“Some girls come to us beaten half to death. They are so young. They have marks that are worse than anything I have ever endured.” (Mam 166). Throughout the world, traffickers coerce and abduct women and children into the sex trade.
Traffickers then trade and sell these women for the use of sexual exploitation (Mace Venneberg, and Amell 336). As many as 20 million people are involved in the global sex trade at any given time (Nawyn, Birdal, and Glogower 56). Though sex trafficking is acknowledged as an issue throughout the world, it continues to become even more extreme. Anyone, from anywhere, could be taken and sold as a slave. In countries such as Cambodia and Thailand, girls can be as young as five or six years old when they enter the sex industry (Chung 484; Mam 62). Statistics show that 80 percent of sex slaves are women and 50 percent are children (Mace, Venneberg, and Amell 338).
“It can be expected that at least 1 in 40 girls born in Cambodia will be sold into sex slavery” (Mam 1). This number is alarmingly high, and continues to rise. There are several human rights activist groups and global organizations that attempt to stop the trafficking; however, more effort can always be put forth to help women and children throughout the world. Global organizations should do more to help the women and children in the sex industry; no person should have to endure rape, torture, or humiliating servitude. Somaly Mam experienced a horrifying start to life at a very young age. Mam knows what it is like to be a slave and tells about it in her novel.
The novel, The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine, written by Somaly Mam, tells the extraordinary tale of a woman who had everything taken away from her at a very. ., and James W. Amell. “Human Trafficking: Integrating Human Resource Development Toward A Solution.” Advances In Developing Human Resources 14.
3 (2012): 333-344. Business Source Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <http://eds.
b.ebscohost.com.gatekeeper2.lindenwood.edu/ehost/detail?vid =13&sid=4c9e08f9-b569-437a-8160-14f866b677ed%40sessionmgr115&hid =101&bdata=J nNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=77757068>.
Mah, Megan. “Trafficking Of Ethnic Minorities In Thailand: Forced Prostitution And The Perpetuation Of Marginality.” Undercurrent 8.2 (2011): 65-72. Academic Search Complete. Web.
5 May 2014. < http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.gatekeeper2.
lindenwood.edu /ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=18&sid=4b45ef9c-7e80-4adf-9ed2-5e3b6297a41c% 40sessionmgr4003&hid=4205>. Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine. Spiegel & Grau Publishing, 2008. Print.
