The form of modern-day slavery called human trafficking is rampant and rife in many parts of the world. Each year, millions of people from across the globe are sold into forced labor and sexual exploitation.
In the US alone, approximately 240,000 women and children are trafficked into sexual slavery, usually organized by individual pimps or more giant human trafficking cartels and gangs.
Therefore, Kathy McGibbon is just one of the thousands of American women and young girls forced into organized prostitution yearly. From a church-going and academically promising innocent girl in Houston, Kathy was lured into the sex trafficking trap by her close friends at school. What started as an invitation to hang out with a group of well known, fast-rising musicians later became her worst nightmare as she was trafficked to Texas, where she was forced into organized prostitution. She told her story to KVUE, a Texas-based TV station, seven years after she escaped from her trafficker.
‘I was introduced to my trafficker by my friend at college, who had gone for an audition at a talent show and met this group of singers there. She said that the guys were pretty cool and handsome. So, enticed by the prospect of becoming famous, I agreed when she invited me to hang out with them at a party.’
Being a church girl, she was not very excited initially, but the party was fun, and the guys were also friendly and charming. Soon, she hung out with the group several times weekly.
‘At first, it was just hanging out and having fun. We became really good friends. But I found it odd that these well-known personalities were interested in us because we didn’t belong to their class. Although I can’t say that my family was poor, they weren’t wealthy either, so I felt that I didn’t quite belong to this social status. This new lifestyle is what got me hooked. I felt so privileged to get invites to high-end parties and to hang out with the who-is-who in our city.’
Her single mother raised Kathy, but even though the family lacked a father figure, her mother worked tirelessly to raise her children to be morally upright and responsible members of society and ensure they didn’t lack any of life’s necessities. Before long, her trafficker showed interest in her and was attracted to him, so they began dating.
‘During the one year that we dated, my trafficker learned everything about me and my family. Even though I caught him severally in compromising situations with other women, I just brushed it off as the celebrity way of life and he told me that I was the only one he was interested in.’
Afterward, the trafficker asked Kathy to move with him to Dallas, where he allegedly had people who wanted to invest in his singing career. Instead, he said that he wanted to start his record label. But upon arriving in Dallas, he changed completely, ordering her to wear
scanty outfits and taking photos of her to advertise on his prostitution website. Soon, clients were lined up for her in her hotel room.
‘He told me that it was just for a while until he made the money, he needed to start off his label. I genuinely wanted to help him make the money, believing that he loved and cared for me. He promised always to protect me and said that it would always be from inside my room and that he would never throw me out in the streets.’
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But soon, the trafficker became abusive, screaming that the money was not coming fast enough and that Kathy had to start going out in the street to get clients. There were a few other ladies in the ring, and one of them was ordered to induct her into the streets. Work became tough. From the five to six clients she serviced weekly in her room, the number grew to twenty to thirty per week on the streets.
‘We slept only for a few hours in the morning before clients started pouring in from around 11 am through to the next day. During the day, it was usually businessmen and corporate workers on lunch breaks, but at night it was anyone and anything. We were given drugs to help us stay awake. It felt like non-stop rape.’
‘I couldn’t escape, even though I was so depressed by this new turn of events. He warned me not to try anything stupid. I was scared he would hurt my family if I tried to run. He knew everything about me.’
Daily targets were set for them to meet, usually around 1,500 US dollars, and no one was allowed to rest until they had completed their targets. Physical assault was expected, and she had to train recruits in the ring. To survive the shame, Kathy says that she psychologically switched off her brain, and due to the depression, she completely lost track of time.
Escaping to freedom, luck was on her side. The lady who had prepped her on street prostitution soon suffered a mental breakdown and became so violent that the trafficker became scared, fearing that his trafficking ring would be exposed. Kathy took advantage of the situation and suggested to the trafficker that they should return the lady to Houston for mental treatment.
When they arrived in Houston, Kathy gathered the courage and contacted her family, but she was too scared to run. It was only after she developed a nervous breakdown that her trafficker was left with no choice but to let her return to her family, and she suffered the
trauma for seven years before she opened up to anyone about her story. She is building up a case against her trafficker, a man who enslaved her and put her through untold physical, emotional, and psychological torture.
