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ibeerianhamhock t1_je2zous wrote

Wait so he circled around a few times and noticed you? I’m not trying to invalidate your feelings and I think you were wise to get the fuck away…but it sounds like a pretty extreme leap based on the info you provided to say he was trying to kidnap you? I think we have to balance PSAs for safety with fearmongering.

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IAmTheJudasTree t1_je327tm wrote

It's also not factually accurate to say DC has a "huge sex trafficking problem." I'm curious what OP has in mind when they say sex trafficking, because in the context of them saying that they were almost kidnapped, the implication is that there's a "huge" problem in DC of women being kidnapped off the street and whisked away into a sex slave network.

There is no such huge problem in DC. That said, it's always good to be safe, and the city can always be safer, that's a laudable goal, and I'm very glad that the OP is okay.

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eponinesflowers t1_je38sey wrote

For the record, I work for an anti-trafficking nonprofit and DC doesn’t have a very high rate of reported trafficking cases in comparison with other states (source). Also, sex traffickers tend to build a relationship with the potential victim and then force them into sex work using a variety of coercion tactics. While there are cases of people being kidnapped off the streets and forced into a trafficking situation, the statistics show that it is not common.

It’s absolutely awful that this happened to OP, and I imagine that it was scary and traumatic. But there is unfortunately a lot of misinformation about trafficking, which it makes it more difficult for victims and survivors to recognize when they’re experiencing it

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John_Mason t1_je3dvqi wrote

Thanks for sharing that link. Your statement “in comparison with other states” makes me wonder if the city of DC is being compared to entire other states. Do you by chance know how it compares to comparable cities like NYC, Miami, Boston, LA, or San Francisco?

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eponinesflowers t1_je4po2m wrote

I don’t, unfortunately. The issue is that a lot of the city statistics focus on number of cases per capita, but DC has a smaller population in the city than most of the comparable cities, which makes the rate of trafficking look higher.

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve noticed that the most prevalent areas for trafficking in the U.S. are California (LA/SF), Florida (Miami/Orlando), New York (NYC), and Texas (Austin/Dallas)

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jestervalen t1_je30e2k wrote

My only question is did he get out of his car and try to forcefully take OP into his car

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dumbroad t1_je4lqzt wrote

bro was clearly looking for parking and OP is a terrified hyper alert woman. I also say this as a terrified hyper alert woman

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