No, You Weren't "Almost Trafficked" at Walmart
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- Опубліковано 16 лис 2022
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Recently, many TikTok users have reported a surge in trafficking attempts at Walmart and other public places, but are their claims true? - Розваги
The thing is, these people are actually helping traffickers by muddying the waters to the point where many don’t know what to look out for in a situation of *legitimate* trafficking. Side note: touching fentanyl doesn’t cause an overdose tf lol
Katt Williams said Fentanyl does kill after touching it lol
@@royaltyblessed2454 Yeah, a lot of people fully believe that at this point.
Exactly. Thanks to this hysteria and Hollywood movies like Taken and the popularity of true crime, most people don't actually know what trafficking even is!
@@heathercameron1485 The true crime community don't help either.
@@jfm14 I'm not gonna find to out
Traffickers are not gonna go for adult women in the middle of a store lmao. Traffickers target vulnerable, usually homeless women with drug addiction or very small children with neglectful parents. They target people who won't have anyone looking for them. It is also gross how there is so much underlying racism, they remind me of Sherri Papini out there pretending everyone is out to get them wanting others to pity them and treat them like vulnerable babies.
This is not true. Have you looked at actual statistics about the diversity of women who become trafficking victims? Google is your friend. Certain groups like the ones you named are definitely over represented - but this can happen to almost any woman. It could happen to you. I’m getting weird misogyny victim blame “I’m one of the sane women” vibes.
@@sophiasledge3983 “overrepresented” Nah you’re the one being weird here.
Sounds like you need to take your own advice and do some googling.
@@sophiasledge3983 “It can happen to any woman”, but statistically it doesn’t?
@@lesaubergines reading is essential. Women who are a part of a certain demographic (seggs workers, low income, women of color, etc.) are statistically more likely to become victims due to several intersecting societal factors. Yet, women from almost any and every socioeconomic class represent some portion of trafficking victims. Period. It can happen to almost any woman. It’s really not that hard to comprehend, no?
@@sophiasledge3983 Anyone can be struck by lightning. Most people will not. It would be silly to run around insisting that you almost got struck by lightning when you only saw some dark clouds.
A young lady in my city went into a store with her friend and came out later and noticed there was a “2” marked on her tire. She went all over Facebook saying that it was a trafficking situation saying that they wrote “2” because they were two young women going into the store. Then the traffickers could track her and her friend. She ended up going to the local news channels about it and it blew up on social media and everyone was paranoid. Then the store came forward and said “no, that was our security guard. We mark the tires with the time people come into the store so that we can ensure no one is parking in our lot and going to work for 8 hours. The 2 was because she came in at 2:00pm”
Wait are people really allowed to just write on your car tho? I had no idea this was a thing
Hmm, that’s an awkward situation. Didn’t even know they’re allowed to write on cars
@@georgiam228 yeah, they just write on the actual tire rubber with chalk. Once you drive away it rubs off. A grocery store in my hometown used to do the same thing, but they just drew a small line on the tire
@@kayk480 oh I see, thanks for the clarification 😊
@@georgiam228 it's just chalk on the side of a tire. It's very common for parking attendants to do this.
i know a girl who was sexually trafficked. she wasn't stolen. she wasn't taken anywhere. she was trafficked by the people she loved. she was abused and manipulated, and believed these things were okay at the time. she's doing much better now, and she's so kind.
I survived something similar. Apparently I'm too nice. It's an anxiety response. I'm in therapy and I'm constantly told to not be a doormat
Why is her being kind relevant to this story? It's like you're trying to excuse some sort of behaviour on her part. But the only thing you've said about her is that she was trafficked, which makes me think that you consider this her fault or something.
@@andrasfogarasi5014 you're over thinking.... they're saying she's still manages to be kind despite all she went through
@@realmothchu but I can understand how one would interpret that as dubious. The “and she’s so kind” at the end almost made it sound like OP trying to make her out as “one of the good ones” (when, of course, that’s irrelevant and problematic). I know this most likely wasn’t their intention, but it was the way I initially interpreted it as well
People are often victims to people they know and love or when they’re in horrible circumstances such as homeless, struggling with drug addiction, etc. I hate this people overreacting and making serious claims from moments where they were reasonably afraid but if that’s not what happened don’t say it! Simple
Really glad you acknowledge that women are genuinely believing they’re in danger instead of blaming them for “attention seeking”, so many people jump to that without actually confronting the issue
Yeah these woman seem to genuinely believe they were in danger
Yes, I believe this trafficking paranoia has become so widespread because it preys on the fears women naturally and reasonably have in a world where they are actually targeted by people with bad intentions. So they genuinely fear for their safety when watching these videos.
Yes, true. The woman who found a leaflet on her car door was the saddest example in these video. You could tell she was genuinely freaked out, directly as a result of watching related TikTok videos, even though there was a much more simple, grounded explanation. I don’t blame her or any of these other women. It’s just general misinformation, and ignorance about what trafficking looks like or even IS. It doesn’t help us women be any more safe.
Well it also might be that. Sometimes it is. Either way it’s stupid and harmful
It’s a nice thought but they’re wrong.
I know being forcefully approached by a random MLM stranger lady trying to sell you her essential oils may FEEL similar to the fear of a human trafficker, but I assure you these things are not the same
omg this comment lol
Yeah, the whole "trying to drug you with perfume" sounds like a hell of a lot of unnecessary effort, when it's so much easier to just walk up and stick a gun in your face.
LOL
It's absolutely physical violence though. Right?
Yeah. Like if someone wanted you knocked out, it would have been a chemical absorbed through the skin when sprayed on rather than a smell test, and even then the skin absorption rate would not be sufficient at all.
I think the worst thing is that this takes away from actually dangerous situations. I was physically assaulted and forced into a taxi, and another car with a family inside noticed how distressed I was and DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. That needs to be the real messaging here - if you see something, do something about it. We all need to support each other more in modern society.
Completely agreed. Slightly unrelated, but I like the phrase "if you see something, do something." Action is more important than words.
And doing something does not mean just pulling your phone out and recording!! Step in and help!
Trafficking like most sex crimes are overwhelmingly done by people you know and trust...usually family. It is the return of stranger danger culture that leads to trusting those most likely to harm you.
Yeah I've watched a lot of ted talks and other videos from women who survived trafficking and their traffickers started out as their boyfriends in every situation.
I trust neither lol. statistically yes it's people you know but it doesn't mean someone you don't know wouldn't, so I stay trusting mostly myself.
I mean a lot of people you know start out as strangers it’s more friends or potential partners you should watch out for
And usually the people who lure you are women. Since women tend to trust women more, it makes sense right
To quote Cinema Snob: “That’s Right, kids: EVERYONE wants to abduct you!”
I went into psychosis during the summer of 2020 and I spent a lot of time on tiktok leading up to it. Those trafficking videos made it 10x worse because I legitimately believed if I stepped outside of my house that I would be kidnapped. I refused to go anywhere in public by myself because I thought that a group of traffickers had already targeted me bc I had a flyer left on my front door. Because of the tiktok algorithm and my engagement with those videos it slowly turned into my whole FYP being about trafficking schemes. It got so bad that I thought my own family was trying to traffic me 😭 anyways I’m glad that I was able to get out of that episode but it was extremely terrifying to me for those weeks that it lasted
good job on getting away from that, I'm sorry that happened to you! its so messed up that some automated social media algorithm can just prey on a legit moment of vulnerability like that, it could seriously hurt someone
jesus, i never reigstered how horrible the tiktok algorithm has to be for people with psychosis, im so sorry that happened.
