Surviving Sex Trafficking

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Surviving Sex Trafficking
Directed by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree
Produced by
Sadhvi Siddhali Shree Sadhvi Anubhuti
Edited byZack Tzourtzouklis
Music byAndor Sperling
Production
company
Distributed by
Stopping Traffic Productions Siddhayatan Tirth Productions
Release date
March 25, 2022
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Surviving Sex Trafficking is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and produced by the team of monks at Siddhayatan Tirth. [1]

Contents

The film focuses on the ongoing sex trafficking and sexual abuse in the United States and worldwide based upon stories of the survivors who were sex trafficked by their abusers. [2] [3]

Synopsis

Surviving Sex Trafficking is a follow up of 2017 documentary Stopping Traffic by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree. It addresses the global problem of sex trafficking and features interviews with the survivors named Angela Williams, Rachel D. Fischer and Kendra Geronimo. [4] The story rotates around the lives of those victims, their struggle for freedom, including the incidents after setting themselves free, and the mental trauma they had to deal with. [5] [6]

Sadhvi Siddhali Shree herself is also featured in the documentary and shares her own story of child abuse and PTSD. [7] The production team travelled various parts of United States including Houston, Miami, Las Vegas and New Jersey and other countries like Hungary, India, Philippines, and Ethiopia gathering stories of the women who have been the victims of sex trafficking and somehow managed to escape. [8] [9] The film also highlights the fact that only 1% of the 45 million victims manage to escape and survive once trafficked. [5] [10]

Production

Surviving Sex Trafficking is the second documentary which has been directed and produced by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree after her first documentary, Stopping Traffic which was released in 2017. [11] [12] She is a US based Jain monk, film director, author, TEDx speaker, Iraq War veteran and victim of child abuse. [1]

Alyssa Milano, Jeannie Mai and Jeezy are the executive producers of the documentary and the production house is Siddhayatan Tirth. [13] [14] The film has been inspired by the teachings of non-violence by Acharya Shree Yogeesh, who is also the executive producer of the film. [15] Sadhvi Anubhuti is the co-producer. [13]

Release

Surviving Sex Trafficking had its official worldwide premiere at the Vail Film Festival in 2021. [16] The film was released in theaters on March 25, 2022, and was made available on streaming platforms on April 15, 2022. [17] [18] On January 25, 2023, in recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the documentary was screened by the students for violence prevention at Pittsburg State University. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking</span> Trade of sexual slaves

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

Siddhayatan, is a Jain-Hindu Tirth in North America founded in 2008 by Acharya Shree Yogeesh. It is located on a 250-acre (1.0 km2) site at Windom near Dallas, Texas, United States. Siddhayatan currently has miniatured versions of pilgrimage sites from India, including Kailash-Mansarovar, Lake Rakshastal, Ashtapad, Sammedshikhar, Bahubali, and thus is considered as a pilgrimage rather than a temple or place of worship or prayer. According to India Abroad, it is a “Spiritual Disneyland”. The tour of the entire pilgrimage is estimated to be 4 hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the United States</span> Human trafficking as it relates to the United States

In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

Sex trafficking in Thailand is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kingdom of Thailand. Thailand is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sex trafficking. Child prostitution in Thailand is a problem. In Thailand, close to 40,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be in the sex trade, working in clubs, bars, and brothels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in California</span> Overview of the situation of human trafficking in the U.S. state of California

Human trafficking in California is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of California. Human trafficking, widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery, includes

"the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

<i>Nefarious: Merchant of Souls</i> 2011 film by Benjamin Nolot

Nefarious: Merchant of Souls is a 2011 American documentary film about modern human trafficking, specifically sexual slavery. Presented from a Christian worldview, Nefarious covers human trafficking in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, alternating interviews with re-enactments. Victims of trafficking talk about having been the objects of physical abuse and attempted murder. Several former prostitutes talk about their conversion to Christianity, escape from sexual oppression, and subsequent education or marriage. The film ends with the assertion that only Jesus can completely heal people from the horrors of sexual slavery.

<i>Not My Life</i> 2011 film by Robert Bilheimer

Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."

Sheila White is an African-American anti–sex trafficking activist, and a former human trafficking victim herself, from The Bronx, New York City.

