual exploitation and combat the industry itself, Duluth could develop other programs currently in use by Breaking Free such as women's and youth programs, a "John's school" (a program for offenders), and health/street outreach programs.