@@jjju3 Even worse is that the tiktok algorithm started to throw in random conspiracy theories about the US government working for these traffickers. I also threw out all of my bras because I thought Victoria Secret had inserted tracking devices into their bras. There was much more that happened during those weeks that I could write a novel! I’m glad that my parents were able to finally recognize something was wrong because they actually believed me at first since I showed them the videos. 😬
God!! The internet can be so toxic
I am so sorry you experienced that level of anxiety and paranoia!
I’m so happy somebody made a video about this. It’s so weird. My mother and sister have fallen victim to this kind of paranoia and *cannot* be reasoned with. 😭
I know women who are exactly the same. There's a huge difference between careful and aware of your surroundings, and being so paranoid that if a man glances at you or you find a flier under your windshield wiper, it means that someone is trying to kidnap you.
lotta people just wanna have their moment it seems
same with my aunt. it gets so bad she texts me panicking constantly
My lifelong best friend lives in Berlin and works with the EU on their anti-trafficking efforts. She said that the worst thing to hit them in a very long time was Q-Anon, because people genuinely thought kids were being trafficked for the Democratic party.
People don't realize how harmful this bullshit is. But, I mean....I'm a disability advocate/educator and just came off of like 3mo of explaining why Helen Keller wasnt a fraud so.....🤦♀️
@@Kimmaline Omg! I can’t imagine how difficult that job must be. 😭
Also most of the time, when someone is "staring" at you in a supermarket, they're just looking at the products behind you because, you know, they're there because they want to buy things from the shelves.
Exactly. I've ""stared"" at people in the store too
I mean, sometimes, people do stare in a creepy way. But I've been stared at and even followed through a mall by men, and as much as it creeped me out (especially as a woman with PTSD from a man), I still never assumed they were trying to traffic me. Nor have I ever considered making a Tiktok encouraging other women to be as hypervigilant as I am.
Kinda heavy set dude, like I’m just a larger guy than average. Electrician so when I’m off work shopping I just look disheveled. And while I am a socialist if you were to look at me I probably look like what a lot of people imagine like a really sexist conservative looks like lol.
The amount of times I’ve gotten terrified looks back as I’m like kinda looking at someone whose just in the way of something I want to buy lol. I like Bubblr sparkling waters and at the store I go to they are like in a really inconvenient spot with a lot of traffic in an end cap. And I usually wait in the bakery like 8 feet away for people to clear out. There are probably at least a few women who have a “remember that one time that creepy guy was staring at me in the bakery” stories lol.
or even they're staring into space, or think your hair is neat, the list goes on. Like,, someone looking your way doesn't nessasarily mean immediate doom, as anxious as it may make you or awkward as it might be lol
@@SvenDzahov I go through the same thing all the time I wouldn’t hurt a fly , I’m not tall I’m avg height but I’m a pretty big guy and I have a pretty non expressive face when I’m just “living” but people even grown ass men have been visibly uncomfortable by my presence. It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to tho I understand how I can come off
It isn't entirely their fault. We are being told again and again, with steadily increasing frequency and intensity, to be afraid. When you don't have something tangible to be afraid of your mind will fill in the blanks.
THIS.
That's NOT an excuse Princess..
That's understandable. As a woman, hearing constantly from friends and online about these cases can be frightening. However, it does not help at all to take everything online as fact without fact checking, especially on a popular platform like Tiktok. It especially isn't helpful when there are actual good videos out there providing info about sex trafficking and misinformation can easily collide with them. Short dramatic clips are prone to gaining a lot of attention, hence reaching to a wider audience, and some people thinking it's real share their experience of them being closed to kidnapped, like this video. I don't believe most of these women had bad intentions though. In fact, it doesn't even surprise me. Misinformation travels at a very fast rate.
@@juri_xiii9977 What is there to gain in leaving a snarky comment? Does it provide insight to a nuanced topic?
Right... women paronia. Absence of evidence and excessive fear.
Fearmongering is soooo real with social media. I told my parents I was moving to NYC and they flipped out. They were so convinced I'd get shot the second I went into the city. When I showed them crime statistics, and how actually rare it is that something will happen to me, they were fully reasoned with.
They have every right to feel scared for you yo 😭 do you know the type of stuff that goes on everyday? Although them being near you doesn’t mean you’re any safer they and you should be scared. Them statistics aren’t just statistics they’re real people who just like you wouldn’t think nothing will likely happen to them
@@hotmess9640 Of course, caution is good, but being so scared of everything in life that you decide to not to move out or do anything you'd like to do is a problem. It's all about balance. Saying, "Well you should be scared!" is not helpful. Crime happens everywhere.
@@hotmess9640 I understand your fear, I don’t like going into very big cities to drive through them because I’m always afraid of being lost but it’s just some thing I have to do. Just like everybody else has to go to a city to do stuff that they have to do.
@@elizrebezilmadommdo1662 not being scared of moving out but being scared of moving out alone especially as a young woman. Kidnapping is not the only thing that we should be afraid of: rape, assault, robbery, etc. We are easy prey for these predators as women and unfortunately you can’t let your guard down for one second when you’re outside. Indoors is dangerous too tbh but that’s where you get to relax
that’s understandable reactions to Chicago, but NYC is so different lmao
To my knowledge, most sex trafficking victims in the us are trafficked by a family member or domestic partner. Also, a lot of people are coerced into sex work rather than kidnapped or by physical force
The family member/domestic partner thing applies mainly to children or a more privileged class of people. The majority of sex trafficking victims are undocumented immigrants, poor, homeless, or runaways/castoffs (particularly queer teens). Most of the sex trafficking where I live is undocumented SE Asians, smuggled in by gangs who promise them jobs, knowing that the women won't be able to run away or report them to law enforcement.
I have to take a human trafficking course for my job. They explicitly talk about these sorts of stories and how they take attention away from the real cases of trafficking. It causes people to not pay attention to the actual warning signs because they're so caught up in the weird "tactics" that we always hear about
I was trafficked as a child.
By a neighbor that was a member of the HOA and used his son as "bait".
These people need to stop. It's insulting.
*THIS!!!*
*Stranger danger NEEDS TO STOP!!!*
Victims are almost always more likely to be attacked by a *KNOWN* perpetrator, not some random at Walmart.
@@covfefe_drumpfh while stranger danger is a good thing to teach young children, and being aware of your surroundings is important....a woman asking you for a dollar outside the store is 99.999999% not going to sell you into trafficking
@@tibicenlinnei4014
*I KNOW!!!*
Well this gangster guy tried to kill me i had to run he didn't know me 😂
@@David-py8kv wish he succeeded
A girl from my high school made up a whole story about someone trying to take her child in Walmart. Many people (rightfully so) told her to file a police report. She did, and they found footage of the so called abduction and it was all made up. She was charged with false reporting and looked like an idiot 😅
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
There was a girl in my area who literally faked her own kidnapping and when she was caught, she claimed it was "research" for writing a book. Of course she claimed a "big black man" abducted her because on top of being a moron, she's racist too.
