Is it Really an Epidemic?

Murphy Patterson
mp385915@ohio.edu

Mary Annette Pember, an independent writer and photographer, spent Wednesday night speaking to students at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Her main focus was about sex trafficking, mainly of Native women, with Pember being a Native woman herself. She began her talk with explaining how this problem has been 500 years in the making and some main causes were racism and jurisdiction problems.

With the audience being full of aspiring young journalists, Pember began with cold hard facts to give everyone a sense of what the issues are. She explained how the department of justice reported that Native women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault. Since these statistics are so outlandish, she explained how people have begun to talk about Native women being sex trafficked as an "epidemic."

Pember has a very realistic way of looking at issues, and sometimes comes off with a sarcastic tone as she speaks. When talking about the "epidemic" of Native women being sex trafficked Pember said that this has always been a problem, it is just now considered an epidemic because white people started paying attention. She wants people to realize that for Native women, this is an inescapable part of life. They can't just turn a blind eye or act like sex trafficking isn't an issue in their culture. She claims that white men treat the subject with impunity.

So the question is: Should sex trafficking in Native culture be considered an epidemic? When talking about an epidemic people are usually referring to a disease like a plague or drug addiction. So do we now consider widespread actions such as sex trafficking as epidemics? Pember believes that referring to Native women being sex trafficked as an epidemic is a good thing because now people are paying attention, but also not so good because people are just now recognizing it.

                                                           Courtesy of Getty Images

Native women have been getting sex trafficked for a very long time now. Native women are more vulnerable and government law usually doesn't apply as strongly in Native communities. Native women are more available to the sex trafficking world because of being oppressed for so many years. Pember mentioned how when she was a photographer and would do stories on Native women who have been victims of sexual violence, she would observe their facial emotions and body language. She could tell they have been hurt and affected by these terrible crimes.

Pember believes that people need to be held more accountable when discussing sex trafficking. She expressed her opinions very strongly when she asked the question, "why are we giving men such a pass?" She discussed how men have an illusion that they are not part of the problem or part of the process of sex working, when they are the ones ordering the women to their houses.

Pember thinks that sex working is systematic oppression and is embedded into our economy. She wants to do more research on this idea and I think this is also a very interesting take as well. She continues freelance writing and speaking to students about the important issues of sex trafficking of Native women.