AAPI (Asian America and Pacific Islander) Survivors

The following is a message to our followers from an Asian American Survivor whom we serve, in response to the recent shootings in Atlanta:  

Ever since the massage parlor shootings a few days ago, numerous people have asked me, as an Asian American woman and survivor of trafficking how I “felt” about those current events.  Obviously it has been very painful, angering, and a little scary. Scratch that, it has been VERY scary. I don’t like to share many details about my history in exploitation, because it’s pretty sad and I have family who follow this page, but the more I hear, the more I feel like I need to speak up. Who knows, maybe this narrative will help you heal.  

CW: Sexual Exploitation, Anti-Asian Racism 

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When I was trafficked, johns/tricks would call me up and say, “I’m calling about the Asian.” They wouldn’t say “the Asian girl” or “the woman in the ads.”... I was simply “the Asian.” It happened a lot. I started to lose the sense that I was a person, slowly but surely.  I think there’s also an understanding that most Asian women on adult websites are not there by choice, so I learned quickly that any dehumanization of sexually exploited women is intensified if you’re not white.   
 

To my exploiter’s friends, I was known as “the Asian b*tch.” Not as my name, not as my stage name. Not even as a person. I was a possession classified by my race.  
 

The truth is that as most people remind me, I look white enough that I have to go out of my way to identify as an Asian American woman, and I could only imagine how much harsher it would be to have complete strangers harass me in the street about my race, as so many people have shared on social media. Imagining that someone would target me, not only because I was exploited, but also because of my cultural identity, for a mass murder? It’s hard to take.  

At my first recovery home, I shared the house with three Asian survivors who were all trafficked through massage parlors. They were brought to this country with false promises of marriage, employment, and citizenship. Once they entered the massage circuit, they were blackmailed into unpaid labor. I remember one girl told me that her female trafficker told her, “I know who you are, I know where your family lives, and if you try to leave, I will have your father killed and I will break your legs. If you still get away, I will call the police and have you deported.” I say this now so if you or someone you love frequent illicit massage parlors, please think twice. Is it is worth the risk of being served by someone who is not there by choice?  
 

Ask yourself, if our public knows that most illicit massage parlor workers are there against their will, without documentation, without being allowed to learn English, without breaks, without pay, why are there more than 3,000 #illicitmassageparlors located in California alone? Why do people continue to attend them? Why are we turning a blind eye? 
 

Just some things to think about.