The next part of the book Somebody's Daughter by Julian Sher is called Innocence Lost. The first chapter is The Girl from Jersey.
"Prostituted children are made, not born, forced onto the streets by myriad circumstances beyond their control, usually some kind of trouble at home and often a trigger event that pushes them over the edge." This book tells a heartbreaking story of a girl named Maria. She was raised by a very traditional family who never let her out of the house, finally left one day for a date at the age of 12, was raped and held captive for several days inside a closet, then left for dead on the road. When she finally mustered the courage to tell people, there was no evidence and he got away free of charge. Her parents blamed her for what happened, saying if she hadn't left without permission it would never have happened. Although she knew they loved her, and they took her to psychiatrists, things changed permanently. This set the stage for her. My job here isn't to write the book, but to detail the skeletal facts I've learned through it. I want to take this moment to STRONGLY encourage you to read this book because the stories are heartbreaking and make these facts real, fleshed out, and bring these girls into your hearts.
Dan Garrabrant, an FBI agent, states that, "Nobody reports them, nobody is looking for them, and nobody cares about them. They're the forgotten children." All Maria wanted was for her mother to show love and acknowledge her, and instead she ended up learning that she was property of a pimp and had to keep her eyes down whenever another man was in the room. She told her pimp that she was 14, and that only made her more marketable to him. In fact, he capitalized on it, giving her the street name Baby Girl. (Incidentally, this is the same name my neighbor gave her horse.)
"The police considered adult prostitution a nuisance rather than a crime, while [CSEC] barely registered on their radar." Maria was arrested nearly 40 times, claiming to be an adult every time. "They never asked questions." she states. She was convinced the pimps were bribing the authorities.
From the book: "Too young to recognize they are being manipulated and too old to see themselves as helpless children, they come to endure, if not accept, their own exploitation because, rightly or wrongly, they do not see a better alternative. And all they see in popular culture - from music to movies - is a glorification of the pimping world."
I'm not going to reveal the name of the pimp or book here, because I'm afraid the wrong sort of person might read it and use the book for ideas rather than advocacy, but a bestselling book on pimping advises to, "Prey on the weak. The women all have... a history that can be exploited... Most hos have low self-esteem for a reason... Weakness is the best trait a person can find in someone they want to control."
Isolation is also used to solidify this dependance and control. Pimps often foster an us v. them mentality within the community. Everyone not involved in pimping and prostitution are called "square." This leads to a life where the act of a married man in his 40s having sex with a 14 year old became a reward, rather than revolting. Maria found comfort in the fact that her pimp beat her "less severely than the other girls," but the pimp was smart enough to realize that she was his biggest legal liability.
The sad thing is, when Maria tried escaping back to her home, no one understood. The church talked badly about her. No one at school would hang out with her anymore. Even her best friend says she couldn't hang out with her, otherwise "everybody is going to think that I am a hooker..." Maria says, "I knew this life working the tracks wasn't me, but I didn't feel that I fit in at home either... I was just another little whore."
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