Tara Burns

It always fascinates me when men feel perfectly OK telling me they are violent and abusive. What are they even thinking? At the same time, I know it’s a test and though he’s acting casual, he’s waiting to see how I react to the idea of violence; of being afraid of a man I’ve just had sex with.

Sex trafficking in real life and the court room is so different from sex trafficking on TV that no one even recognizes it. You’re reading this story, and there’s humor and drama and suspense and the people are just regular people.

"He had no intention of being a client, though. He’d come to rape me, and he said that if I screamed or struggled he would tell the police and the hotel that I was a prostitute."

I wondered what the difference in treatment would be between a white man accused of assaulting an Alaska Native woman and that same Alaska Native woman accused of nonviolent criminal mischief.

Yesterday was day 8 of Margaret Cho’s 12 Days of Rage, and she posted a YouTube video about t