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  • 5 years ago
In the world of sex trafficking, pimps often brand women with tattoos as marks of ownership. We meet with one survivor of sex slavery who has broken free and is now is getting her tattoos removed with the help of a cosmetic clinic.

This video was originally published on VICE and is being repurposed by Refinery29.

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Transcript
00:16a lot of people have complimented me on this tattoo they tell me oh that's so
00:22pretty those roses are so pretty why are you getting it removed and sometimes I
00:27do feel in my heart to just tell them you know okay well do you know what human
00:31trafficking is a lot of people call it prostitution but really once you take
00:38away that word prostitution it really is sexual exploitation when I got the tattoo
00:45it was actually by force it was a branding by my trafficker this tattoo is
00:50like right there as an ugly reminder of everything that I've fought to get away
01:01from
01:02butology is a cosmetic surgery and laser center we offer a pro bono tattoo
01:08clinic in the last year we started partnering with the United Way in project
01:14traffic stop which cater specifically to those who have been victims of human
01:19trafficking and to just kind of help them rebuild everything went well after your
01:23last treatment yeah okay this is just a topical numbing cream just like a
01:27topical anesthetic it looks really good you can really see where it's broken up
01:31feel okay yeah okay great so we're gonna let you numb for a few minutes okay and
01:35then we'll get started with treatment okay okay
01:37thank you branding amongst the pimps is very common and is very popular it's kind of a way to mark
01:45their
01:45their territory mark their property
01:53actually right now just flagging guys down some of the hotbeds in Fresno there's
02:02Motel Drive or Parkway right next to the freeway you know truckers are coming in
02:08this is a really big issue here in Fresno and the ones that you don't see on the
02:14streets there's countless more that are being sold on the internet sitting in one
02:20of these hotel rooms when I come out here and I see these girls and I see the pain on
02:25their faces and I know that they don't want to be out here my heart breaks for
02:29those girls because it's like being on the other side sometimes I feel a little bit
02:33guilty because I really got away clean from the game
02:41I graduated from high school here in Fresno I just found myself very lost and this guy he
02:48approached me and he would take me to fancy restaurants take me to go get my nails done
02:55tell me how special and important I was I genuinely was in love with this person or at least I
03:01thought
03:01I was then the next thing I knew he had taken me with another girl they put me in this
03:08hotel room and
03:09they're like okay this guy's gonna come in just take the money and go from there
03:17from that point it whirlwind for about three years I wasn't making as much money as he
03:24was expecting me to and that's when the beating started I was terrified that one day he was gonna
03:33kill me I packed up what I owned and by the grace of God there was a police officer I've
03:41been rescued
03:43for four years now and been working on my rehabilitation come on nice change come on out of your pj's
03:51hey I love you hey oh I love you my life now is relatively smooth I work as an assistant
04:01catering
04:02manager so I have a steady full-time job which is always very nice and on my free time if
04:08I'm not
04:09spending time with my daughter I'm doing advocacy work for breaking the chains right now we're working
04:15with the youth group just getting the awareness out there about sex trafficking and before I started
04:22doing work I received services as a survivor
04:29I am ready you're gonna do the rapid setting yes the frequency I'll have it on the high one for
04:36you yes
04:36because I know that's more comfortable it is okay let's go ahead and get started with your treatment
04:42oh they're purple I like these I'm just gonna be one two three
04:50ow you doing okay yeah being able to get rid of this tattoo it'll be like looking at myself and
04:57not
04:57feeling like I'm still owned by somebody like I'm not somebody's property anymore and finally just my own
05:03person it's gonna be worth it in the end definitely very good and we are complete you did great
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