Impactsex trafficking human trafficking

Yes, White American 'Girls Next Door' Can Be Sold Into Sex Trafficking, Too

Yes, White American 'Girls Next Door' Can Be Sold Into Sex Trafficking, Too
By 

Associate Editor of Impact, The Huffington Post

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What does the face of human trafficking look like?

Jasmine Marino-Fiandaca, a self-described "girl next door," is challenging stereotypes regarding sex slavery victims in hopes of raising awareness about the dehumanizing industry that changed the trajectory of her life when she was just 19 years old.

In a video posted to Seacoast Online, a YouTube channel managed by the Portsmouth Herald, Marino-Fiandaca explained that she wound up being trafficked in a Hartford, Conn., massage parlor after an abusive man "coerced" her into believing he could provide her with wealth and a family. In total, she spent five years as a sex slave in Connecticut and Maine -- as well as being exploited through Craigslist -- before leaving the man she once considered her "boyfriend."

"I tried to escape many times, but it was very difficult because of the manipulation, the brainwashing and the abuse, the beatings and the lack of resources and places for me to go," she explained in the video.

Unfortunately, Marino-Fiandaca's story isn't as rare as some would hope. About 15,000 people are being trafficked in the U.S., and, according to Shared Hope International, a nonprofit combating domestic human trafficking, most states could be doing much more to stop the injustice.

Although it's painful, Marino-Fiandaca said she wants to share her story if it means saving others from the horrors of sex trafficking.

"You're somebody's daughter or mother, or niece, sister, and you have value," she said in the video. "There's plans and purpose for your life, way beyond anything that you can imagine. But being abused and sold is not one of them."

In the U.S., you can call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 to get help and connect with a service provider in your area, or report a tip with information on potential human trafficking activity.


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Before You Go

21 Worst Countries For Human Trafficking
Libya(01 of21)
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Nasgb Abd, 20, a medicine student, has her face painted with the colors of the pre-Gaddafi flag during a demonstration against at the Green Square in Tripoli, Libya, late Monday, Aug. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) (credit:AP)
Algeria(02 of21)
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A landscape view dated May 2003 shows the Saharan desert in southern Algeria, near the city of Illizi. (HOCINE ZAOURAR/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
Central African Republic(03 of21)
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Children by the side of the road cheer as a convoy of troops from the Central African Republic, Uganda, U.S. Army special forces, and media, drives through Obo, Central African Republic, Sunday, April 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) (credit:AP)
Democratic Republic of Congo(04 of21)
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A picture taken on June 17, 2003 shows a UPC (Union of Congolese Patriots) child fighter standing by a machine gun fixed on a pickup at a military camp in Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. (ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/GettyImages) (credit:Getty)
Cuba(05 of21)
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Back dropped by an image of Cuba's revolutionary hero Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and Cuba's national flag, faithful wait for the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) (credit:AP)
Equatorial Guinea(06 of21)
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Kids play soccer in the Ela Nguema neighborhood of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (credit:AP)
Eritrea(07 of21)
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A man leans on a tree in the disputed Horn of Africa border town of Badme between Ethiopia and Eritrea on November 5, 2008. (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
Iran(08 of21)
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Iranian women wave national flags and hold posters showing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before Ahmadinejad's speech on the strategic Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. (AP Photo/ISNA, Hamid Foroutan) (credit:AP)
North Korea(09 of21)
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In this photo taken on Sunday, April 8, 2012, North Koreans stand in a field as they watch a train pass that was heading to North Phyongan Province, about 50 kilometers (35 miles) south of the border town of Sinuiju along North Korea's west coast. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) (credit:AP)
Kuwait(10 of21)
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A view of a desert camp with Kuwaiti flags flying in the wind during a severe dust storm in Rawdatein, 120 Km North of Kuwait City on Saturday, March 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari) (credit:AP)
Papua New Guinea(11 of21)
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Villagers search the site of a landslide that struck villages in the Southern Highlands mountainous region of central Papua New Guinea, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Post-Courier) (credit:AP)
Saudi Arabia(12 of21)
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The sun sets over an old Saudi archaeological palace in Al-Diriyah city on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, June 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) (credit:AP)
Sudan(13 of21)
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Refugees from South Kordofan, in the Republic of Sudan, await distribution of basic goods in the Yida refugee camp in Unity State, South Sudan on Saturday May 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) (credit:AP)
Syria(14 of21)
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In this Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, a Syrian revolutionary flag waves on top of a building on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File) (credit:AP)
Yemen(15 of21)
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A Yemeni female protestor holds an infant with Yemen's flag painted on his face and Arabic writing that reads "Leave" during a demonstration demanding the resignation of of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (credit:AP)
Zimbabwe(16 of21)
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Supporters of six Zimbabwean civic activists found guilty of conspiring to commit public violence in Harare, picket outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday March 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) (credit:AP)
Guinea-Bissau(17 of21)
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In this May 22, 2012 photo, local residents bike and drive along the main road outside Gabu, Guinea-Bissau. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) (credit:AP)
Mauritania(18 of21)
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A Bedouin takes water from a well near Nema, southeastern Mauritania, on May 4, 2012. (ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/GettyImages) (credit:Getty Images)
Russia(19 of21)
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A young couple share a tender moment braving the freezing outdoors at the Red Square in Moscow, on December 20, 2012. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
Uzbekistan(20 of21)
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An aerial view of the ship graveyard near Muynak over the dried up Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (credit:AP)
China(21 of21)
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Paramilitary guards walk on a closed-off Tiananmen Sqaure, near the Great Hall of the People prior to the unveiling of a new Politburo Standing Committee, in Beijing on November 15, 2012. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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