Life after 25 years of prostitution
After 25 years in prostitution, woman helps others escape sex trade
March 14, 2011|By Dawn Turner Trice
http://articles.chicagotribune .com/2011-03-14/news/ct-met-trice-prostitutes-0314-20110314_1_prostitution-brenda-myers-powell-rent
Myers-Powell said she decided to leave prostitution after a client dragged her for six blocks in his car when he decided he didn't want to pay. She was in the hospital for a week with injuries to her left side and most of her face. She almost lost her left eye.
She tells young women she counsels that she understands how difficult it is to change their lives.
"She feels like she's damaged goods. But I tell them, 'Yes, you are still great and beautiful and yes, you can go back home and recover from this.'"
And more than counseling, she provides necessities such as bus passes and critical telephone numbers to help women transition off the streets.
"These traffickers and pimps, they know what they're doing, such as the manipulation, the brainwashing," she said. "They make the girls believe that the only way the girl can be successful is through (the pimp's) direction. Otherwise, the girls are worthless and they have no value."
Without changing the thinking, she said the women — even those counseled during jail stays — find their way back to the streets.