Social media has erupted mercilessly after news about a 15-year-old girl having sex with boys in the bathroom at South Fort Myers High School. The local county’s sheriff’s office got involved after images and videos of the sex acts circulated on social media.
The onslaught of social commentary, shaming, slanderous belittling and all out bullying of this teenage girl, not even old enough to drive, continues to play out on the internet. Her mother contacted the local NBC affiliate in Fort Meyers, WBBH, asking the media outlet to share her story, hoping to establish the facts and clarify the reality.
Her 15 year old daughter is a former human/sex trafficking victim. A teen runaway who had no idea the dangers ahead when she ran from home. She spent 2 years as a sex slave in captivity, after being taken at the age of 13. Having been rescued and reunited with her mother, she now faces the fight of her life.
A spokesperson for the family released a statement on their behalf. “I had heard a lot about the incident through the news. I heard it and thought there are some red flags,” said Megan Estrem. “What’s upsetting about this is this behavior is not uncommon for human trafficking victims.”
Megan Estrem is the founder of “Be the Light,” an advocacy group for victims of sex slavery. “Sex trafficking is a very traumatizing experience,” she said. “She was only 13 when she was trafficked,” said Estrem.
Because she’s a runaway, only a handful of programs would even accept her. Unfortunately none of them had adequately addressed the devastating ramifications of sexual abuse. “She did get some help, but it wasn’t specific for what she needed,” said Estrem.
The girl was placed into multiple treatment programs, the most recent of which was 8 months long. She had only been attending the high school for 2 weeks.
Her mother said the girl went to the boys bathroom to talk to a boy she had a crush on. She said the boy wanted sex, and her daughter complied, then word got out. “She was not equipped to make a stable, rational decision in that situation,” said Estrem.
“She did not sleep with 25 boys in the bathroom. There was only a handful that she did sleep with. In this case, it was more of a spectator sport,” said Estrem. Meaning many of the boys stood and watched. The incident lasted nearly an hour.
“She has been in an environment where she has been told to behave a certain way, and there were severe consequences if she didn’t,” said Estrem.
We have witnessed grown adults attack, joke and make utterly disgusting comments against this 15 year old girl. Very destructive public comments about a situation they knew next to nothing about. An hour of her life that will now haunt her for a lifetime. As if she didn’t have enough torment to overcome.
“They are usually stuck in slavery until someone busts it up,” said Nicole Waid, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney based in Fort Myers, Fla. “You’re talking about these young girls having sex 30 to 40 times a day with different customers,” said Waid.
“14 to 16, these ages because they feel isolated from school, isolated from parents, that the world’s against them,” said Waid. “It’s truly one of the most horrific crimes, you are selling young girls, and young boys for sex.”
Some trafficking predators abduct their victims, other victims are lured using the internet. But what they all have in common, is vulnerability. Targeting runaways, loners, addicts and children with low self esteem.
“They’ve done it before, they know exactly what they are saying, the words to say, they know what this kid needs to feel like, ‘Oh I’m on your side,’ and then to lure them into some situation,” said Waid.
“They are highly complex rings. They are traveling and trafficking these girls from Southwest Florida to Atlanta to up to New York City to Boston and back,” said Waid. “It was such an issue that we started a human trafficking task force to educate law enforcement and the community and prosecutors.”
“What I don’t think people really understand it happens everywhere. It could be your neighbor or a girl in your English class,” said Waid.
Now, having been pulled from school and forced into hiding, the battle for her wages on. But what part do we play? What of those people who shared the evidence and exploited it for social trends, jokes, mockery and brief entertainment?
“What happens is not to go straight to shaming and sharing this, but find out there all facts, what happened, why did she do this, who else was involved and what was their role. She needs to be prayed for and encroached, not degraded and discouraged,” said Estrem.
Many have taken to the internet, slandering and bullying the girl involved via social threads. Are a majority being silent or somewhat supportive as to the 25 boys who participated and/or spectated, documented and shared on social media. Is that not a concern? The notion that 25 boys played a part in this? That they were entertained by this exploitation? Were they morally unaffected? Do they not need some sort of intervention as to their cognitive thinking?
When asked, Waid said people could be charged with a crime for sharing the video.
What about the faculty, campus security, should they be held accountable at any capacity? How does this take place over the course of one class period, without discovery, in a school with cameras? This incident raises many flags and many questions. Should we not address the issue of peoples willing participation in the public destruction of the character and lives of teenagers, for the sake of viral media and social gossip? Is there anything safe from exploitation?
