Sex trafficking in Rome. (Don't worry it didn't get that far)
(10+ yrs ago) Living and working in Rome I would hear about sex trafficking rumors from my neighbors but it wasn't talked about in the news ever (this was also during the time/ trial of Amanda Knox so not much else was on Italian news anyways)
One night I was walking home on corso Vittorio Emanuele which is a main road in the center of Rome. It was 3am (yeah I know but Rome is home and I'm a strong woman who stupidly felt she was invincible) and a man came up to me "a pretty woman shouldn't be walking home alone at night". I said I was fine, I don't need help but he wouldn't leave. Mind you he is being super nice but I didn't trust him worth shit and changed my direction to ensure I was walking towards the carabinieri station. A moment past, it happened so fast, a car jumped the curb in front of me, back door swung open and the guy walking with me tried to push me in. I remember him painfully grabbing one of my arms and the back of my head/hair and trying to shove me in head first and me falling to the ground and pushing my legs against the car. I remember being on the ground and then running for my life to the carabinieri. I found out just how bad sex trafficking was while reporting it at the station. Highlighting this problem in Rome would damage tourism...
Anyways a year later I attended the MTV music awards in Rome. The event was dedicated to bringing awareness and identifying sex trafficking victims in the EU. It reminded me again how no one knows just how big of a problem ST is.
Sorry for the long post, actually felt kind of good "talking" about it and just angers me that this is even a problem at all