美国国家公共电台 NPR Getting Out Of The Commercial Sex Industry — With Help From Women Who've Been There

Getting Out Of The Commercial Sex Industry — With Help From Women Who've Been There

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Not all women who work in the sex industry are victims of sex trafficking, but that's where many who have been trafficked end up. Reporter Gloria Hillard has the story of one woman who escaped that world and helps others get out.

GLORIA HILLARD, BYLINE¹: It's midday on this busy boulevard in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, a familiar four-lane landscape of chain restaurants, retail² and gas stations. Behind the wheel is Harmony Dust Grillo, a mother of two.

HARMONY DUST GRILLO: Yeah, so this is definitely an epicenter of the commercial sex industry.

HILLARD: Grillo sees what others might miss right under their noses.

GRILLO: Another motel - just lots and lots of motels.

HILLARD: And adjacent to those motels are strip clubs open for business.

GRILLO: During the day, it tends to be men by themselves. Maybe they're on a lunch break. Maybe...

HILLARD: Grillo was just 19 when she walked into a strip club to audition³, accompanied by an abusive boyfriend, who later became her pimp.

GRILLO: Unfortunately, like many women who find themselves in the commercial sex industry, I was sexually abused as a young girl and then raped⁴ as a teen. I had been contemplating⁵ suicide since I was 8 years old.

HILLARD: Today, at the age of 42, Grillo is the founder⁶ of an organization called Treasures, funded by private donations, grants and churches and led by women who have been there.

GRILLO: When we first started going up into the strip clubs, you know, at first, like, what are you doing here? Why do you care? But many of us have been in the industry. We know what it's like. And you can just watch the walls come down.

ALEX: I've seen most of America from the inside of a Motel 6.

HILLARD: Alex has asked that we not use her last name because she fears for her safety. At the age of 17, she was driven from Los Angeles to Florida where she was forced into prostitution and pornography. At the age of 19, she escaped her trafficker and made her way back to LA.

ALEX: I had, like, no ID, no place to live, you know. The only thing I knew how to do - right? - was to be a sex worker.

HILLARD: It was two years later when she was 21 and sitting on a park bench that she met two women who told her about Treasures.

ALEX: It was like glitter magic but a lot of crying also.

HILLARD: Many workers in the commercial sex industry have trouble getting out because they enter at such a young age, have no family support and have been further traumatized on the job. Treasures provides them with a safety net that includes support groups, peer mentoring⁷, education and job counseling and sometimes even finding child care. As part of Treasure's outreach program, founder Harmony Dust Grillo and her staff visit juvenile⁸ detention⁹ facilities, massage¹⁰ parlors¹¹ and, of course, strip clubs.

Do you ever get triggered going back into that world?

GRILLO: When I really find myself triggered, it's often because of the way I am looked at by a customer, or sometimes there might be just something as little as a smell when I walk into a dressing¹² room.

OK, here we go - kind of industrial here.

HILLARD: Grillo pulls up in front of a strip club that advertises nude¹³ exotic entertainment.

GRILLO: All right, we'll be back.

HILLARD: In order to gain access, Grillo explains to club owners that she's not there to convince the women to leave, only to let them know that Treasures is there if they need help in their lives. Fifteen minutes later, she and her assistant return to the car.

GRILLO: That club was actually busier even though it's so tiny, and there was nine women working.

HILLARD: One of the dancers remembered Grillo from a previous visit. And this time, she asked about their support group.

GRILLO: We've had women so many times tell us they've carried our card in their wallet for seven years before they finally reached out.

HILLARD: So Grillo and her staff continue to show up, reminding the women that when they're ready, Treasures will be there for them. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

4 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

5 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

6 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

7 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

8 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

9 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

10 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

11 parlors   

客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店

参考例句：

• It had been a firm specializing in funeral parlors and parking lots. 它曾经是一个专门经营殡仪馆和停车场的公司。
• I walked, my eyes focused into the endless succession of barbershops, beauty parlors, confectioneries. 我走着，眼睛注视着那看不到头的、鳞次栉比的理发店、美容院、糖果店。

12 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

13 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。