Key Components of Exploitation

Since I live in the world of a social enterprise that uses fashion to fight sex trafficking, I have developed a simple diagram to help me explain the main components of sex trafficking. Each of these five stages as well as the bullet points underneath them could be their own blog post - or book, for that matter - so this is not a complete introduction by any means. It offers a simple, digestible way to understand the process, which is a starting point.

Made for Freedom works on both ends of this spectrum. The name of our products, Creabeli, comes from CREating A BEautiful LIfe. Our Creabeli products are made by marginalized women and/or sex trafficking survivors, which means we are specifically partnering with centers that work with women in two of the areas above - those in Vulnerable situations and those who are in the Return/Reintegration phase.

We work with facilities serving women on both ends of this progression in order to both prevent exploitation and to rebuild women who have been exploited. In order to have the dignity, self-respect and financial independence that comes with dignified employment, one must first have the life skills and job training that make employment possible. It's a way to take a broken, harmful cycle and break its power over a woman's life.