I feel like this paranoia could partly be a cultural thing, not only Tiktok/online culture but American culture. OF COURSE IT’S NOT LIMITED TO THE U.S. AND HAPPENS ELSEWHERE TOO. But when I went on holiday to the States (I’m not from there) I was shocked at how different the news is presented in the U.S. compared to the news at home. From sensational kidnapping stories to borderline conspiracy theories in history documentaries... even the weather report warned about dying a horrible death when it was snowing a bit. When my grandma went to the U.S. back in the day, she was shocked when she learned her American cousin was truly afraid of “native Americans hiding next to the road” ready to attack them, because they’d heard cautionary tales about it on the television. Because I spend a lot of time online and consume a lot of American media, I too notice how I begin to get paranoid after hearing these horrible kidnapping stories - even though none of them happened in my country. Like I said, it’s not all to blame on the U.S. and the way they present news stories, but I definitely think there is a link to be found.
They've been clickbaiting harder than most for a century or more. But even back in the printing press days people would pay for a run of pamphlets on whatever conspiracy they thought was going on, and even the earliest news sheets ran with jingoism and the threats of foreigners, so that audience/story cycle has always been there.
"her American cousin was truly afraid of “native Americans hiding next to the road” ready to attack them"
Oh yeah, I heard the same racist conspiracy theories from my parents when I was a kid. They would make my siblings and I lock our doors whenever we drove through certain parts of the state. I remember one incident in particular, when my dad hit a dog that ran across the road, and refused to stop and help it, because we were close to a reservation. He insisted that the native Americans would hide in ditches or behind bushes, then deliberately send their pets out to be hit by cars, so that they could rob the drivers when they pulled over to help.
@@EphemeralTao my dad told a story of his mother when he was young, so probably in the 60s, where she would tell them to roll up the windows in their car when driving by reserves because native people would shoot arrows at you. This was Quebec and my grandmother was schizophrenic but the weird racist myths you hear from people can be fuckin wild.
Yup. Absolutely. Ever since the television was made, it has been weaponized to control many Americans. That's why we had that rise of helicopter parenting crap in the 70s and 80s (thankfully I think it started to die down in the 90s and 2000s, which gives me some hope) or people having fear over certain groups of people (black people, Muslims, gay people, trans people, communists, socialists, atheists, illegal immigrants, people in healthcare professions, etc.). They'll do anything for their own personal gain, even if that means manipulating the entire population. It's not even just the news either. Hollywood has definitely had its hand at fear mongering in the US, and now the internet has too, of course.
I do agree that the US isn't the only one with this issue, but I have noticed that the only other countries I can think of that have this problem at the same or worse level than the US seem to be places like Russia or China.
In Germany our news are completely different than in the US. From our viewpoint the US media is really sensationalising every bit they can and also have incredibly open political views displayed. It is a whole different culture and I do not think it is helping with this paranoia
i have cptsd and i get terrified around men i don’t know when i’m alone. but my god i just regulate myself after months of therapy and i would never fucking spread misinformation when the majority of predators are known to victims and have a history. genuinely annoying that this took off so much and is taking precedence over real examples of predation.
Thissss. I have CPTSD too and though I often do feel uncomfortable with men in public (sometimes for legitimate reasons), I would NEVER encourage other people to take on my hypervigilance because it's fucking exhausting and mostly unhelpful.
I have CPTSD as well. And am fortunate enough to go to therapy regularly. That being said not everyone can afford therapy, and not everyone is as aware of their symptoms as someone who can afford therapy. You're not superior because you haven't made the mistake of being triggered online. It is their responsibility to keep misinformation from spreading but humans are very easily scared even without having PTSD. and fear is not condusive to logical thinking.
I kinda know that feeling expect I have it from women. I can’t be around women and I can’t trust them at all. If I see one staring at me, I feel like she’s about to do something. I know it’s stupid, because not all women or men are like it. And I always say it
I think feeling uncomfortable around men alone is a normal sensation for any woman. Lol
The Satanic panic was way more creative than the current 'Human Trafficking via Wal-Mart Parking Lot' panic.
*“It’s hard for people to logic their way out of their fears.”* SO TRUEEE!
I REALLY almost got kidnapped as a kid arround 12 years old. I was driving my bike out of our little village and a older, pretty tall man on a bike speaking broken german to me asked, if I could help him. Even as a kid - I felt something was off, but ofc you are taught to be nice to older people so I stayed and listend. He tolde me he lost something back in the woods outside of the village and if I would like to help him. I kindly declined and said Im just visiting a friend of mine (she was new in the area so I didnt now exactly where she lived so I was searching for the right house). Well, then it got pretty nasty bc he got really angry and that happend in secounds. He grabed my arm and told me to come with him. At that time I was still standing with my bike between my legs and imediatly tried to shake his hand of and drive away. He then told me in a very disgusting voice that he would like "to f*ck me there and I need to come with him NOW. We f*ck f*ck in the woods" Yeah, his german was bad but I perfectly understand what he said. I got myself free from his hand and rusehd home with my bike. I didnt tell anyone about it bc I felt ashamed of what he said to me (saying that F word was an nono in my houshold). Well, about a week later I saw the same guy, siting on his bike infront of our little bakery where all the kids got there candy and stuff and was a popular hangout place for us. I saw him just watching them. You could see the bakery and everything from our house. Well, I then felt the urge to tell my mum bc I was pretty scared that if I went out he could see me and touch me again. My Mum was furious and imediatly called the cops. A few days later when I was in school - the "kripo" came what is a special force kind of division in german police - and asked me a lot of questions about the encounter. I told themen everything. I never heard anything again. When I was older my mom told me, they deported that guy. He was a season worker from east europe and hat a pretty bad record with rape, asault, burglary and a lot of other stuff. I dodged a bullet there. Will never forget it in my life to be carefull.
Holy shit that terrifying
I’m so glad you’re okay, and I’m so happy that you said something to get that monster off the streets. Healing from an event like that isn’t easy and I hope you’re doing well. ❤️ You’re a true badass! ☺️❤️
Sending you the biggest hug. I'm someone who actually was trafficked and I hope the comments here aren't as triggering for you as they are for me. Some are very kind but some are kinda brutal. "No pity for people who are just paranoid for no reason." It doesn't happen to everyone- but it could happen to anyone and THAT'S why it's important to have a level of fear. Fear is a literal biological survival instinct to help keep you safe. There's a difference between thinking it's always around every corner yes, but knowing "it could be" is also important just to be aware.
That’s terrifying and I’m glad you’re okay. This story actually reminds me of a classmate I know who also got kidnapped when he was five. His dad’s psycho ex girlfriend wanted to get revenge by taking away something his dad loved so she picked him up from school and drove him to McDonald’s for his “last meal”. Fortunately the authorities found them before she could take him to the woods where she planned to kill him and he’s safe and sound to this day. He says apparently it didn’t mess him up too much psychologically because he was so young at the time he didn’t even understand that he had been kidnapped but it was so shocking when he just casually recounted the story one day in class like it was nothing. Stories like these are one of the many reasons I am not having kids because if something like that happened to my son or daughter it would break me. I can’t even imagine the terror.
Absolutely terrifying. Especially with what you say about him trying to drag you into the woods telling you what he’s going to do to you.
The true-crimeification of our daily life?
