Summary Of Sold By Patricia Mccormick

The world is not a perfect place. Every day, people die, get severely injured by an accident, and are forced into prostitution. In Sold by Patricia McCormick, Lakshmi, the main character is sold of into prostitution. The book tells us about her experiences before and while she was taken. The book Sold, while fictional, is an accurate portrayal of the horror of underage prostitution because it causes PTSD, emotional and physical abuse, and sicknesses such as HIV. To begin, similar to how Lakshmi was not told the truth when she was sold off to the brothel, people who get trafficked are often deceived in many ways. Before finding out that she was sold off to be a prostitute, Lakshmi believed she would be working. Clearly, she is naïve about her

During her time at the brothel, Lakshmi was emotionally brutalized. She often felt like it was “the end of the world. If only it were” (209). She constantly was beaten and forced to have sex with men, causing her to change emotionally. Brothel keepers often apply these tactics. The Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work states, “Traffickers often physically and psychologically brutalize their victims to gain total control over them” (Ditmore 365). In other words, in order to have total control over the people and to make them more susceptible to their commands, brothel keepers emotionally abuse their sex slaves. Often times, when trafficked victims are deemed no longer useful, they are thrown out to the streets. After Monica is thrown out of the brothel for having HIV, Lakshmi is told, “‘don’t bother looking for your friend,’ she says. ‘She’s out on the street’” (210). This emotionally taxes not only the person being thrown out, but also the girls still in the brothel. A girl being tossed out because they were seen as useless is a common occurrence in sex slavery. According to a CNN report, “Many of them – particularly those with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases – become socially stigmatized and are no longer welcome in their home communities” (Ruffins 3). In other words, if they got an STD they would not be accepted anywhere, therefore emotionally devastating

To get their girls to comply, brothel owners would regularly brutalize their trafficked victims into submission. Lakshmi admitted that “each morning and evening Mumtaz comes, beats me with a leather strap, and locks the door behind her” (109). When Lakshmi was still refusing to be a prostitute, Mumatz would attempt to beat the refusal out of her. Many girls are physically abused so that the brothel keepers can keep full control over everyone. A CNN article tells about a girl who went through forced prostitution. Experiencing sex slavery first hand, she stated, “‘every day, there was a bettering… I didn’t know in those days where to go and report [it], who to… talk to’” (Ruffins 3). In other words, being beaten every day and having no one to support her, the physical abuse took a mental toll on her. Physical abuse is not only seen when brothel keepers need to instill a sense of dominance over their victims. Lakshmi is also seen getting beaten many other times. For example, when Lakshmi still refuses to have sex with others, she states how “Mumtaz flies at me. She grabs me by the hair… [and] flings me onto the bed next to the old man” (103). Brothel keepers see the girls only as their income. Therefore, they will physically assault their victims until they comply. Often, violence is found in prostitution. A study shows that “Of the 116 sex workers who