Trafficking Survivors and Advocates Are Being Harassed by ‘Sound of Freedom’ Fans

Avoiding Misinformation and Supporting Survivors: The Impact of “Sound of Freedom” on Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Introduction

A few weeks ago, Kat Wehunt held a training for new volunteers at the Formation Project, a nonprofit that provides specialized services for people in Charleston, South Carolina, who have experienced human trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation. Each new group of volunteers need training so that Wehunt can get them up to speed on best practices, and it’s usually a fairly routine process.

This time, though, something different happened: Wehunt found herself in the midst of an unusual argument with a potential volunteer.

The Impact of “Sound of Freedom”

The training typically starts with a discussion of the industry’s “myths and misconceptions and what trafficking actually looks like in our neighborhood in Charleston,” said Wehunt, who founded the nonprofit in 2019 and serves as its executive director. But some of the latest crop of potential volunteers had recently signed up after seeing Sound of Freedom, the surprise blockbuster film based on the purported work of Tim Ballard, the founder of the anti-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad.

One potential volunteer simply didn’t buy Wehunt’s matter-of-fact descriptions of how sex trafficking often occurs, and the two started to argue, according to Wehunt, with the volunteer insisting that people were frequently trafficked after being kidnapped, which, in reality, is an exceedingly rare occurrence, according to the available global data.

“Those things I’m sure do happen,” Wehunt told Motherboard. “But it’s not representative of the majority, especially in our neighborhoods.”

As a survivor of familial sex trafficking herself, Wehunt would know. But like other trafficking survivors who now work in anti-trafficking spaces, she’s seeing a direct impact on her work as a result of Sound of Freedom, which – in lurid detail – depicts children who are kidnapped by strangers and sold into commercial sexual exploitation.

The Spread of Misinformation

The film has awakened the passions of a broad swath of the right-wing and conspiratorial world. Religious influencers, QAnon fans, and a huge group of people who defy easy categorization have all thrown their support behind the movie. And while fans of the film have insisted that it’s “raising awareness” of a global problem, experts in trafficking, including people who have experienced it themselves, are finding that it’s contributing to serious and harmful misinformation about what trafficking looks like and what survivors need to recover.

“If I share anything publicly that’s opposing the film I get a lot of name-calling, a lot of lashing back,” Jose Lewis Alfaro, a sex and labor trafficking survivor who now works as a consultant and lived experience expert on trafficking issues, said. “It’s just really interesting to me how people are more than willing to hear a wealthy rich man’s superhero story, and aren’t willing to trust and listen to those who have actually lived through it.”

“It’s not awareness. This movie is full of assumptions,” said Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman, the chair at the United Nations’ fund for victims of human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery, “and a dangerous portrayal of what trafficking is.”

The Need for Accurate Narratives

But, he added, there’s nothing new about the kind of narrative the film promotes. In recent decades, the mainstream societal conversation about trafficking seems to have gotten stuck, according to Piraino-Guzman.

“We have been here in this very spot in the anti-trafficking movement for over 20 years,” he told Motherboard. “We’ve been fighting for 20 years for the appropriate ways to talk about trafficking, the ways we should be centering survivors, in order for us to be moving forward in a way that’s evidence based, not assumptions based.”

The Impact on Survivors

Alfaro worries about the effects of calling trafficking survivors “pedophiles,” beyond just the emotional impact it has on them individually.

“You’re making them feel like they don’t even want to talk about this issue anymore,” he said. “There’s a lot of harm that happens with that and ultimately we have nothing to blame but these overly sensational depictions.”

Dr. Beth Bowman is the founder of the Restoring Ivy Collective, which, like many other survivor-led organizations, offers practical services for survivors, including support groups and referrals for housing and case management.

Bowman bluntly said that many people in the anti-trafficking world are “pissed” about the film.

“It’s a sensationalized story that you only get trafficked if you’re taken by bad men in a white van,” Bowman said. Like other survivors, she was disturbed by the racialized undertones of the film, in which every villain is Latino and the hero is a lone white man. “It’s this awful ‘white versus the world’ narrative that just isn’t true. Most of the time people aren’t kidnapped. There’s poverty and abuse involved, for instance, an uncle is the trafficker. They aren’t typically that far from their families.”

Supporting Survivors and Fighting Misinformation

“I’m going to be honest,” said Rafael Bautista, another labor trafficking expert who’s also a survivor. “I will not watch the movie out of respect for survivors and the movement. It’s harmful and it takes us back many years of work.” He’s struggled to get people to care about labor trafficking, even when it involves children, he said, pointing specifically to the thousands of migrant children whose whereabouts are unknown after they entered the United States as unaccompanied minors, and who may be victims of labor exploitation. He worries that because they’re looking for scenarios of international kidnapping and literal bondage depicted in films like Sound of Freedom and Taken, people may miss more common signs of trafficking at home – in nail salons, agricultural settings, or among domestic workers.

Other survivors and people working in the anti-trafficking space also have concrete tips for people who have seen the film and want to “help,” they tell Motherboard.

“We have very real and tangible needs,” said Kat Wehunt, the founder of the Formation Project. Every Tuesday, they hold a dinner for survivors, and they’ve had trouble with transportation and childcare for the people who attend. They’ve also frequently needed people to do things like go through their clothing closet, do administrative work, and sort donations. The work is “a little less sexy” than many think,

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 5: Gender Equality

   • Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual exploitation.
   • Indicator 5.2.1: Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months.

2. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.
   • Indicator 8.7.1: Proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group.

3. SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

   • Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
   • Indicator 16.2.2: Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age group, and form of exploitation.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

   The issues highlighted in the article are connected to SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

   • Under SDG 5, the specific target is to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls, including trafficking and sexual exploitation (Target 5.2).
   • Under SDG 8, the specific target is to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and eliminate the worst forms of child labor (Target 8.7).
   • Under SDG 16, the specific target is to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children (Target 16.2).

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

   • For SDG 5, the indicator mentioned in the article is the proportion of ever-partnered women and girls subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months (Indicator 5.2.1).
   • For SDG 8, the indicator mentioned in the article is the proportion and number of children aged 5-17 years engaged in child labor, by sex and age group (Indicator 8.7.1).
   • For SDG 16, the indicator mentioned in the article is the number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age group, and form of exploitation (Indicator 16.2.2).

Based on the article, it is evident that the issues discussed are relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their corresponding targets and indicators. The article highlights the need to address violence against women and girls, eradicate forced labor and human trafficking, and end abuse and exploitation of children. The specific targets and indicators identified in the article provide measurable goals to track progress towards achieving these SDGs.

Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

Source: vice.com

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