Oooh you’re onto something here
omg
@@Snugglie I don't blame them though. I'm prone to paranoia so I stay farrr away from true crime lol. I know my limits 😨
no. learning about true crime is one thing, paranoia is another
@@samsamistorm true crime consumption can be a gateway to feelings of paranoia, and a lot of previously non-paranoid people have said that it did effect them negatively by making them more vigilant to an unreasonable degree. I am using the everyday definition of paranoia, not the type that is medically diagnosed as a symptom of something like schizophrenia, if that's what you're referring to
Heavy in the racism thing. People love talking about acts of kindness from girls at the bar. “Omg this girl in the bathroom helped me fix my bra” “I told this random woman in the club that I liked her hair and we went for brunch the next day. We’re besties now!” But as soon as the person isn’t a rich white woman from LA, it turns to “some weird woman tried to get pictures of me from behind to sell to European p0rn sites” or “there was some crazy woman with the nappiest hair and no makeup who kept talking to me. If I left with her I would’ve been dragged into a van and sold off”. That kind of thing happens VERY rarely in the western world and even more rarely will you be kidnapped while abroad, so long as you don’t do anything stupid. If you really want to raise awareness, talk about children who’re sold of by their own family members. Talk about the amounts of abuse, r@pe, prostitution, etc that happens in their OWN HOMES
I agree with you in terms of the outlandish trafficking techniques, but as a woman, I’ve been taught my entire life that I have to stay vigilant, not go out alone at night (or ever in certain places), carry my keys before I leave a store because there is genuine danger out there. No I’m not likely to be trafficked in a Walmart but it’s possible that I can be hit on/potentially assaulted simply because I’m a woman alone. I’ve had men follow me to my car or around a store to hit on me and it’s truly terrifying
I think the point is that if a weirdo is staring at you in Walmart that you dont go online and say its bc you were "almost trafficked". I dont think Robert ever said its not valid to be vigilant and aware. I as a man can be afraid of walking around a city at night (im not, i travel constantly and have always been fine) but if im walking by a couple of non-white guys who look at me funny its completely destructive to go tell people I was "almost jumped by a gang" rather than just keep to myself and move on while being vigilant and aware since im alone at night.
This is why I hate the victimhood mentality that a lot of feminists try to force on us. Nobody is out there to get us.
There is no boogeyman, intent on our destruction. The only thing sabotaging us is us. Stop brainwashing people to be fearful of going outside.
This is nothing new, and it's never going to blow over. I'm a 60-ish woman, and I remember seeing flyers, hearing other women telling these stories and even going to meetings at work where the security guy talked to us about these types of stories. I was 18 or 19 at the time. Every young woman I was friends with knew a friend of a friend that was almost kidnapped. These stories are mostly a form of urban legend. You definitely should be cautious and aware of what is going on around you and not go off alone with strangers, but show some common sense. I have travelled by myself all of my adult life and have never been threatened or harmed in any way.
It is one thing to be aware of your surroundings in a common sense way, and an entirely different thing to be extremely paranoid. I agree that social media seems to flare up paranoia which can be counterproductive to actually staying safe.
It is very dangerous to assume someone is a "trafficker"' trying to kidnap you especially if you have a husband or a person with a gun that would take that person's life thinking they are defending that someone who thought they were being kidnapped and it end up being an innocent person all because of the paranoia of the "victim".
Do these TikTokkers know that neuro-divergent people exist?
The problem with that question exists in the framing. They don't CARE.
what does this have to do with mass hysteria lol they themsleves could be neurodivergent we don't know
Cough *Chris Chan* Cough
@@GabyGeorge1996 only neuro-divergent person in existence (real)
Here's something I've learned over the years: mental health issues ARE usually taken seriously.... until they become inconvenient or even somewhat antagonizing.
People will accept and respect someone's mental health problems, but only until it's a problem for them. If you have bad social skills, anxieties, idiosyncrasies, bring the mood down too often, say or do something you shouldn't even when you mean well or you're trying your best, come across as weird or creepy, or you bother someone, that's when people usually don't care about your mental illness or what your intentions are. It's an uncomfortable truth when it comes to destigmatizing conversations about mental health issues: we do have to be a little more tolerant, patient, communicative, and not jump to conclusions or constantly assume the worst.
Are there bad people in the world? Yes. However, let's understand that the VAST majority of people are decent and goodhearted. They don't want to intentionally hurt us, bother us, or piss us off.
They act like the odds of being a victim of some random stranger are WAY higher than they actually are. A random stranger is probably the least likely to abduct or harm you. Statistically, someone you know is more likely than some rando.
Pretty much all of us were raised on "stranger danger" and the inevitable occasional experiences with creepy randoms that we all have end up reinforcing it, so we end up with almost everyone, especially women, having a set of "reasonable fears" that are, as far as most research can tell, completely disconnected from the actual threats we experience in day to day life. And that's a tough situation to resolve because like, what are we supposed to do about that? Start a campaign saying "dont be afraid of those sketchy guys that have been eyefucking you for the last hour because it's far more likely that the person who's actually planning to rape you is one of your friends or coworkers"? That seems completely ineffective and just gonna introduce a whole bunch of new paranoia while simultaneously encouraging risky behavior
Yep, people I know are spreading this too. Mostly parents of fairly privileged daughters going off to college. I'm not saying not to believe women who are trying to report serious allegations. But keep in mind, SA and trafficking are totally different things. Trafficking is a business first, the main concern is going after the most vulnerable people to avoid getting caught. That's usually immigrants, sex workers, adicts and the unhoused- people who can't go to law enforcement, or people who no one will notice missing. If you own a car, or are in a store with SECURITY CAMERAS, they aren't interested in you. It's true that lost of women experience SA, but thats almost always from partners, relatives, or co-workers, which a lot of young women don't get educated on even though its a much bigger actual threat to us. instead we get these embarrassing paranoia-bait trends on social media
Preach!!
Exactly. Even serial killers most often target sex workers and people on the fringes of society, not privileged white women; because they know that such people are generally ignored by mainstream society and police response is going to be minimal to non-existent.
And if they're going to traffic someone in a more secure background, it's more likely to be a SO who manipulates. The former situation of why Amouranth was in hot tubs all the time was due to the SO forcing her to against her will.
@@Eibarwoman yep, honestly I think the fear of being kidnapped by strangers and stuff can actually be really dangerous in that people end up being completely uneducated and unprepared for dealing with abuse and cruelty coming from those you actually know and have relationships with
In the early 1980s, scratch and sniff stickers were a new craze. We collected them and put them in folders. One day the principal came to my second grade classroom and said we couldn’t have the stickers because drug dealers were using them to hook kids. There have always been viral scares and misinformation.
Thanks for sharing this! These videos infuriate me because I’ve worked with juveniles that were sex trafficked before in my mental health specialist job… Many of them were trafficked by their own parents/families, and all of the others were recruited via a grooming process that happened online or in person with “friends” (people they knew and thought they could trust). I’ve also met undocumented immigrants that experienced labor trafficking… It’s most often poor and marginalized people that end up getting trafficked into these slavery situations! And they don’t really just “grab people” or whatever the common rhetoric is on social media at the time.
and it doesn't help that instagram infographics turn safety into a series of cute tips which often include unnecessary purchases (see "special lock from amazon"). so many people capitalize off of this paranoia.
I had to delete social media after having my son because I developed severe post partum anxiety and seeing these things all the time didn't help. I would stay up all night in case someone was breaking in, and if I didn't do that I would barricade our bedroom door and my husband would come home from work like ???, I was convinced someone was going to kill/kidnap me and my baby. We never left the house except to go to the grocery store where I would sometimes cry in the middle of the store because all the people was overwhelming to me. I've gotten a lot better, he's 2 now and I'm almost normal again
A man in Walmart was looking at a woman that he found attractive???? That's my guess.
