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    Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
    Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
    Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself
    Audiobook9 hours

    Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself

    Written by Rachel Lloyd

    Narrated by Rachel Lloyd

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    During her teens, Rachel Lloyd ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. With time, through incredible resilience, and with the help of a local church community, she finally broke free of her pimp and her past and devoted herself to helping other young girls escape "the life."

    In Girls Like Us, Lloyd reveals the dark world of commercial sex trafficking in cinematic detail and tells the story of her groundbreaking nonprofit organization: GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. With great humanity, she shares the stories of the girls whose lives GEMS has helped-small victories that have healed her wounds and made her whole. Revelatory, authentic, and brave, Girls Like Us is an unforgettable memoir.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 9, 2018
    ISBN9781541483354
    Author

    Rachel Lloyd

    Rachel Lloyd is the founder and executive director of GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. The recipient of numerous fellowships and honors, including the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award, Lloyd was a leading advocate for the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act, which made New York the first state to protect, not prosecute, sexually exploited children. She lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for Girls Like Us

    4.5/5

    49 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was a powerful book. It weaves together Ms. Lloyd's own story of growing up in an abusive household and her entry into prostitution and her subsequent rise out of "the life" to create GEMS - Girls Educational and Mentoring Services - with the stories of the girls she met along the way. And I do mean girls. Some of these trafficked girls were as young as eleven. It is very hard to read stories of girls that young being abused at the hands of both their pimps and the justice system.I found I couldn't read the book through like I would a novel. I had to read a chapter or two and then put it aside and read another book for a bit. That is not to say that I was unhappy to have read Girls Like Us. It is a book, I think that needs reading. I was very unaware of much that I read regarding just how young some of the girls are. I was very unaware of the mis-perceptions people hold regarding young girls and the supposed "choice" they make to be a prostitute. Ms. Lloyd's personal story is harrowing and she deserves so much credit for pulling herself out of the hell she found herself in and using her experiences to try and make things better for girls in similar situations. She spares nothing in telling her personal story; not of her being beaten by her "boyfriend" or of her relationship with her alcoholic mother. She uses her past to connect with the girls she counsels. She has been where they are and she knows some of what they are feeling.But the book isn't all about the bad; there is hope and lots of it. There are a lot of people who want to help stop the trafficking of young women and give them the resources they need to live a more normal life. That is where GEMS and groups like it come it. And books such as this that raise awareness and change perceptions. I'm glad I read it.
    • 5/5
      This was a powerful book. It weaves together Ms. Lloyd's own story of growing up in an abusive household and her entry into prostitution and her subsequent rise out of "the life" to create GEMS - Girls Educational and Mentoring Services - with the stories of the girls she met along the way. And I do mean girls. Some of these trafficked girls were as young as eleven. It is very hard to read stories of girls that young being abused at the hands of both their pimps and the justice system.I found I couldn't read the book through like I would a novel. I had to read a chapter or two and then put it aside and read another book for a bit. That is not to say that I was unhappy to have read Girls Like Us. It is a book, I think that needs reading. I was very unaware of much that I read regarding just how young some of the girls are. I was very unaware of the mis-perceptions people hold regarding young girls and the supposed "choice" they make to be a prostitute. Ms. Lloyd's personal story is harrowing and she deserves so much credit for pulling herself out of the hell she found herself in and using her experiences to try and make things better for girls in similar situations. She spares nothing in telling her personal story; not of her being beaten by her "boyfriend" or of her relationship with her alcoholic mother. She uses her past to connect with the girls she counsels. She has been where they are and she knows some of what they are feeling.But the book isn't all about the bad; there is hope and lots of it. There are a lot of people who want to help stop the trafficking of young women and give them the resources they need to live a more normal life. That is where GEMS and groups like it come it. And books such as this that raise awareness and change perceptions. I'm glad I read it.
    • 5/5
      There's nary a false step in this incredibly readable, heartbreaking account of girls who are coerced into selling their bodies for the profit of the men who control them. Sounds a bit like slavery, doesn't it? The author, Rachel Lloyd, speaks from personal experience. She pulled herself out of "the life" with much support of her friends. When she was 21, she decided to form an agency to help girls get off the street. She named it GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services) because she sees the girls as brilliant stones just waiting to be polished. The work is not easy, filled with successes often followed by heartbreak as a girl chooses to go back to her "daddy". Along the way the author fills us in on what it was like for her; what it took for her to finally pull herself away.Not an easy book to read, and yet so hard to put down! Nothing is sugar-coated in Rachel's narrative, but sometimes you just have to know how it really is. Highly recommended for men, women, social workers, teachers, anyone who works with youth--well, for everyone!
    • 4/5
      Lloyd's personal experiences in "the life" broke my heart, but her work with a non-profit organization called GEMS in New York City is what stays with me. She is honest about what it takes to balance injustice and idealism in order to make progress. I'm left with hope that, despite our social/political climate, working for people instead of for profit is still an option.