This dream world seems to offer a sense of
power, beauty and fulfilment but so few understand the dangers that go hand in
hand with it.
I am not saying that every agency or any
career in modelling will lead to danger, but so many take advantage of this glamorous
façade to trap young women into the murky world of human trafficking.
One of the most effective traps for human
traffickers is the recruitment of young women with the promise of a dream career
when they are only taken over the borders to serve as sex slaves.
In most cases, the young woman does not
involve her parents or friends in her decisions to take part in the recruitment
process or consult them as a safeguard to check whether contracts are legal and
above board.
Too often candidates enrol, on their own,
through social networks and agencies, without the knowledge of those closest to
them which simply makes the task far easier for perpetrators to recruit women
under false pretences.
These young women are taken to brothels in city
centres or other provinces, if they are not sent overseas, where they become
virtual “slaves”, totally dehumanised and threatened every day of their lives.
Many do not live for very long after they
have been trafficked because they are forced to entertain men of different ages
and backgrounds without using condoms. For them contamination and the recurrence of
HIV will become an undeniable reality.
It is known that the repeated transmission
of HIV decreases life expectancy. It
will be five years at most before a young woman becomes so sick that she will
be unprofitable to her pimps. Naturally,
the next step will be to dispose of her.
What
I am saying, being so blunt, may be shocking my readers, but it is not enough
to shake up many young girls who are still entertaining their dreams of fame
and fortune without counting the cost.
One truth is clear to me. If we are not straightforward with the facts,
we will not achieve the results we want.
If we do not educate the young openly and
show them the dangers lurking out there, we will miss the opportunity to keep
them out of trouble.
Let me share some facts and statistics
which may open your eyes:
• 43% of human trafficking victims are used in forced
commercial sexual exploitation. Of these, 98 per cent
are women and girls.
• Two models, Ramita Bhandari and Sabu Shah, were arrested on charges of trafficking young girls by promising them lucrative jobs in Singapore - August 2010.
• According to the Honduran daily, La Tribuna, the country is witnessing a shift in human trafficking activities which is marked by an increase in fake talent- seeking agencies posting ads for beauty pageants and modelling tryouts -- February 2011.
• Dianna Obrien, Canadian model... Was she a victim of Human Trafficking? – November 2008
• Rodney Hubert, a 34-year-old New Yorker, employed three female accomplices to lure a 15-year-old girl to
• Two models, Ramita Bhandari and Sabu Shah, were arrested on charges of trafficking young girls by promising them lucrative jobs in Singapore - August 2010.
• According to the Honduran daily, La Tribuna, the country is witnessing a shift in human trafficking activities which is marked by an increase in fake talent- seeking agencies posting ads for beauty pageants and modelling tryouts -- February 2011.
• Dianna Obrien, Canadian model... Was she a victim of Human Trafficking? – November 2008
• Rodney Hubert, a 34-year-old New Yorker, employed three female accomplices to lure a 15-year-old girl to
a supposed modelling stint. The modelling agency
was a cover and she was forced to perform sexual acts
for strangers. She was also advertised on craiglist.com
– January 2011
• Codie Toby Cardinal, a 38-year-old man, posed as a modelling agent on a number of social networking sites including Facebook. He lured four victims, mainly from rural areas in Canada, by befriending them and inviting them to Calgary for modelling jobs. These girls, aged 16 to 20 years, were all advertised on-line and forced to work as prostitutes.
•In London a contestant on "Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model" said that she was targeted by sex traffickers who wanted her to move to Italy – July 2011
• Codie Toby Cardinal, a 38-year-old man, posed as a modelling agent on a number of social networking sites including Facebook. He lured four victims, mainly from rural areas in Canada, by befriending them and inviting them to Calgary for modelling jobs. These girls, aged 16 to 20 years, were all advertised on-line and forced to work as prostitutes.
•In London a contestant on "Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model" said that she was targeted by sex traffickers who wanted her to move to Italy – July 2011
Remember, you can become another victim of this
which pretend to offer you the chance to realise your dreams. Seek guidance, ask for the help of your elders who
are really trying to protect you and not holding you back from achieving what you want in your future.
9 comments:
Thank you for this very insightful message Mrs Marcia. Becoming a beautiful supermodel was always a very popular dream when I was growing up and this was probably because of all the TV shows we'd watch back then. Every channel you tried to watch you'd find innuendos of what beauty is and how beauty should be celebrated - through modelling!
Personally, I've never desired to become a model but that was more out of a personal choice rather than a knowledge of what that industry is really about.
The media will stop at nothing to glamourise modelling but it's articles like these that will help enlighten many ignorant young women out there. Thank you again for this message, I've learnt a lot.
Indeed nower days we find many young girls having a desire to become models. This looks nice very attractive and hiddenly dangerous spiritually. Most models party and drink liqour, take drugs and so forth. Only a few do good if they are, the is a lot of pressure intems of body shape and fashion, temptations and peerpressure. I'm not against it but this is just my opinion, for me I don't desire, I was a modeler but came to church and understood God's purpose for my life and decided to live modeling and focuss on my spiritual life, and I don't regret I'm happy with my decision having a good relationship with God.
Thank you for sharing these it is indeed shocking but mostly wake up call I will be sharing this with my sister cause she is into the modelling thing and like you said she can be the next victim to this fake fame,wealth and so on.
God bless
Morongwa Mathatho
Thank you for the message Mrs Marcia this was an eye opener and helped me to see things in a different way.
What many people[especially young girls] tend to do is to ignore the truth about these kind of things because they are determined that this is what they want to do or this is their big dream[so they say].Yet they do not look at the dangers or the consequences that comes behind all the fame and glory. Its about time this matter is brought to our attention.
God bless
Thank you very much for the information Mrs. Marcia, all aspiring models and parents should be aware of these dangers.
This is the most important issue that many young ladies don't take serous. The "wanna be's" supermodels should take this messages from the blogs like Bomme fela, other blogs or websites that speaks about the danger of Supermodel scams.Thanks for this kind of information, it is very important to know these things.
Mrs Marcia,
Thank you so much for this informative post. Every mother, every daughter out there needed to hear this.
Thank you again.
Many girls these days want to become models and become famous but fall into the trap and not fully reading into what they are getting themselves into. Be safe! Be wise!
Glory Isobe
Croydon Branch
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