Her traffickers might call her a Victim, but Karly Church is a hero. Karly was able to safely exit, regain her sense of worth, and now uses her power to help other victims.
At the start, Karly didn’t realize she was being trafficked. She says, ‘’The only thing I had learned about trafficking was from the movies. I had no idea what was happening to me, because it didn’t look like the movies.”
“I have worked with Victims who are under 18, and they’re in school during the week. They get picked up by a pimp after school on Friday, are Trafficked for the weekend and then home for curfew. Trafficking doesn’t look the way you think.”
Karly’s personal story follows the classic five stages of being Trafficked, which include Luring, Grooming & Gaming, Coercion & Manipulation, Exploitation, and Recruitment.
People think that people are being forcibly confined, which is sometimes true, but not often the case.
Says Karly, “Initially, I went with him because I truly believed he was going to be there for me. There aren’t handcuffs, but there are invisible chains. It’s psychological manipulation and a trauma bond that gets you there and keeps you ther
After years of struggle and with only a backpack with a change of clothes, Karly ended up at a house. A man came over and could see her vulnerabilities: she was in a new city, homeless, she had issues with drugs, and had no contact with family. He said to her, “What are you doing here? You are too beautiful to be here.” Says Karly, “He asked me a million questions – he asked me about my struggles, what I wanted in my future. He asked me, “What happened to you in the past that causes you to do drugs today?” I had been waiting for so long for someone to notice that I was struggling. I told this man things I had never spoken out loud before. I thought, for once, someone wants to get to know me and wants to take care of me.”
The man bought Karly food, got her a hotel room, and let her sleep. The next day, he showered her with compliments and bought her clothes. He gave her a sense of belonging and family. She says,
“He met all of my basic needs. This was the best my life had ever been. I missed any red flags, because I wanted this so badly to be real.”
Soon, her trafficker asked her to do things that were sexual, uncomfortable and traumatic. He would reward her with drugs. She says, “I longed to belong. There’s nothing I would have said no to.”
Then, a very direct and manipulative request from her trafficker. He said, “This is how much money you owe us, and this is how you’re going to pay us back.”
Karly was afraid, and began escorting to pay her “dues”. Her trafficker controlled everything. He decided how many times she had sex a day, what services she would provide, what she would charge. Karly recalls it bluntly: “It was the most horrific time of my life. I hated every minute of it.”
The manipulation was real. Says Karly, “My pimp sat down next to me on the bed – it was so genuine. He said, “Karly, I am so proud of you.” – I had told him that the only thing I wanted was someone to say they were proud of me. I would do anything to hear those words over and over again. I was not willing to walk out and risk not hearing it again. He found my crack and he filled it.
This is what Human Trafficking looks like. It does not look like the movies.
Karly
A York region Detective saw Karly’s ad online and identified the signs. He booked a fake appointment with her trafficker, showed up at her hotel and talked to her. Once her traffickers were charged, Karly says the right supports were put in place for her. She says, “The detective made sure I got to the hospital and had services in place to send me to a safe place. They brought me a cell phone and financial assistance. They introduced me to loving and caring people. They helped me apply for a treatment centre, drove me there, and gave me someone to call. They provided me with the job posting for my first job as a peer support worker. They were there for me no matter what. This is crucial.”
Karly has been out of her trafficking situation since 2014. Today, she has come full circle, and she works with the Durham Regional Police Service to support other Victims in finding a way out. Karly regained her power to help others do the same. Today, she dedicates her life to bringing awareness to domestic sex trafficking.
