Written by Andrelyn Izquierdo.
My personal experience on Human Trafficking Awareness Day in a workplace. FYI - For safety reasons, I will not reveal the name of the place I work yet, but do know that I am not working within the sex industry or any other illegal job.
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay.
I went to work yesterday to help a female coworker by telling her that her bra was showing as her shirt looked like it was pulled down further in the front. Instead of thanking me and adjusting herself, she decided to argue with me and include more people. As she tugs at her black V-neck shirt, her red bra becomes more exposed and she stated, "What's the big deal?" The environment became awkward with the other employees. She continued mentioning about the size of her breasts included in her argument. Since she believes that her breasts are small, that she can call her bra a bathing suit since they aren't large cup sizes. Then she motions moving her bra side to side in an exaggerated motion. I had replied, "There are kids here." She wasn't listening to me at all and decided to talk over me. She continued with her defense stating, "I'm not standing next to anyone so what's the problem?" The male employee turned around looking embarrassed and went to help customers exiting the conversation. It's important to know this key detail as well: this male employee is brand new too like I am. She's been working there for a long time. We work at a front desk of a gym for families that's supposed to focus on kid safety. That's inappropriate.
What made things worse was that two children were mentioning how uncomfortable they were because a man was staring at them and following them for an extended period of time. They got scared and told their father. Then they came to the front desk to express their concern. I spoke to them at the opposite end of the desk from the employee to also be protective of them.
This same employee decided to stand next to me for a moment and pick on me. What I mean by this was telling me how I was not allowed to take photos of the members because it seemed like I was working too slowly. She was focusing on how it was too busy for that at the time. Instead of telling the other person at the other computer to move account questions to membership where they take payment over there, she decided to hover over my shoulder telling me further what I should be doing instead. Suspicious much? In the order of things, it seems like she was taking retaliation out on me because of the comment that I made to her when I was looking out for her safety by helping her not have people stare at her opened chest.
Our policies are supposed to focus on the safety of the members. One of the ways to do this is to make sure people's profiles are complete. This makes it much easier for people to be identified and know for sure when they are using the correct membership cards especially since we've been having security problems. It takes only a couple of seconds to do this task. I was done by the time she finished talking to me. This raised another red flag.
Discouraging taking photos can also be part of concealing identities and I'm already having a tough time working there due to the overwhelming amount of sexual harassment in less than a month I've received from staff as well as members there. I was called sexy instead of my name by one employee and then another employee made a comment of "Wham bam thank you, ma'am." That is a sexual comment that was joked about out loud by another seasoned employee there. After complaining about the inappropriate comments, I was told that everyone has known each other for a very long time and are comfortable talking to each other that way.
While I was still busy with customers since we were so busy, I noticed that she put on a jacket when she returned to the area after leaving. It seems like someone had made her put a jacket on. This confirmed to me that she was in the wrong for having her bra exposed. I gave her the benefit of the doubt by treating it like a wardrobe malfunction for her to adjust discreetly for the sake of letting her have privacy and not embarrassing her. But it wasn't a wardrobe malfunction and was intentional. This is why it's considered harmful behavior in a place where they stress how dress code is so important. I know this since I was sent home from work and denied my shift just for wearing jeans. She wasn't sent home, but was told to put a jacket on. I'm grateful that things were at least adjusted with the concerns that were being brought to me by the members there yesterday. Wardrobe malfunctions can happen and when left unsaid, can leave the person in a vulnerable position because of not knowing. But when the wearer is defending having her body exposed in an environment intentionally where it's not appropriate, the first place people see when they visit our establishment, and where the dress code is actively being enforced, it's just not appropriate behavior and needs to be corrected.
How does this behavior resemble a previous experience I've had with someone trying to recruit me into Human Trafficking? FYI - I've had this experience too many times while working multiple jobs and while homeless living in my car and on the street. I've heard both Human Traffickers and trafficking victims try to suggest little by little how okay it is to have the body exposed in multiple ways. The more skin, the better. This is one of the ways they do their marketing for their client base. Afterwards, they try to sneak in a photo using their cell phone or other device they have handy. Or they'll try to navigate you in an area where people can see you to start the bidding in person or through an online forum. This is how the sexual exploitation begins and is part of their recruitment process. Victims can be forced into recruiting others as well with their lives being threatened. Human Trafficking Rings are very large networks of many different types of people. They come from different backgrounds, states/countries, and can be any gender. They endanger many people's lives and are considered an abuser. Those committing sexual exploitation and sex trafficking are also considered as rapists.
Just by me having this written down puts me at a dangerous risk. But I'm the type of person who likes to stand up and fight against these kinds of people. By doing this, I not only defend myself, but I defend other victims out there who may be experiencing the same thing or who do not recognize the signs. I see it so frequently, it makes me sick. They use lies and even try to use the policy to cover their malicious motives. There is a difference of using the policy to enforce people's safety and using the policy to endanger people's lives. Learn the signs. You can save a life. Human Trafficking is a serious problem in the United States and all around the world. Actions start off small and then eventually escalate to full on enslavement of victims stealing their freedom. It can happen very quickly. Most victims are already entrapped by the time they either realize what is happening or do not have access to resources in order to get out at any time. If you see something wrong, it is your due diligence to say something about it. Tell the person, management, Human Resources, a help line, or anyone you trust to try and get the support needed for you or the person you are trying to help. Have the courage to #speakup.
Try to #besafe.
#sexualharassment #SlaveryandHumanTraffickingPreventionMonth #sexualviolence #humantrafficking #awareness #victim #survivor #geteducated #help #danger #facts #labortrafficking #drugtrafficking #sextrafficking #EndRape #enddomesticabuse #humantrafficker #abuse #UnseenFortitude #empowerment #blog #KnowTheTruth
Inspired by my true story.
This article is written by:
Andrelyn Izquierdo
Kommentare