Me, age 13. I had no idea what I was "selling" in this picture.

Two weeks ago I wrote a diary/blog (hereinafter “story”) for Daily Kos about writers who wrote about Trump Model Management’s alleged sex trafficking, and Donald Trump’s alleged personal abuse of under-aged girls. Specifically, I wanted to know why many of the writers and journalists stopped writing and reporting on this topic after the election. I began searching for and reaching out to these people. Swedish Jew Fish (“Rebecca”), a Daily Kos writer, published a well-researched, thorough story about Trump Model Management (“TMM”) and other modeling agencies that abused under-aged girls called, “We All Knew About the Trafficking (Part 1).

Rebecca continued to write after the election and, while her other stories were related to “We All Knew . . .Part 1,” part two was never published. In the comments after one such late-2016 offering Rebecca said, “This doesn’t change my intentions to continue the series and just to clarify this is NOT part 2.” By the end of 2016, Rebecca appeared stopped writing on this topic altogether. Other writers and outspoken critics of TMM also seemed to go quiet at the end of 2016. Quotes like this and similar feelings expressed by others were disconcerting:

“I’ve been destroyed by the things I’ve researched and written about Trump. And bear in mind there are so many things I couldn’t even publish because of the backlash, the threats, the harassment, stalking and abuse I got in response to my second diary.” ~Swedish Jew Fish (Rebecca), November, 2016, “A Place for Heartbroken Democrats” Comment Section

Prior to my first story, I reached out to Rebecca via Daily Kos , on Twitter and via FaceBook for comment as to why she stopped writing about TMM after the election. I did not hear from her then, but I am very happy that Rebecca responded to my story in the “Comments” section, saying:

“No worries I'm alive and well. I was going through a lot in my personal life while I was writing that series and honestly just had to take a break. Obviously the election results came as a shock too and made me re-evaluate what I was willing to put out there...it's one thing when you are writing about a clown candidate who you presume is going down in history as the butt of a joke, quite another when that person has some serious power. Also I got a lot of blowback from that post, basically a bunch of reddit/4chan trolls, but it was jarring and scary. I do have quite a bit more written and may publish it in the future. Thanks for caring- both about me and this story” ~Swedish Jew Fish (Rebecca) 7/30/2017 In Reply to Justice for Jane Does

Rebecca’s response also garnered grateful responses from her supporters and followers like as Matt Z (who gave me permission to use his heart-felt, sensitive comment):

“Swedish Jewfish, I want to let you know how much your last two diaries on feeling suicidal after the election meant to me. Part of why I’m still alive is because you gave me and others who felt like killing ourselves a place to grieve and be heard. I will be forever grateful for that.” ~Matt Z

I feel passionately about exposing the sexploitation of children through modeling because I lived it. In the 1980s, I was a child model for Donald Trump’s buddy, fellow-exploiter and accused pedophile, (the late) John Casablancas. As they say, “You're known by the company you keep,” and Donald Trump has kept company with — to use his words — some “bad hombres,” and John Casablancas was one of the worst. At age thirteen, I joined John Casablancas/Elite (“JCE”) in a small-ish market and started modeling bathing suits and lingerie.

The late John Casablancas and Donald Trump, Getty Images

I had experiences — and observed other models’ experiences — at JCE that were similar to those exposed by Rebecca, other writers, journalists and by model advocates like RACHEL BLIAS. The picture below is from the JCE catalog, taken when I first joined the agency. Although it was shot within the same twelve month period as the title picture above, the light in the eyes of the girl going into JCE gave way to a certain darkness that often covers the faces of girls who have been exploited.

Writers and journalists who expose the modeling industry’s insipid practices are sometimes the victims’ only champions, as many child sex abuse victims find it too embarrassing or too painful to come forward and speak out, even as adults. The cultural belief that girls “ask for it” by looking seductive also drives victims into hiding.

I communicated with a prolific writer who was and is an inspiration to me, and who has spoken out against model abuse for years. He told me that stopped writing about Trump Model Management because he felt he had aired everything verifiable that he'd learned through his reporting on the issue and said that it would be “difficult, if not impossible, to convince any of Donald Trump’s victims to go on the record.” He said he was “also disgusted by the propensity of Trump fans to accept, and even cheer, his behavior however outrageous, disgusting or even illegal.” The writer requested to remain anonymous.

When society turns a “deaf ear” to those who speak out against sexual exploitation and abuse, engages in victim blaming or gives credence to the erroneous belief that men “can’t help themselves,” it compounds the horror that is child sex abuse. When a man like Donald Trump — who openly and overtly harasses women — is elevated to (and is allowed to maintain) the position of President of the United States, it gives tacit permission for others to engage in this behavior, and that is unconscionable. Sex Trafficking-disguised-as-modeling and used to lure young girls into sexual servitude is a malevolent practice perpetrated by men (and a few women) in the highest and lowest echelons of society and by some of the most powerful people in our country; one of them may even be the President. To this former child model, it is entirely conceivable.