Invisible Chains by Benjamin Perrin Page A

humiliating, this type of sexual assault is designed to traumatize and desensitize the victim. It represents a yardstick against which future sex acts, with anonymous individual men for money paid to the trafficker, will seem less egregious.
    The tactics practised by the “boyfriend trafficker” are not newand have been well documented across Canada and in the United States.
    Prince Charming has arrived
    Naomi was skipping school. Her mom and her mom’s “old man” were always arguing, leaving Naomi feeling lonely and neglected.
    One night while out for a walk, Naomi met an older man who called himself “Big Daddy” and told her she was beautiful. He offered her cigarettes and didn’t give her trouble like her parents did. She went home with him. The next morning he took her shopping and bought her new clothes. He made Naomi feel special. She thought she’d finally found her Prince Charming.
    A few days after Naomi had met Big Daddy, he said, “We gotta talk,” and then explained that he was having serious cash problems and needed help. Naomi didn’t know what she could do, since she was just fifteen and no one would hire her.
    Big Daddy told her not to worry; he had a friend who’d help her find a job. This “friend” sent Naomi to a strip club to dance, where she was given cocaine to “help loosen up.” Big Daddy told her she was sexy and it was easy money. He told her she was in control.
    After a month of dancing, Naomi couldn’t understand why Big Daddy still needed money from her. She’d earned a lot of money for him and was sick of dancing for men who looked at her the way they did.
    Big Daddy told her to shut her mouth; he would tell her when she was sick of something. He’d never talked to Naomi like that before. She was shocked and had no idea who to turn to for help. Since she’d started seeing Big Daddy, she’d lost touch with her friends and family—and how could she tell them she was stripping?
    It was then that Big Daddy threatened her and beat her up. He started forcing her to have sex with random men and took all the money. Naomi eventually contracted an STD and became addicted to cocaine. Things got worse still when Big Daddy sent Naomi to Toronto because she could make more money there.
    Naomi’s story is featured in Cinderella’s Silence: A Story of Gang Prostitution, a comic book published in 2002. Written by a teenager who “lived the gang experience,” it has warned thousands of youth in Quebec against the tactics used by street gangs who target girls aged twelve to eighteen for sexual exploitation. Unfortunately, similar education about the systematic targeting of young girls is not reaching Canadians in other provinces. Without this information, young girls singled out by recruiters are like lambs before lions.
    Popular myths and tough realities
    For Canadians whose contact with the world of sex traffickers is restricted to television shows or movies, the means by which young girls and women can be manipulated and controlled by pimps and traffickers is confusing and generates a catalogue of myths. Dealing in myths rather than facts makes it impossible to fully comprehend the extent and seriousness of the situation and also how to address it effectively.
    The International Association of Chiefs of Police has highlighted the following common myths about human trafficking as well as its harsh realities.
Myth:
Trafficking involves crossing an international border with the victim or assisting in the victim’s being transported across a border.
Reality:
Trafficking is about victim exploitation and need not involve a border crossing.
Myth:
Canadian citizens cannot be trafficked. Reality: Victims include Canadians as well as foreign nationals.
Myth:
Individuals know what they are getting into, so they cannot claim to have been trafficked.
Reality:
Victims may have low self-esteem and be forced or