<i>Tricked</i> (film) 2013 American film

Tricked: The Documentary is a 2013 American documentary film directed by John-Keith Wasson and Jane Wells. It documents human sex trafficking, and its presence within the United States, from the perspectives of the victims involved in sex trafficking, the “johns” who pay for the sex and the pimps responsible for instigating the illegal business. It was produced by 3 Generations and distributed by First Run Features in Canada and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Underground Railroad</span> U.S.-based nonprofit organization

Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is a United States-based, anti-sex trafficking nonprofit organization founded by Tim Ballard. The organization has conducted multiple sting operations, some outside the United States, and donated technological and monetary resources to law-enforcement agencies that combat sex trafficking. The organization has been criticised for its conduct during sting operations and for exaggerated claims regarding its work.

<i>Stopping Traffic</i> 2017 film

Stopping Traffic is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and produced by the team of monks at Siddhayatan Tirth.

Virginia Louise Giuffre is an American-Australian campaigner who offers support to victims of sex trafficking. She is an alleged victim of the sex trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre created Victims Refuse Silence, a non-profit based in the United States, in 2015, which was relaunched under the name Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR) in November 2021. She has given a detailed account to many American and British reporters about her experiences of being trafficked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China. China, the world's second-most populous country, has the second highest number of human trafficking victims in the world. It is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.

Sex trafficking in Laos is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Laos is primarily an origin country for sexually trafficked persons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in Cambodia</span>

Sex trafficking in Cambodia is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Cambodia is a country of origin, destination and transit for sex trafficked persons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in Kyrgyzstan</span>

Sex trafficking in Kyrgyzstan is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kyrgyz Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybersex trafficking</span> Online sexual exploitation

Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.

The Dreamcatcher Foundation is a Chicago-based non-profit organization that helps women who want to stop working in the sex industry, especially female prostitutes. They offer services to help the women reintegrate into society. The non-profit organization is working towards creating a facility of their own where the women will be able to stay while getting help. They have saved 87 women since their foundation.

Sadhvi Siddhali Shree is a US based Jain monk, film director, author, TEDx speaker, Iraq War veteran and activist. She is mostly known for her two documentaries Stopping Traffic (2017) and Surviving Sex Trafficking (2022) which are based on the global problem of human and sex trafficking.

Sadhvi Anubhuti is a Jain monk, film producer, director and activist.

References

  1. 1 2 "'Surviving Sex Trafficking' Reveals the Tortured Faces of the Sex Trafficking Epidemic". ca.news.yahoo.com. March 22, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  2. ↑ Hainsfurther, Stephanie (February 4, 2022). "Local Producer Brings "Surviving Sex Trafficking" to SF Film Fest". The Paper. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Alyssa Milano on Highlighting Plight of Sex Trafficking Survivors in New Documentary". Cheddar. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  4. ↑ Jiménez, Clavel Rangel (May 18, 2022). "Surviving Sex Trafficking, el documental de una monja latina contra la explotación sexual de mujeres". El Tiempo Latino (in Spanish). Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING – Review by April Neale – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS". March 15, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  6. ↑ "'Surviving Sex Trafficking' Producer Siddhali Shree Calls for Longer Prison Sentences". TMZ. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  7. ↑ A monk is making films to raise awareness of sex trafficking | CNN, March 23, 2022, retrieved January 28, 2023
  8. ↑ Johnson, Ted (September 18, 2020). "Alyssa Milano, Jeannie Mai Mobilize For New Project On Sex Trafficking Survivors". Deadline. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Survivor Recalls Brutal Beating, Harrowing Escape In 'Surviving Sex Trafficking'". Oxygen Official Site. April 22, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Watch: Exclusive "Surviving Sex Trafficking" Clip Sees a Survivor Sharing Her Story & Reclaiming Her Power". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  11. ↑ Soni, Monita (November 5, 2020). "Jain Dharma Leads Sadhvis to Direct Sex Trafficking Film". India Currents. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Sex trafficking victim recounts harrowing escape in new doc". New York Post. April 21, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  13. 1 2 Carey, Matthew (February 22, 2022). "'Surviving Sex Trafficking' Trailer: New Film Documents Experience Of Women Survivors "Without Sugar-Coating The Harsh Reality"". Deadline. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Video Jeannie Mai Jenkins on combating anti-Asian violence and new documentary". ABC News. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  15. ↑ Schager, Nick (March 22, 2022). "The Tortured Faces of the Sex Trafficking Epidemic". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  16. ↑ Surviving Sex Trafficking (2021) – IMDb , retrieved January 30, 2023
  17. ↑ "Surviving Sex Trafficking", Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved January 28, 2023
  18. ↑ Samo, R.C. (April 13, 2022). "'Surviving Sex Trafficking' Documentary Comes to VOD April 15". Fanboynation.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ↑ "PSU students to raise awareness for sex trafficking victims". news.yahoo.com. January 20, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
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