When Redondo Beach resident Christina Lee Storm visited India’s red light district and a safe house in Mumbai for under-aged girls rescued from sex trafficking, she returned to the United States completely moved. She learned that many women were trafficked from Nepal or small villages in the country to work in the sex industry.
“Many were minors,” Storm said, of the girls she met during her 2004 trip. “Many were coerced into this and had no idea that’s what they were going to be doing.”
Around the same time, her friend Kristin Lauterbach, a Los Angeles resident, was researching human trafficking and came across the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, which detailed the issue global sex trafficking, rating countries based on the severity of the problem, how the crimes are prosecuted, and how victims can be protected.
“The U.S. government rated every other country in world based on what they were doing to prevent trafficking, but they hadn’t rated the U.S.,” Lauterbach said. “(I thought,) surely this can’t be going on everywhere else in the world but not here at home.”
The two decided to explore the issue of sex trafficking in the United States, which turned into a five-year “passion project” largely focused on the issue in Los Angeles. They applied for and were granted funding for the documentary by Women Make Movies, a non-profit that facilitates the production of independent films by and about women.
A condensed, 14-minute version of Storm and Lauterbach’s “Flesh: Bought and Sold in the U.S.” was screened in Hermosa Beach last week, as part of Lunafest Film Festival presented by Soroptomist International Manhattan Beach. “We should be very vigilant and aware of what’s happening in our community,” Storm told the crowd, after the screening. “If people understand the issues, they can look out for things.”
The film tells the story of women formerly in the sex trafficking industry, and features advocates and law enforcement officials who are working to combat the issue. “From the girl’s standpoint, every one of them has told me that once you sell your body for sex, it breaks something in you,” Lauterbach said. “They speak of it as an utter violation which takes years and years of therapy to recover from.”
Working on the film has turned Lauterbach into an advocate for victims. “What I’ve enjoyed is the progress of the girls we’ve worked with in terms of seeing them grow,” she said. “To see them have hope, to me, is one of the most rewarding experiences of the project.”
Luna, the makers of the nutritional bar, began the annual film festival in 2000. “It’s a great way for us to promote who we are and what we do in a fun environment,” said Karen Block, president of Soroptomist Manhattan Beach.
Festival-goers also watched nine other short films, by and about women, covering topics ranging from obstetric fistula and transgender issues, to Craigslist’s “Missed Connections.”
Christy Turlington Burns’ “Every Mother Counts: Obstetric Fistula,” examines the painful childbirth injury that affects 2 million women worldwide. Obstetric fistula, which causes the loss of control of the bowels, could be treated with a $350 surgery, but many women in underdeveloped countries don’t have access to trained personnel or funds, according to the film.
According to the World Health Organization, the injury can be prevented by “delaying the age of first pregnancy,” and “timely access to obstetric care.”
Soroptomist Manhattan Beach also works with Children of the Night, a non-profit that rescues children in the U.S. from prostitution. In the past, the club has donated necessities like underwear, shampoo and toothbrushes to the children. Block’s favorite project included fulfilling the girls’ Christmas wish lists. “These are children that have missed out on holidays with family,” she said, adding that one year, the club donated Ugg boots to all the girls. “Sometimes it’s that normalcy that helps them move on from what they’ve been through.”
The organization also sponsors Mira Costa’s S Club and creates breast cancer comfort bags for women undergoing chemotherapy in local hospitals. For two years, Mira Costa’s S Club created goodie bags for the girls of Children of the Night, which were filled with nail polish and gift cards. “The girls in S Club are the same age as the girls living in Children of the Night,” Block said. “The more awareness you bring to a child in high school, the more they’re going to bring it to the future.”
For more information on “Flesh: Bought and Sold in the U.S.,” visit www.fleshthemovie.org. To report human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 888-373-7888.