Yes, it can be momentarily uncomfortable if you're secretly admiring someone or vice versa, and your eyes lock for a moment. It's a little embarrassing to get caught checking someone out, but that's really all that happened here. 🤦♀️
Or he was looking at the products behind her on the shelf. I mean, this was a supermarket, a place where people stop and look at products to buy. 🤷
God forbid he zoned out in her direction out of coincidence (as someone who has been on both sides of that coin lol)
On the other hand there are plenty of creepy men around - won't 'do anything' but will stare, which _is_ disconcerting and/or threatening. So if you're secretly admiring someone, how is the object of your stare to know that you don't think of yourself as a creep?
@@williamchamberlain2263 bc its such a common daily occurrence that assuming it has kidnapping intentions rather than just being creeped out is farfetched? unless they exhibit behaviour thats more unusual and threatening
@@chickenfoot2423 'creep' not 'kidnapper' - video is about kidnapping, original post in this chain is about just staring at people.
Why do "influencers" especially Tiktokers feel the need to over exaggerate stuff like this. Like are you kidding me? You are not in danger stop it.
Views and likes.
Views, likes, and some people feel the need to make their mundane life more interesting
I have been diagnosed with recurring psychosis and the paranoid behaviour and thoughts of these people really reminds me of myself when I'm not doing well. I can empathise with their feelings of anxiety and fear, but when they start spreading these fears and anxieties as if they have a basis in reality, that's when other people start being harmed.
Then why aren’t they taking meds?
@@covfefe_drumpfh well generally unless you're seeking help with your mental health you're not really aware if you're being paranoid or deluded. When I was really bad I thought it was completely logical to be as paranoid as I was, it was only other people making me aware of how illogical my thinking was that made me reflect.
Wow! I wasn't expecting the police to get involved in the first story about the young woman who "escaped".
I know right? Meanwhile there are cases out there that are just begging for police to care getting nothing
@@georgiam228 exactly!
Because it's always the false cases that get taken seriously. It's so disgusting.
@@vixenvxce1063 too often that's true. It's horrible
They were probably called and took a few minutes to look at the security footage.
At 17, after graduating high school I moved from the small town I grew up in to the city. Nothing like this everactually happened to me. That being said I had moments where I have been genuinely scared and uncomfortable. Especially when I worked in hospitality and was out alone at weird hours. I am old enough for social media not to have been a huge part of my life back then. My family did Fuel a low level fear out off their love and genuine concern for their little girl moving to the city alone. My boyfriend used to talk to me on the phone when I was walking alone at night, and I would periodically update him of the street I was in. This was largely to do with my want to calm him and my family, after working nights in the city a while I was quite comfortable. But there were moments. I didn't however come home and tell a what if story about that momentary concern.
I’ve noticed this paranoia building for a while now and it’s gotten to the point that I’ve started becoming hyper aware of how I’m perceived.
One time I was at the store and as I’m walking back to my car I ended up walking beyond a couple of girls. It was night time so I made sure I was a few feet behind them. Well it just so happened that they parked right next to my car and I had to wait for them to load their items.
So here I am a 6’2 man in a parking lot at night awkwardly waiting for them to finish loading their car. I notice one of them was giving me the side eye so I quickly explained the situation and things where fine after. But I still felt horrible that someone would think I would want to hurt them. Very awkward encounter.
It's normal to be careful as a woman, to take precautions, but there is a line between that and paranoia. These tiktoks seem like their trying to be helpful and update women on self defence tactics, but when i watch one or two, it makes me super anxious. I remember a story about someone saving a kidnapped girl bc she showed a handsign from tiktok, so i think people take these tiktoks seriously just in case.
Hi Robert! I completely agree with all your points here and this has been driving me crazy as well. The only note I have is that I think this video lacked a bit of nuance regarding how terrifying it is to be a woman going about her everyday life. Even if it’s not kidnapping we’re already always on the lookout for men overstepping their boundaries and encasing our space
Except that it's not "terrifying to be a woman everyday" in the west. That "fact" of yours is false, and also part of the problem that Robert is talking about: fear mongering, mass paranoia from falsified, exaggerated cases.
Not only are men not the only ones targetting women, but men are targeted too, and more so than women. I'd recommend reading into factual statistics. More men help and respect women than the opposite.
Yeah, we may not be trafficked but on mutiple occasions (mostly when I was a minor) men have tried to grab me or grab intimate body parts. Men have followed me and yelled at me to get my attention.
Paranoia comes from experince sadly and I think these women are just scared from past experiences
@@vixenvxce1063 umm... Overall statistics don't change the lived experiences of many women who have dealt with violence and abuse from, sometimes, multiple men in their lives. Nor do they change the effects of having to live with a r*pist as a president for 4 years, or having to deal with multiple publicized smear campaigns against women survivors. Even in the west, there is still a power imbalance between men and women that leaves women more susceptible to public harassment and can have a huge effect on abusive dynamics.
Also, statistics don't account for regional differences - in some places, there's very little reason to be afraid, but in some areas (particularly low-income areas populated by BIPOC folks), women have every reason to be scared. The west isn't only composed of safe, affluent suburbs.
I'm a woman who's been abused by multiple men, can't walk down some streets without being catcalled, has been followed by strangers and stalked by exes... I could go on. You telling women like me that the terror I feel every day is "false" is so shitty.
And of course it's important to note that men (and all genders) can be targets as well as perpetrators. That's a huge issue that needs to be talked about more. But that doesn't erase all of the factors that do make many women rightfully scared.
@@vixenvxce1063 Yeah, in most cases of trafficking, contact is nearly always initiated by a woman, because traffickers understand that their victims are far more likely to trust women, and contact is generally presented as an "employment opportunity". Traffickers are generally pretty sophisticated about who they target and how they approach their victims.
The old stereotype of creepy men grabbing women as shoving them in cars is much more of a serial killer thing in real life, not traffickers.
@@EphemeralTao That's very much true, unfortunately. Those facts seem to evade the public eye, which is extremely problematic and dangerous.
I feel bad for them because I understand being paranoid but at the same time, they really should reconsider posting these videos
im glad Robert stresses the fact that this IS mentally unhealthy and that women of all people do have these fears in daily life alot, and that it is very valid.
He seems to understand and respect the fact that women have a whole other mentality than men when it comes to going outside alone.
Even though it's more dangerous to be a man than woman, which is strange. The fear mongering just exists for women. 🤷
@@vixenvxce1063
This is mostly true. Men *are more likely* to be random victims, while women are almost always *premeditated* victims.
@@covfefe_drumpfh this does make sense. in that angle, women fear the premeditated crime that they could fall victim to, and validly still. and too for a child to fear dying in a school shooting. in all cases, its the perp's fault...
@@vixenvxce1063 there are plenty of horrible stories of women being the victims of awful crimes, and as a defense mechanism, women are overly wary of their surroundings often leading in stress and anxiety. this comes back to the original video, where people think they were about to be kidnapped because someone LOOKED at them wrong. its a perception clouded by fear, but rightfully so.
as the other commenter already said i do agree that usually men are more likely the victim of random crime, which is still horrible.
