美国国家公共电台 NPR Getting Out Of The Commercial Sex Industry — With Help From Women Who've Been There（在线收听）

Getting Out Of The Commercial Sex Industry — With Help From Women Who've Been There

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Not all women who work in the sex industry are victims of sex trafficking, but that's where many who have been trafficked end up. Reporter Gloria Hillard has the story of one woman who escaped that world and helps others get out.

GLORIA HILLARD, BYLINE: It's midday on this busy boulevard in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, a familiar four-lane landscape of chain restaurants, retail and gas stations. Behind the wheel is Harmony Dust Grillo, a mother of two.

HARMONY DUST GRILLO: Yeah, so this is definitely an epicenter of the commercial sex industry.

HILLARD: Grillo sees what others might miss right under their noses.

GRILLO: Another motel - just lots and lots of motels.

HILLARD: And adjacent to those motels are strip clubs open for business.

GRILLO: During the day, it tends to be men by themselves. Maybe they're on a lunch break. Maybe...

HILLARD: Grillo was just 19 when she walked into a strip club to audition, accompanied by an abusive boyfriend, who later became her pimp.

GRILLO: Unfortunately, like many women who find themselves in the commercial sex industry, I was sexually abused as a young girl and then raped as a teen. I had been contemplating suicide since I was 8 years old.

HILLARD: Today, at the age of 42, Grillo is the founder of an organization called Treasures, funded by private donations, grants and churches and led by women who have been there.

GRILLO: When we first started going up into the strip clubs, you know, at first, like, what are you doing here? Why do you care? But many of us have been in the industry. We know what it's like. And you can just watch the walls come down.

ALEX: I've seen most of America from the inside of a Motel 6.

HILLARD: Alex has asked that we not use her last name because she fears for her safety. At the age of 17, she was driven from Los Angeles to Florida where she was forced into prostitution and pornography. At the age of 19, she escaped her trafficker and made her way back to LA.

ALEX: I had, like, no ID, no place to live, you know. The only thing I knew how to do - right? - was to be a sex worker.

HILLARD: It was two years later when she was 21 and sitting on a park bench that she met two women who told her about Treasures.

ALEX: It was like glitter magic but a lot of crying also.

HILLARD: Many workers in the commercial sex industry have trouble getting out because they enter at such a young age, have no family support and have been further traumatized on the job. Treasures provides them with a safety net that includes support groups, peer mentoring, education and job counseling and sometimes even finding child care. As part of Treasure's outreach program, founder Harmony Dust Grillo and her staff visit juvenile detention facilities, massage parlors and, of course, strip clubs.

Do you ever get triggered going back into that world?

GRILLO: When I really find myself triggered, it's often because of the way I am looked at by a customer, or sometimes there might be just something as little as a smell when I walk into a dressing room.

OK, here we go - kind of industrial here.

HILLARD: Grillo pulls up in front of a strip club that advertises nude exotic entertainment.

GRILLO: All right, we'll be back.

HILLARD: In order to gain access, Grillo explains to club owners that she's not there to convince the women to leave, only to let them know that Treasures is there if they need help in their lives. Fifteen minutes later, she and her assistant return to the car.

GRILLO: That club was actually busier even though it's so tiny, and there was nine women working.

HILLARD: One of the dancers remembered Grillo from a previous visit. And this time, she asked about their support group.

GRILLO: We've had women so many times tell us they've carried our card in their wallet for seven years before they finally reached out.

HILLARD: So Grillo and her staff continue to show up, reminding the women that when they're ready, Treasures will be there for them. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.