Well, it was about time I got out from under my rock and did a review for the first time in a while. While Shane is away for this week, I thought I’d finally get around to doing a review on something that normally we don’t talk about given our standards about adult content, but it is important to shed light on this matter as it is a big deal: Human Sex Trafficking. Written and directed by Viveka Melki, which reveals young ladies who are in serious danger thanks to this common ocurrence which somehow remains hidden. We get three intense stories from women named Mallory, Raine, and Charlie who explain how they got into this ridiculous sex traffic racket. Mallory started out as an ace in her school taking part in musicals and stage productions, while getting straight A’s. Despite this, she felt she couldn’t find a suitable social circle to fit into. Her life fell apart as her parents separated,her mom being super busy, and eventually Mallory started doing drugs. Eventually, after living in a shelter for abused women, Mallory met a trafficker and got to know him one particular night when he flaunted his dominance. So the trafficker convinced Mallory to set out with him and make money as his personal business partner in pleasing creepy guys. If you’ve read my review on Maya, you can figure out a similar story. Traffickers have a way of complimenting the depressed youth encouraging them to run away from their problems and eventually those stuck in trafficking find themselves in bigger problems. Mallory felt she was safe at first, and she saw trafficking as a relationship and believed it was true love when it was really brainwashing. Just about all her money was taken by her trafficker as she saw a fair amount of clients. She was afraid of leaving due to the possibility of abuse and guilt of helping him survive. Traffickers can get real threatening too, and Mallory’s trafficker met her mother in an effort to shut her up. It’s amazing and disgusting how trauma bonds work. We get similar stories from the other girls. For example, Charlie explains she got into it as an 8 year old when a family member bribed her with lots of candy and toys. She didn’t understand at first and had no idea what she was getting into, but this family member was doing so because they needed money for their drug addiction. It was an on-and-off happening until she Charlie was 16. She then shows us personal performances where she speaks in rhyme what the experience felt like. When child services asked her questions, she was afraid of being taken away so she acted like her family was lovey dovey despite the potential choas. Eventually, Charlie moved to a few different places until she made it to a group home when she was 17. Most of her life Charlie was raised by her grandmother. Raine explained how in her home of Winnipeg had men from overseas who drank a lot and engaged in sexual intercourse. Eventually, borthel houses became a common thing in Winnipeg and minors dated grown men. Indiegenous women were the most targeted unfortunately. Raine went into a group home when she was 12 while her mother escaped an abusive relationship. Raine struggled to understand why her body was sacred as she lived amongst other girls who were recovering from sex trafficking. Raine felt her life had gotten worse, as she went through trafficking from 12 to 17.
A common ocurrence is for men to abduct women and rape/drug them until they’re broken. It’s such a common thing in Winnipeg yet it’s not talked about and eventually the broken women are shipped off to other provinces. We get other stories in between by human trafficking art therapist Larissa Maxwell, Frank Page who operates North Human Trafficking Force Alberta, Psychologist Jacqui Linder, Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation, Mitch Bourbonniere of the Mama Bear Clan, and other people. They talk about how traffickers go to certain spots that make them the most money, how many victims are involved with them, and how their fast-paced travel makes it hard to law enforcement to catch the traffickers. It’s scary how human trafficking is almost as common as drugs in crime, and even getting evidence from a victim is the most challenging given their trauma bond and how anxious they are. But there is some hope as some of these interviewees talk about what they do to help and how their help has improved their communities for the better. This was a documentary with a lot of close personal stories and some interesting details where it didn’t get too graphic, but gave some intense feelings about how disturbing this is, and the fact that we need to address it just as much as we have to address bullying, and the mistreatment of Indigenous people. The latter is mentioned in this documentary as well, actually. Yeah, we’ve seen trafficking of all kinds, made into disturbing sketches and featured on news, but now we got to shine more light on it and bring it to people’s attention. I don’t know how many people know about it or know whether or not their daughters or daughter’s friends are involved in something so disturbing. It’s times like these I’m glad Phoenix is homeschooled, and as long as I’m around, she won’t have anything like this happen to her. Even though she’s getting less social and more surly, we still have a good bond (as long as I keep getting her cool presents). A smaller subject that’s mentioned is the story of a butterfly that gets released from its coccoon prematurely and sturggles to fly, explaining how recovering from abuse as a victim is a long tough road and needs to be done slowly. As a victim of a toxic relationship, a one-time sexual harassment, and a very very critical loss, I can relate as I know how any recovery from anything takes time. But the process is worth it, and these women prove it to us as they’re shown doing so much better these days and continue to improve.
Butterfly: Into the Maze of Human Trafficking begins streaming free across Canada on April 24 on https://watch.telusoriginals.com and can also be seen in BC & Alberta on TELUS Optik TV Channel 8.