This girl in my high school was actually almost trafficked. She went missing for a few months and it turns out she was living w a 20 something year old “boyfriend” who was actually arrested for sex trafficking. So she was rlly lucky because he was likely grooming her to put her in the “business”
Glad she made it out ❤
This is how I reacted to a piece of paper on our front door when I was 15 and had to stay home alone for a four day weekend for the first time. To be an adult woman and react to a piece of paper on your car this way or thinking every guy you lock eyes with at Walmart is out to traffic you is ridiculous.
The nerve of that woman specifying that the woman was black and was possibly from Africa when POC women are the ones most at risk of being trafficked or kidnapped and least likely to have news coverage and police looking for them. Also while it's one thing to be scared/cautious in the moment if you're getting weird vibes from a person or situation, I've definitely experienced that before, but once you make it home totally fine without anything actually happening to you- you should be able to rationalize that you were most likely not in danger.
Maybe you'd still be spooked by it, sure, but you should know that making a frantic tiktok about a vaguely uncomfortable situation and claiming you were almost trafficked does way more harm than good, and that your perception of the situation was likely skewed. I understand that these women have been conditioned to fear for their safety constantly, and want to warn others, but jumping to the conclusion that you were nearly sold into literal sex slavery because a man was staring at you is pretty unreasonable.
Instead of making a panicked tiktok recalling what happened, which is almost guaranteed to be exaggerated whether intentional or not, you should go to someone for help in the moment, or try to record the encounter on your phone. Posting a video claiming "this random guy at Walmart was looking at me and giving me weird vibes I think he was going to kidnap and sell me" doesn't help *anyone* because the people watching do not know what this man looks like. Describing them as being non-white might seem helpful in your mind if it's the only real description you have, but again- you're just making white women paranoid and afraid of all POC men they interact with- and you were potentially only creeped out by this guy's actions because of his race and the harmful perception of black men being dangerous that you grew up hearing.
Find a woman in the store and quietly explain the situation and ask to stay with her until the man leaves, or go to a store employee and report his behavior, or film him on your phone so if anything does happen he can be identified. It would actually probably be helpful to women in your town if you posted a video of a guy being creepy towards you as a warning to look out for this specific guy, and you don't need to jump to any sensational conclusions about kidnapping attempts, because it's enough of a warning to say "hey this guy was kinda creepy and made me feel uncomfortable, try to avoid him if you see him."
This one woman was in a department store when a guy came up to her and started asking about a dress he wanted to buy for his wife, he started asking weird questions like "do you think you could see her underwear through this?" "Do you think she should wear underwear under it?" She was super uncomfortable but eventually got out of the situation. A few years later a man approached her in a store and started asking familiar questions about a dress for his wife, she took out her phone and confronted him, telling him he had done this to her before, and literally chased him out of the store to his car parked far away from all the other vehicles in the parking lot.
If a man is being creepy, he's most likely acting alone and just enjoys harassing women in public, but that's all, and filming them or threatening to call the cops is usually more than enough to send them running. There are 100% plenty of weird men in the world that women should be cautious of even in public, but it usually has nothing to do with trafficking.
Also, if these traffickers are so methodical and organized that they're marking targets' cars, pretty sure you wouldn't have made it home. Especially listening to that one woman's story where she claims she was actually drugged and losing consciousness, how the hell did she make it home then?? They targeted and subdued her (supposedly) what stopped them from grabbing this disoriented, drugged woman going in and out of consciousness? Why was the woman whose car was "marked" with the flyer perfectly fine? According to her she was literally already decided on as a target.
I definitely am guilty of being overly paranoid in the moment, and reading into things that don't actually mean anything, but usually I just talk about it with my boyfriend or a friend and they're able to help me rationalize that I was just anxious and paranoid about an otherwise harmless situation. It's very concerning that if these women did go to their friends before making a video, they were most likely agreed with and their paranoia was reinforced as being rational, they were likely even encouraged by friends to make a video about it to "spread awareness."
TikTok girl:"Oh god! I'm beeing trafficked!"
Alleged trafficker: "Why is this creepy girl staring at me?!"
There’s a thick line between being self-aware, being cautious and being vigilant of your surroundings when you are alone in public, and being paranoid. It’s absolutely a good idea to be aware of your surroundings and taking precautions to stay safe but when you’re presenting behaviors that mimic schizophrenia it is detrimental to your mental wellbeing. If you’re seeing life solely through the lens of cynicism you need to take a step back from social media and watching the news or you’re going to make yourself mentally unwell.
Most trafficking victims know their attacker to some degree.
Okay but like...as a litral minor I can see that that's stupid...how can a 20 something year old believe they were KIDNAPPED by a man just staring at them???
I actually did have a scary experience once, I was traveling alone to Kansas to visit family. I had to stop at a gas station to charge my phone cause google maps. Then shortly after a group of 3 men came in. They stared at me for 3 freaking hours, and the whole time I was freaking out. I decided I wasnt going to leave that gas station until long after they did. I covertly took their photos and sent it to my bf at the time. I shared my phone location with all of my friends also letting them know the situation. I sat there for 3 hours waiting for them to leave, the whole time they're just staring at me. When they left, one of the guys literally stopped right by the window i was sitting next to and looked at me again. It was so freaking scary, then I waited more hours to be sure they were gone. I also figured it was safer in the station cause the workers could see me. Now next time ima just ask for one to walk me to my car. Cause omg it was scary. When they left they walked back to their hotel across the street. So im 100% sure their intentions were malicious
as a kansan, kansas is a trafficking hotspot because of its location in the middle of the country. a lot of truckers and cars cross through, which makes kansas unfortunately an easy trafficking spot. i am so glad you are safe! sorry about that terrible experience. being stared at for THREE hours is insane.
Some people are just addicted to sniffing clout.
Fearmongering and misinformation is today's greatest problem
a few weeks ago a stranger did try to kidnap or assault me (i didnt ask him which one lol), but i wasnt in a crowded car park in daylight with many eye-witnesses, i was alone, at a skatepark, around 11pm. and this shit bugs me so bad all these fucking fake tiktoks arent gonna save anyone its just gonna make peoples paranoia over everyday tasks worse. tiktokers shud be educating ppl on how not to get into dumb situations like i did and always keep protection if u do. (mine was a 32 inch skateboard that i threatened to clobber him with lol)
When I was a young naive trusting 18 year old, I was almost kidnapped. I was in a big city for the first time and ran out of gas after getting lost. A man offering to help me grabbed me and tried to pull me into his car. I broke free and his car screeched out of the parking lot I was in. There is a very large difference between assuming someone is trying to kidnap you, and someone actually in the process of attempting a kidnapping.
This is so true. Thank you so much for bringing light to this topic. The anxiety and misinformation that these kinds of videos spread is concerning.
I'm glad people are talking about this. thank you for pointing out the fact that the media attention affects how people view trafficking. these "signs of trafficking" hoaxes pop up all the time and i regularly have to remind my family that they're not usually real. most trafficking victims are trafficked by people they know, not kidnapped by strangers.
edit: i typed this before traffickers often knowing their victims was covered
I have generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder, so I’m constantly paranoid. People acting like everything is ‘kidnapping’ or bad makes it so much worse. I have very bad delusions at times and stuff like this heightens it.
