Nicholas Bruner
Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Young Adult Author
What I’m Reading: Trafficked: My Story of Surviving, Escaping, and Transcending Abduction into Prostitution
Trafficked, a memoir written by British author Sophie Hayes, is the riveting tale of Sophie’s descent into the dark world of trafficking and prostitution in western Europe.
What makes this memoir shocking is that Sophie Hayes was an educated British girl from a middle-class family. She did not fit the stereotype of the poor, uneducated Eastern European girl who was more typically a trafficking victim. However, the tie that binds Sophie to more stereotypical victims of trafficking is that she had daddy issues. Her father was abusive to her, and this relationship with her first male role model left her scarred and vulnerable. Thus, a vulnerability to and craving for male validation created a breeding ground for Sophie’s eventual brainwashing and subjugation to a pimp.
Sophie Hayes grew up in a middle-class suburb in Yorkshire, England. She had a mum who loved her along with friends and opportunities. Sophie eventually got a prosperous office job and led a nice young adult British existence. It was during this blessed period of Sophie’s life that she met a seemingly charming Albanian man at a bar in Leeds, UK. His name was Kas and when he first approached her, Sophie rebuffed him. But Sophie and Kas kept in contact after her initial meeting with him. Kas was always a perfect gentleman to Sophie during their five-year, long-distance friendship. When Kas invited Sophie to share a holiday in Italy with him, she agreed, thinking it would be romantic.
Unfortunately for Sophie, the Italian holiday proved to be anything but romantic. It was instead a trip into a dark and twisted world. Kas was a monster, his friendship with Sophie merely a disguise to groom her to be trafficked. Soon Sophie would discover that Kas had no interest in being her boyfriend, but rather her pimp.
Kas would not give Sophie her passport back nor allow her to go back to Britain. He violently brainwashed Sophie into believing that she had to help him pay back a “debt” he owed, to be redeemed by prostituting herself in both Italy and France. Due to Sophie’s childhood issues of feeling rejected by her father, Sophie was easy prey for a predator like Kas.
As horrible as her experience in Italy was, the country turned out to be much tamer than France for prostitution. Sophie actually made friends in Italy working as an escort and felt much safer there then she later would in France. In France, she was attacked and brutally beaten by rival prostitutes. This is not to say that prostitution in Italy was an easy experience for Sophie – she had many run ins with the police in Italy along with many near death episodes while working as an escort. Kas blamed Sophie for any problems she experienced while on the streets selling her body all night. This would include health issues or beatings. Often Kas would even join in the beatings of Sophie behind closed doors so that it would seem as if they were a couple.
Throughout this book, the author describes in compelling detail why she, an educated British girl, who had had a boyfriend who loved her previously, would ever sell her body on the streets and allow herself to be abused by a pimp. The takeaway is that Sophie had daddy issues and some version of Stockholm syndrome. Additionally, Sophie, under Kas’s tutelage, half believed him that she was dumb, had no value, and needed him to help her survive. Of course, the reality was that Sophie had a family back home in England who loved her and was waiting for her. They believed what Sophie had told them as she spent six months of her life being trafficked in Italy/France– that she and Kas were in a serious monogamous relationship in Italy.
After six months of brutal torture and many health problems, Sophie’s health finally gave out while in Italy. This proved to be her saving grace. Sophie’s illness forced her to go to a hospital, thereby escaping Kas. While in the hospital, Sophie had many realizations that forced her to confront reality; i.e. Kas did not love her and her current lifestyle with him was killing her.
Despite realizing the danger she was in, Sophie did not have the strength to leave Kas. However, her mother and stepfather did. Soon Sophie’s parents rescued Sophie from her the Italian hospital and brought her back home. But England did not prove to be a safe haven from Kas.
Having experienced Kas’s lack of respect for the law or for human life, she foresees that he will come for her in England. Nobody, including the cops (who Sophie has corresponded with since returning to England), believe that Kas, with his rap sheet, would dare return to England. But Sophie knows him better than everyone else. So when Kas shows up at Sophie’s doorstep one day in England she half expects it. But by the time Kas finds Sophie in England she has grown stronger and is in contact with the police. Sophie is no longer the weak prey for Kas and refuses to get back into trafficking for him. Soon after Kas’s failed kidnapping attempt of Sophie, he is imprisoned for his illegal activities and eventually deported.
In 2011 Sophie Hayes founded the small charity to help survivors and victims called the Sophie Hayes foundation: Our Approach | Empower Survivors — Get Involved — Sophie Hayes Foundation
BOTTOM LINE: Trafficked does a good job of describing the dark world of trafficking in western Europe. The reader comes away understanding how a 24-year-old educated woman from England with ample opportunities could end up trafficked. Succinctly put, a person’s privilege does not compensate for lack of self-esteem and strong character. Sophie is the perfect example of a young, vulnerable woman who was the perfect candidate for Stockholm syndrome. Thankfully Sophie escapes the nightmare she was coerced into and now tries to help others avoid becoming victims of trafficking through her Sophie Hayes foundation.
