Making Space to Rise

The Garden of Truth report examines the life circumstances and unmet needs of Native women in prostitution in Minnesota, a group facing disproportionately high rates of poverty, homelessness, and sexual violence, all of which can increase vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation.

Melissa Farley is a clinical psychologist and researcher whose work has focused on prostitution, trafficking, and violence against women. She is the founder and director of Prostitution Research & Education.

Nicole Matthews is a longtime advocate working to end sexual violence against Native women. She has served as executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and has helped lead national and tribal efforts addressing sexual violence, trafficking, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.

Sarah Deer is a legal scholar, advocate, and citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation whose work focuses on federal Indian law, victims’ rights, and ending violence against Native women. She is a University Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas, Chief Justice for the Prairie Island Indian Community Court of Appeals, and a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship.

Guadalupe Lopez is a longtime advocate and coalition-builder with deep roots in Minnesota’s Indigenous communities. An enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, she has spent more than 25 years in her work with domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives.

Christine Stark is an award-winning Native writer, researcher, and visual artist whose work has focused on Native women, trafficking, and sexual violence.

Eileen Hudon is a longtime advocate working to end violence against Native women. She is a co-founder and organizer of the Elder’s Lodge Sexual Assault Council and has helped found organizations including Mending the Women of Nations, the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, and Mending the Sacred Hoop.

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There is increasing public and academic awareness about violence perpetrated against American Indian and Alaska Native women.

This paper will address the health concerns of Native women in prostitution, including colonial history, individual history of exploitation and the harms resulting.

In discussing the history of prostitution of Native women, we will discuss geopolitics and history of colonization, racism, and oppression of Native women. Native women are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation because of homelessness, poverty, medical problems, a lack of basic services and resulting emotional distress and mental disorders.

These vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the longstanding efforts by the United States government to extinguish and/or assimilate Native people. Native women are disproportionately impacted by prostitution, and are subject to high rates of violence and assault.