I was groomed by people who tried getting my adress and wanting to meet up to ‘role-play in real life’ (they erp’d with me knowing I was a child). And I never did thankfully bc 1. I couldn’t remember it and 2. I was afraid my parents would be mad and 3. I was a /little/ skeptical about whether this person was safe, only a little
I had people wanting to meet up with me to have sex with me and who knows what else , which may be part of my paranoia but it’s awful seeing people act like small interactions are trafficking when there’s actually situations happening.
I get being afraid, especially if you are AFAB. We are constantly told to watch for danger, but why make videos on something that didn’t actually happen but was simply a possibility based on so little evidence? You can talk about stories and shit, but why over dramatize it. It makes me genuinely mad
We should believe victims, when they’re actually victims and not paranoid individuals
My husband tried to make a video debunking these claims once and got completely attacked an harassed in his comments. For some reason people want to believe these false stories
Funny story that's relevant to this... I was at a local convenience store/gas station and a girl who looked like me came up to me to tell me I was really pretty. We struck up a very lively conversation and she asked if we could hang out so I gave her my number. She called me later with some guy on the phone and they were like do you wanna make some money, come to Holiday Inn at 8pm on Friday and we'll get you set up. I freaked out and called the cops cause I thought that they were trying to either kidnap or attack me or something. The cop assigned to my call knew the girl and he literally called her while he was at my house. It was an MLM thing HAHAHAHAHA. The cop was like, please don't be this goofy ever again, think things through before asking strangers to meet you at a hotel. I feel so bad I wasted everyone's time but idk man that was scary af. And see that's the difference...if you notice something you should take the APPROPRIATE action. Call authorities...don't go on tiktok talking about it...what if it actually is a criminal? You could be saving someone's life.
There's a fantastic tiktok creator who went by "BloodbathandBeyond" at one point, and she is a trafficking survivor. She works with organizations to help other survivors and a lot of her content was geared towards correcting misinformation on tiktok. She got chased off the platform by people who apparently care about trafficking bc she pointed out that the videos were spreading misinfo, and would use sources to debunk them.
Tbh if I was scared of something happening to me and someone reassured me (with sources) why I didn't need to be afraid, I'd thank them, not mass report their content.
My neurologist is doing a study on how bad tiktok is for young people. I haven’t used it, I’ve seen TikTok’s mostly through videos like yours and reposts on other socials. I’m slowly using everything less and less. It’s been great mentally, but I can see how being absorbed in stuff like this 24/7 is not. There’s a lot of unhealthy shit on tiktok my neurologist said don’t if a Doctor suggests not to use it you know it’s bad…
I always thought these videos are very unhelpful and can cause unnecessary fear. My husband sends them to me and i just shrug it off but thank him for caring about me. I am super aware of my surroundings though always have been.
Nah because the mirror checking and special lock is fair depending on where you’re staying. AirBnB’s are sketch af
This is the video that should get pushed, saw a few that you were talking about about and I was like huh. The zip tag thing confuses me as once you cut it and drive away how can they follow to kidnap or tag your parked car. Yeah made little sense, but glad someone is pointing out. As a woman yup its scary and those women may have felt that way but its like non alcoholic beer. Went to a party this guy was super drunk, making an arse of himself and then we discovered he had been drinking my friends beer. All beer was in the fridge, my friend didnt drink so he bought a box or non alcholic beer. This guy was acting drunk and had no alchol in his system, but in his mind he had drank 6 beers so hes drunk. Was an interesting experiment to watch, he was hung over the next day. Amazing what the mind can do.
As someone who's prone to paranoid intrusive thoughts anyways, this mess has been a nightmare for my mental health. I basically avoid Tiktok by now cuz this stuff triggers full on paranoid episodes where I'm terrified to leave my house for days if not longer.
As someone who genuinely, ACTUALLY had an attempted kidnapping in a Walmart parking lot a few months back, my jaw dropped when that was IT. He LOOKED at her! That was all it took to make her go online and say she was almost trafficked. I have so much experience from severe anxiety as a child, I understand how real and scary it can seem. I always thought I was going to being kidnapped until I got on medicine. But it almost makes me mad how they’re putting this online and no one is questioning it. I very much enjoyed your take on this.
Thank you! I keep getting those videos on TikTok and they drive me insane. Having some healthy skepticism and awareness is good, but there are tons of weirdos in public, it doesn’t mean you’re getting trafficked 😭 not to mention most trafficking happens by someone you know
TikTok Pro Tip: press and hold on any video and a menu pops up where you can tell TikTok that you don't want to see videos like that. This can help fine-tune your algorithm and if enough people do this on a specific video, they'll probably not show it to as many people.
I do think you’re not acknowledging the fact women 100% have reason to feel this way & with the way society victim blames, it’s definitely a reason this paranoia spreads. This would have been more helpful if you discussed the correlation to how women are policed daily and always expected on alert, rather than making it an issue of “your fear blocks yourself logic”.
I agree. We are told offline by many people in our lives to constantly share our location, walk with keys between our knuckles, pretend we are on the phone with a man, not be alone at night ever, and many more fear based warnings. What is reasonable? I do not know. But this isn’t just a hysterical online trend. It is the natural conclusion of how we are socialized.
He does say that their concerns are valid but he has issue with the way these videos tell other women to be afraid of totally innocuous behavior or spreading misinformation from conspiracy theories; especially since nothing ever happened to them. Similar to how racist white women use their fears to justify fear around men of color and demand more police surveillance.
Of course womens fears are justified and I don’t blame them if they were afraid *in the moment* but just like anyone else, fear can be used to cloud your judgement about certain groups of people such as POC and/or neurodivergent people
I liked this video and overall agreed with it, but it was shortsighted to forget how society makes everything out to be women's fault
@@thecolorjune the natural conclusion of how we are socialized ^
@@anava7030 ?
I had a guy try to pull me from my wrist, back into my apartment building's stairway while his accomplice stopped in the middle of the street, when I was trying to leave. It was around 5 in the morning with barely anyone else passing on the road. He would not let go even after I was screaming and trying to run away. Felt like several minutes in my panic, but it was probably more like a minute of trying to get away. After I was able to break free, he just calmly walked back to the car and they drove away. I'm sure he was trying to quickly S.A. me moreover than getting me trafficked.
I've known or known of three girls who were trafficked and in every case it was their boyfriend who got them into it
That is true but me and my sister have avoided potential kidnapping/robbery. And it was also at a Walmart and we don't live in a good area. Always have a buddy system if you can.
im currently in highschool and i know several girls who legitimately tell me their fears of having their achilles tendons cut while by people HIDING UNDER THEIR CARS, crossing the road when walking on the sidewalk to avoid passing a man, or other fears regarding men in public places attempting rape, trafficing etc.
THIS is the thing that made me finally delete tiktok in 2021. My ‘for you page’ was filled with stories of rape, kidnapping and gruesome murder. Almost every video was about it or some new self defense technique. I became so paranoid, I started saying I hate men, I became rude to men and legit was scared to go anywhere alone. Now I simply don’t waste my time thinking about it.
My sister was almost stolen in a shopping shen she was 2. This lady simply carried her and walked away. Thankfully my mother noticed it and started a fight. This kind of exxagerated stories are so stupid and have nothing to do with human trafficking
In my hometown there was this scare because this "foreign" family suddenly appeared asking for money people, it immediately turned into this thing where the suburbanites jumped to "this family was trafficked and now they're trying to sell flowers to get out of it." It was abhorrent, this family was actually just stranded and they didn't have enough money for gas, in fact, it sounded like THEY were the ones in danger of being trafficked, it's gross how people just assumed the worst, it's what happens in these suburban neighborhoods, nobody feels safe yet the police will appear there asap if something goes down.
