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Dangerous. Necessary. Narrative: The power, purpose, and ethics of storytelling in the movement to end human trafficking.
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Our lives are constructed through narrative. We live our stories, and then we tell those stories in a way that allows us to make sense of them. But which stories do we choose to tell, and in what medium or format? How can we ethically share stories that we have witnessed, but not lived? What does it mean to center survivor narratives in the movement to end human trafficking? And why are "dangerous narratives" - stories that make people deeply uncomfortable - so critical to creating lasting social change?
In "Dangerous. Necessary. Narrative: The power, purpose, and ethics of storytelling in the movement to end human trafficking," a featured panel discussion at World Without Exploitation's Now to Next National Conference, Anne K. Ream, the founder of The Voices and Faces Project and author of Lived Through This, a memoir of her multi-country journey listening to gender-based violence survivors, will moderate a dialogue with Emmy Award-winning journalist Ruchira Gupta, author of I Kick and I Fly, a young adult novel centered on a trafficked girl; memoirist Hannah Sward, author of Strip, a literary exploration of life in the sex trade; and activist Rachel Moran, whose groundbreaking book, Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, is a powerful reminder of the causes and consequences of commercial sexual exploitation.
This will be a conversation that reminds us that the stories we tell can change the way the world sees the sex trade, and the way we see ourselves. See you there!
Navigating from NOW TO NEXT:
The 2024 World Without Exploitation National Conference
June 12 – 14,
Washington, DC
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Get to know our panelists: Ruchira, Rachel, Anne & Hannah. |
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Ruchira Gupta is an Emmy-winning journalist and founder of the anti sex trafficking NGO Apne Aap, which empowers women and girls to exit systems of commercial sexual exploitation. She is the author of I Kick and I Fly, her debut young adult novel centered around a young survivor of the sex trade. Ruchira has received numerous awards for her work, including the French Ordre National du Mérite, the Clinton Global Citizen Award, and the UN Woman of Distinction award for her contribution to the establishment of the UN Trafficking Fund for Survivors, the passage of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and her grassroots activism. As outspoken as she is eloquent, Ruchira is the co-author, with Gloria Steinem, of As if Women Matter.
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Rachel Moran is a widely renowned leader in the anti-sexual exploitation movement and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, which has been published in more than a dozen countries and numerous languages. Rachel's international accomplishments include founding and leading SPACE International, a non-profit organization formed to give voice to women who have survived the sex trade. She is a globally sought-after speaker, having presented to the United Nations, the European Parliament, and Westminster Parliament. A longstanding World Without Exploitation ally, Rachel uses her personal narrative to call the world to reconsider the causes and consequences of commercial sexual exploitation.
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Anne K. Ream is a writer and the founder of The Voices and Faces Project, an award-winning global testimonial writing program for survivors of gender-based violence and other human rights violations. Her critically praised 2014 memoir, Lived Through This, documents a multi-country journey listening to survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking. Anne's writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The American Prospect, and The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan, among other publications, and she has received numerous awards for her work at the intersection of social justice and storytelling. One of the co-founders of World Without Exploitation, Anne serves as board president at Justice for Migrant Women and sits on the advisory board of RAINN.
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Hannah Sward is the author of Strip, a brutally honest and bawdily humorous memoir that explores a bohemian childhood that evolved, less idyllically, into a life in the sex trade and a struggle with addiction. Called "Touchingly honest" by Nobel Prize-winning author J.M Coetzee, and "A memoir that captures pain with wisdom and hilarity" by New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt, Strip challenges us to rethink who enters the sex trade, and what it takes to exit. An alumna of The Voices and Faces Project's award-winning "Stories We Tell" testimonial writing program, Hannah serves on the board of Right to Write Press, a nonprofit that supports emerging incarcerated writers, and lives and writes in Los Angeles. |
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Calling all volunteers: If you're a Chicago-based crisis counselor, we need you! |
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In 2024 - 2025 The Voices and Faces Project is expanding its programming footprint in Chicago, increasing the number of writing workshops and narrative advocacy trainings we offer in alliance with Simmons Center for Global Chicago. With this in mind, we're looking to build a Chicago-based team of trauma-informed crisis counselors who will work in partnership with our workshop facilitators and trainers, assuring that our programs are as trauma-informed as they
are creatively ambitious.
If you are a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, trained crisis counselor, or trauma-informed
advocate, be a part of our expansion! To find out more about this unique Voices and Faces
Project volunteer opportunity, email Janet@voicesandfaces.org.
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DANGEROUS. NECESSARY. NARRATIVE:
The power, purpose and ethics of storytelling in the movement to end human trafficking
A main stage discussion featuring writers Ruchira Gupta, Rachel Moran, Anne K. Ream & Hannah Sward
June 13, 2024
The World Without Exploitation National Convening
WASHINGTON, DC
Find out more
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JUSTICE & JOY :
The transformative power of storysharing
A keynote presentation by Anne K. Ream
July 10, 2024
Uplift & Unite Conference
The Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
Find out more
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BREAKING FREE:
A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of religious trauma
Fall, 2024 (date TBA)
Simmons Center for Global Chicago
CHICAGO, IL
Find out more
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THE STORIES WE TELL:
A testimonial writing workshop for survivors of gender-based violence
Led by R. Clifton Spargo; facilitated by Anne K. Ream
Presented in collaboration with Brabson Family Foundation
Fall/Winter 2024
Chicago, IL. and Southern California dates TBD
Email to apply Janet@voicesandfaces.org.
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Our stories are our power.
At The Voices and Faces Project we’re using them to create change. |
The Voices and Faces Project is an award-winning non-profit storytelling initiative created to bring the names, faces, and testimonies of survivors of gender-based violence to the attention of the public. Through our educational and advocacy trainings, survivor story archive and signature program, The Stories We Tell — an immersive, two-day testimonial writing workshop for those who have lived through or witnessed gender-based violence or other human rights violations — we seek to change minds, hearts, and public policies through the power of personal testimony. The Voices and Faces Project has been named one of America's Best Charities by the board of Independent Charities of America, and is a registered 501c3 organization.
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© 2024 The Voices and Faces Project
All rights reserved
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