Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale: A Memoir

Lloyd’s sometimes difficult to look at, but honest memoir shines a light on the abuse and exploitation happening right here, under our collective noses and shows how it persists despite the efforts of many dedicated people like herself. It also highlights the pathological way our society undervalues women and children of lower socioeconomic status, especially people of color, and how the resulting broken families and psychological trauma leaves kids with no choices vulnerable to the commercial sex industry. The story of Rachel Lloyd’s eventual escape from “the life” and how she went on to found GEMS, Girls Education and Mentoring Service in New York City, to help other young girls escape is however, a beacon of hope in this dark tale.The writing is excellent and the narrative bounces back and forth between the author’s own life and vignettes of ‘the girls’ and their struggles. It draws you in with it’s raw humanity, and compassion, making this difficult subject relatable in a way that was unexpected. The quote at the beginning of chapter two made a big impact on me.There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soulThan the way in which it treats its children.--Nelson MandelaThis story resonated with me more than I thought it would. In my twelve years working in EMS I came into contact with a small part of this world, through encounters with a few anti-trafficking task force members, and trafficking victims, But on a daily basis in this job, I saw how the system I was a part of was failing the children we were supposedly ‘helping.’ This book showed me how those failures can make children vulnerable to trafficking, and how to appreciate the special people making a real difference in tackling this horrific problem and the societal failures that perpetuate it. Without sugar coating or sparing her legacy, or the reader’s sensitivities the author maintained a sense of hope and positivity throughout the book and maintains this positivity in a way that is truly inspiring. We need to do a better job of taking care of all of our society’s children and Rachel Lloyd shows us where to begin

So, disclosure: I'm an activist against human trafficking and a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation myself. When Girls Like Us arrived in the mail I greeted the book like a long-lost friend. It was almost embarrassing, I was so giddy about it. Maybe I was a little bit apprehensive, too. What if it didn't live up to my very high expectations? I was a writer for years before moving into social work, and I'm pretty picky. But that little fear disappeared the minute I started reading. Rachel Lloyd is a writer.To me, reading Girls Like Us has felt like coming home. In a good way. This full-hearted, infinitely loving, and also totally human -- as in it's ok to be goofy, sometimes impatient, enjoy fun shoes and also be a serious activist-person --memoir/social analysis has been maybe the first time since I was 13-years-old and lured and abducted by a pimp/trafficker that I've felt 100 percent in the company of someone who understands. Lloyd knows the potential and preciousness of every child, girl, woman, and that our experiences don't define or limit us, especially once love is added to the mix. Plus, like pioneering memoir writer Mary Carr, Lloyd manages to make us laugh. Sometimes through the tears, sure. But laugh, nonetheless.Rachel Lloyd has taught me many things with this book. Among them (though I could go on forever) that the survivor guilt I felt for having escaped so fast is actually that, survival guilt (didn't have a name for that before, it kind of mostly went away once I did). That I don't have to be the most saintly, perfect person on Earth to dedicate my life to creating a world where "girls are not for sale" (i.e., I can be kind of at my wits end sometimes, and also it's ok to like frivolous TV (I was going to do it anyway, but the example is helpful). And most importantly, though I admit I kind of knew this going in, what's revolutionary about the organization Lloyd founded, GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) is that love is its binding element. To paraphrase Lloyd, people don't connect to programs, they connect to people. Yep.Lloyd is the first writer I've come across who's been able to create an accessible and very readable synthesis of the factors at all levels creating the conditions under which children can be routinely bought and sold in the United States. American children. Our own little girls. She asks the critical question: Why are we appalled that little girls in exotic places are forced into the sex industry, but when our own are we think it's their "choice?" She understands the importance of addressing demand (who's buying these children anyway, and why aren't they going to jail?), the utter injustice of vilifying the girls themselves when they're exploited (how can there be high school girls in Rikers Island Prison? Why aren't the men who bought and sold them there, instead? What kind of crazy system charges an 11-year-old girl for prostitution and, again, not the men who bought and sold her?). Lloyd understands law and policy, and she knows what girls need to heal. And somehow she manages to write in such a way that connections throughout these things are clear, easy to understand, and read like a good novel. This is new. This hasn't happened before. We really need to pay attention.You don't have to be a "survivor" to fall in love with this book. I expect that girls and women, almost regardless of their backgrounds, will recognize the struggle to navigate a world that seems at times so hostile and dangerous for them. But they'll also recognize the sister in Rachel Lloyd, the hope that she brings and the vision, and be happy to have met her and heard her say her heart out loud.

Incredibly well written, Rachel is fantastic author who articulates with depth and honesty about her journey from survivor to leader. And what a leader she is!

Great book. So inspiring.

If 6 stars was an option that was it'd be getting that. Recommend this to EVERYONE. The message of many lives come across in an in depth fashion and the method in which the book is written is so detailed really mind opening. Big thank you to the author and congratulations on again achieving one of her sole aims of delivering her and other survivors message. Really can't recommend it enough.

This is an honest, heart breaking and must read for everyone so that the stories of these children are known. I was appalled, horrified, saddened and angry at the stories I read. What Rachel and the other women have achieved should be celebrated and shine as a beacon to others.

It took a long time to arrive but it’s a great book. Real life stories and lots of facts woven in, it’s a compelling read for anyone involved with working with people with traumatic lives.