I'm so over all these scared women being scared of everything all the time. More of us should be SCARY women instead of scared women because I don't want to look like I can't protect myself how embarrassing.
*YUP!!!*
So what about when a man follows you around a store and out to your car, only retreating when they see a man is in the passenger seat? Because this *has* happened to me. I feel you on this video, but I just hope it isn't causing women or other vulnerable people to not come forward or speak up. I've always been taught that it's better to be embarrassed for being loud or alerting someone than being dead or missing.
What are the odds that he's looking to traffick you? Seriously, what are they? The man in your car is more likely to traffick you than the one in the shop, and given that both shops and carparks are usually well survielled, it is highly unlikely that any crime was going to be committed.
By all means keep yourself safe. A man following you around a shop is certainly reason to chat to security. However, it is ludicrous to suggest you might have been kidnapped.
I think these men telling women they're crazy can go to hell. I get that some are doing it for attention, but there are women who legit experience these things.
This fool in the video is just another guy telling women that if you're cautious around me who act suspicious then it's YOU, not THEM.
I was kidnapped at age 19. This "almost trafficked" trend is lowkey offensive to me. You didn't experience shit I did. Of course many of the women who fall for this nonsense are victims of how society treats us, but you can tell many of them also just want to have a ~story time for the internet clout
I know someone who was actually trafficked. She wasn’t stolen off the street. She was an underprivileged woman with a substance abuse problem who lived in a city near the border of Mexico. (I won’t disclose which city). She was hanging out with a girl she knew from work at her apartment when the friend drugged her drink and called her “boyfriend” who came over and took her away. It’s people who you know and trust who do this to you.
Honestly I'm never worried about trafficking as an adult woman, I'm seriously concerned about being Rworded or physically attacked. There was an attempted kidnapping of an adult college student in the parking lot of my work while I was there and it definitely wasn't so they could sell her....
There needs to be more awareness of psychosis/paranoia. These are the type of videos that feed that sort of mental illness (as well as anxiety too.) It's not just people being overzealous, I'd bet ALL my money most of these people posting struggle with paranoia (unknowingly or not). They are literally filming their mental illness and spreading it online
Maladaptive is the perfect word. It would be one thing if they got on and talked about how they felt uncomfortable/are scared as a woman in public sometimes. But that is NOT what they are doing. They are promoting unhealthy paranoia
This is so insulting to the reality of most trafficking cases. (not this video, the women's stories) There ARE times when you should be wary, and common circumstances that can be scary as a woman. But this is mental illness.
Agree. Can’t believe their lack of self awareness.
Trafficking isn't nearly as obvious as stranger grabs usually - from someone who was handed a piece of paper with "want to make some money? Call me ***" when I was 16, had just immigrated here and was sitting outside the front of a bank on my own
It wasn't traumatic at the time, I just shrugged it off and walked off to find my mum but years later it's a big ick
There was a similar phenomenon in Brazil last year where several women reported feeling 'dizzy' and 'smelling something weird' during a Uber ride. No substance was found in any car and, even if there was any, it still wouldn't explain how this substance could be strong enough to knock out an adult woman, but not the driver.
Proof Main Character Syndrome can be dangerous
LMAO!!! i did not think this was an actual issue. i came across one of these videos of some lady's dramatized retelling of an attempted "kidnapping". which essentially amounted to "a person i didnt recognize walked past me in a crowded street, i couldnt believe i almost got kidnapped". took me all of 5 seconds to block that entire channel.
now let me tell you of a time when i was ACTUALLY kidnapped...i was innocently browsing videos, when suddenly a lame video took a hold of me. it was some woman greatly exaggerating everyday encounters as something more sinister. i was stuck, just seconds of my life wasting away watching something that was the equivalent of paint drying. stay safe out there guys
I've had this fear built into me since I was 6 years old and my mom would have us wear leashes on our wrists because there were a lot of kidnappings happening (early 90's) in California. Ever since I have had massive paranoia about any stranger :'D World is a dangerous place, fear keeps women alive.
See you say that, but isnt the whole point here that that likely isn't actually true? The predators of the world just dont seem to actually line up with what we were all taught to worry about as kids. It's difficult to parse through what's a reasonable fear and what's completely unfounded in reality, but has been passed down generation to generation anyway
Also, I think generally, people don't REALLY care about real trafficking because those people tend to be farm labourers or adult workers. Middle-class suburban women aren't worried about those people. How else will their food get to Walmart? The hysteria is always centred around financially comfortable, usually white women. If this hysteria of "it could be ME" didn't exist, would they genuinely actually care about trafficking at all?
Also there are a lot of issues around trafficking itself and how a lot of it is mainly due to the criminalisation of adult work and lack of safe spaces to work, but that's another arguement altogether.
I cant thank you enough for this video. My fiance is so disillusioned by misinformation that she literally believes she's going to get kidnapped in the middle of the day at a busy mall with hundreds of witnesses. Is so frustrating how to tell her she's falling victim to mass paranoia. I sent her this video hoping itll make her feel safer!
This is amazing and sympathetic. Yes part of me is upset bc so many cases go unsolved and barely get any recognition bc their not as "news worthy or sympathetic" but I also glad the creators are safe maybe they feel this is the only way they get attention so many people feel ignored unless something happens to them it's sad and they need help and sadly you're actually more likely to get hurt by someone you know than a random stranger on the street.
Those TikTok videos never sat right with me.. I’ve watched countless interviews on UA-cam of woman going through addiction or dealing with being homeless that turn to SW and in almost every interview these women have encountered being kidnapped, assault or being ditched in remote locations. It’s so very sad hearing their stories and knowing that men are preying on their vulnerability… either way we all need to be aware of our surroundings at all times!
I've often wondered if these videos were blown out of proportion, considering I've had a few friends fall victim to the paranoia. Great video!
Thank God that some people are still reasonable in this environment of worsening misinformation spreading
People are getting scared of a brochure 😭😭😭😭
And people don’t think mass paranoia doesn’t exist anymore
i was kidnapped. he didn’t run up and snatch me off the street. he came and picked me and my siblings up like he was ordered to by court. i hugged my mum bye, thinking i’d see her again in two weeks, and got in the car for the long four hour drive (i live in a small country, so that’s long for us lol) two weeks came and went, he didn’t take us back. he refused to. he guest enrolled me at a local school. every time i tried to call my mum he would take the phone away. he called the police on her to stop her from being able to come get us, lying about her being a meth addict who beat us. my aunt and nana had to come take us when he wasn’t home.
One time, at about 3 am I was coming home from a night out with friends in NYC (i lived in Jersey city at the time). A car started driving behind me and it didn’t stop driving behind me even when I made certain turns that I *knew* would lead to them needing to eventually circle back into the main road. I kept my phone in my hand, as I had an app that would notify police if my finger left the screen and I didn’t input a security code within a minute after.
Kind of a heart-pounding moment, until I made it home I was so sure I was going to die. Managed to get into my building (which had a security code) and go in, where I watched as the car parked in front of my building and then waited 15 minutes before leaving. This was *years ago*.
To this day I’ve got paranoia about being followed - but I *understand* that this is paranoia and more often than not is not linked to reality. A majority of kidnappings, trafficking s etc, is perpetrated by those closest to us, not random strangers.