Book Review: Rachel Lloyd's "Girls Like Us"

It was one of those books.

The kind that rumor leads you to, that you approach with measured anticipation, with heightened expectation as to what you’ll get out of it. You think it will alter your perspective, at least a little, and you guess that you’ll be changed.

And then you’re undone.

In “Girls Like Us” Rachel Lloyd peels back the layers of the commercial sex industry, revealing the complexities and the challenges faced by sexually exploited children. Rachel strategically develops the narrative by sharing her own story, from an abusive childhood to a surviving a murder attempt by her pimp at 17, while interjecting her personal timeline with the breakdowns of the major factors in sex trafficking.

While learning new terms—pimps, johns, wives-in-law, you’ll also realize how biased our society is against the victims who suffer within the commercial sex industry. The veil is lifted as Rachel gives a candid and raw account of the girls she’s worked with. She explains the dynamics at play—why a girl may appear free and willing to “work the tracks” when in reality, she’s psychologically and emotionally bonded to her pimp, unable to recognize the gravity of the crimes being committed against her.

In the book, Lloyd writes:

“When I tell people that the agency I run serves over 300 girls a year…who’ve been trafficked for sexual purposes, they’re invariably stunned. When I tell them that the girls and young women are predominately U.S. citizens, their shock and sympathy turn to utter incomprehension…It’s often not until you explain that this phenomenon is what is commonly called 'teen prostitution' that recognition dawns. ‘Oh, that…but that’s different. Teen prostitutes choose to be doing that…’ In under three minutes, they’ve gone from sympathy to confusion to blame.”

Myth after long-standing myth will become dismantled as you read Rachel’s powerful and vulnerable account. Prejudices and preconceived notions you didn’t even realize you had will reveal themselves in the light of this unsettling and uncomfortable treatise on the commercial sex industry.

Rachel challenges the stigma perpetuated by our culture, the anonymity and enabling of the men whose demand for sex fuels the industry, and the legal approaches to the victims. There is a call to action embedded within the call to understanding, one that should summon even the most hesitant activist to her knees in prayer, to her computer to research, or to her local shelter to volunteer.

Rachel emerges from her nightmare as a leader, self-aware and healed, and in her tow, thousands of formerly commercially sexually exploited girls rise from the ashes, courageously rewriting their own stories, forging healthier futures.

For the sake of the girls in our own city, for the sake of your daughter or even for yourself, read Rachel’s memoir. After all, she’s just one of us.

A girl like us.

Do you want to meet Rachel Lloyd, author of Girls Like Us, and founder of GEMS? Join me on Saturday, March 24 from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. at her book signing and question-and-answer period at the Jan K. Platt Regional Library on 3910 South Manhattan Avenue in Tampa.