| For Help Understanding the issue of Sexual Exploitation, Sexual abuse, and the Sex Industry, here are some helpful resources
Anne Bissell ”Memoirs of a Sex Industry Survivor” www.annebissell.com Email: anne@vfjnw.org Anne Bissell, Executive Director Voices for Justice Network/Operation Silver Braid Anne Bissell is the first author/activist and sexual exploitation survivor to bring out the connections between childhood sexual exploitation, pornography, domestic prostitution and international trafficking. “All of these are part of a continuum of sexual crimes that involve turning an actual person into a thing, a commodity. That which becomes a commodity is eventually disposable.” With the Operation Silver Braid campaign, Bissell has brought together all of the programs which she developed, such as: www.thesilverbraid.org, www.sexualabusesurvivors.com, and www.sexindustrysurvivors.com. She is a nationally sought after spokesperson on the topic of commercialized sexual exploitation of children. Voices for Justice Network www.vfjnw.org Voices for Justice Network is a 501 c3 Public Benefit California non-profit corporation. We are dedicated to helping survivors of both sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Our outreach networks throughout the United Sates help locate victims of sexual exploitation and provide them with services that prevent re-victimization. We seek to reveal the interconnections between child porn, child sexual assault, domestic trafficking, and international sex trafficking. Anne Bissell, the executive Director, has spoken for the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and was asked to be a part of a Brain Trust for the former director of Trafficking Rescue and Restore campaign. The programs underneath the Voices for Justice umbrella are now run in jails, churches, recovery homes, and are in 25 US cities, as well as internationally. Sex Industry Survivors Anonymous www.sexindustrysurvivors.com info@sexindustrysurvivors.com NATIONWIDE TOLLFREE HELPLINE 888 702 7273 Sex Industry Survivors Anonymous (SISA) falls under the charitable organizational structure, Voices for Justice Network, (www.vfjnw.org). SISA, a nationwide organization, provides resources and program information to men and women who want to quite the sex industry. Sex Industry survivors include individuals who accept money, material items or any form of exchange for sex or sex related activities. The 12-step groups are available in person, online, by phone or by mail. Meetings can be closed or open. Open meetings are open to non-sex industry individuals such as counselors, or outreach coordinators. Printed meeting material can be requested by email at no cost at info@sexindustrysurvivors.com Services for Survivors of Sexual Exploitation Since childhood sexual exploitation and involvement in the sex industry are linked, we also offer, under the structure of the charitable organization Voices for Justice Network, The Silver Braid Survivors of Sexual Exploitation Network. The Silver Braid Survivors of Sexual Exploitation Network www.thesilverbraid.org www.sexualabusesurvivors.org Our program assists survivors in dealing with the aftereffects of sexual exploitation, such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Our online and city by city programs help locate victims of sexual exploitation, bring them together, and provide them with services that help prevent re-victimization. The first strand of the Silver Braid represents all survivors of sexual exploitation, including girls trafficked by pimps here in the United States, domestic violence survivors, internationally trafficked survivors, and childhood sexual assault survivors. The second strand represents communities. Our programs help the communities understand and become pro-active against the insidious infiltration of the sex industry into small towns, and large cities alike. The third strand represents taking new choices, going in new directions, and becoming a healthier, survivor who is no longer locked in the victim/perpetrator loop. NATIONWIDE TOLLFREE HELPLINE 888 702 7273 What is Operation Silver Braid What is Operation Silver Braid? Operation Silver Braid (OSB) is a multi-dimensional public outreach campaign that strives to put the tools for recovery directly into those who need them…the survivors of sexual abuse. Executive It is an educational and outreach campaign designed to bring back our daughters, our sisters, our women and our children who are victimized by sexual exploitation. Operation Silver Braid (OSB) is dedicated to helping survivors of sexual exploitation. STRAND ONE The First Strand of THE SILVER BRAID Represents the survivors of sexual exploitation. By bringing the survivors together, we build a bridge of advocacy. Thus, survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood sexual assault, domestic trafficking and international trafficking alike find they are not alone. Understanding how sexual exploitation survivors suffer from similar aftereffects, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, nightmares, and flashback, Here are the resources: The Silver Braid Survivors of Sexual Exploitation Network Meeting Format/Program Information (www.thesilverbraid.org) Sexual Abuse Survivors in Recovery (www.sexualabusesurvivors.com) Sex Industry Survivors Anonymous (www.sexindustrysurvivors.com) Nationwide tollfree helpline (888-702-7273) Online support via emails, meetings, etc. Blogs/chatrooms for survivors of sexual exploitation Operation Silver Braid Web Portal STRAND TWO The Communities We believe that it is necessary to educate the public that domestic sexual trafficking of teens is similar to international sex trafficking. Along those same lines, the public needs to understand that domestic violence, child sex trafficking, and incest also share similar characteristics. The perpetrators and the victims become locked in what is called the “Perpetrator/Victim” loop. Culturally, because of certain factors, we are locked in this loop. We are also locked within a pornographic paradigm. With that onset of technology, we are in “everything all at once happening all the time paradigm.” Porn can be viewed in our cell phones, or palm pilots. The images hit us constantly. The Operation Silver Braid Training guides will allow churches, law enforcement agencies, attorneys, to understand how to effectively address the issues surrounding the increasing escalation of sexual exploitation. Why is it important to see the connections? Over the past thirty years, great strides have been taken to understand how to help and deal with victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence survivors have a great deal in common with survivors of sex trafficking. Thirteen year old girls who have been pimped out in Detroit share similar aftereffects with twenty year old Korean women flown into Los Angeles to work in massage parlors. Both experience a sense that somehow, they deserve what happened to them. And time after time, communities shake their heads, and say, whether it is a woman being battered by her husband in Appleton Wisconsin, or the young teen hooker in downtown Houston, “these women deserve what they are getting. They could leave anytime…they choose this lifestyle.” Understanding how sexual exploitation survivors suffer from similar aftereffects, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, nightmares, and flashback, Operation Silver Braid creates a Paradigm Shift in Collective Awareness Our educational outreach training programs go beyond dealing with “human trafficking,” although that work is of course important. Sexual trafficking takes place within different sociological levels. Operation Silver Braid City by city, we will reach out to schools, jails, social service agencies and provide them materials that will help them understand how to help survivors of sexual exploitation. Resources to Communities The Operation Silver Braid web portal will be a comprehensive community service. Resources regarding sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and human trafficking will be brought together. Here are further resources Parents of Exploited Minors (Poem) Women inside Network (WIN) Silver Bridge Safe homes (Safe houses for Adult Survivors of Sexual Exploitation, Safe houses for sexually exploited minors) OSB training guides prepared and maintained in recovery homes Law enforcement training guides National toll free helpline 888 702 7273 Presentations to Domestic Violence shelters Clergy and Pastor educational outreach Connection with “211” Information and Referral for the department of Public Social Services. Participation in, for example “211” “The 2-1-1 Ventura County Blue Book New Choices/New Directions Life Planning and Career mentoring Programs for Incarcerated and sexually exploited minors Conference Presentations University and Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) www.thesilverbraid.org www.vfjnw.org www.sexindustrysurvivors.com www.sexualabusesurvivors.com www.annebissell.com |
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