Use the Treasures logo as a link to their homepage
Treasures is a Los Angeles, CA nonprofit organization and faith-based ministry that helps give survivors of sex trafficking and consensual adult industry workers resources and support for achieving their goals, promoting inner healing, and getting out of harmful situations. Their mission statement reads, "Our mission is to equip and empower women in the sex industry and survivors of trafficking to live healthy, flourishing lives and train others across the globe to do the same in their cities." It was created in 2003 by Harmony Star Dust Grillo, an ex-stripper, who wanted to offer more than just prayer with a survivor-led outreach and support group. In this rhetorical analysis, we will talk about the purpose of this group, the primary insight of their web page, the audience being invoked, and the strategies being used to accomplish all of these things. Contrary to the mission statement, you will find that not everything that glitters is a treasure, some can be fools gold.
The space of the website for Treasures is sleek and elegant with a muted color palette of pale pink, beige, white, black, and grey. Added to it is a dash of golden shine and all the feels of what the embodiment of treasure may look like to some. There are multiple models differing in race and looks that give a feel of inclusivity for survivors, industry workers, and allies alike showing that there is a place for any woman of any color, size, or shape on the platform. This design appeals to both logos and pathos in its organization and layout of multimodal elements and the fact that in this day and age many women feel unseen or left out in media due to their physical appearance. It can even appeal to ethos by making the viewer want to be a part of what this group is offering and further forging a connection and trust between the audience and the organization. The place is a platform that is meant to be enriching to whatever path of life you are walking, from statistics about the industry and trafficking for those who are civilians to offering resources and free gifts to women who are in the industry or have made their way out of it. But the space is not held with male survivors and industry workers in mind as it very specifically only mentions and features women.
A man photographed with tape over his mouth
Interestingly enough, one of the things that stick out the most to me is the lack of male inclusion. This instantly lets me know that this organization is specifically focused on impacted females as opposed to everyone. This very realization sheds light on the narrower picture that has much less to do with inclusion and more to do with working specifically with females. Men account for about 25% of all trafficking victims and 33% of children trafficked are boys (which comes from a 2017 study found here: Unseen victims of sex trafficking (apa.org)). These are staggering numbers of victims who go without any help or resources from an organization that is best known for the work it is doing in the fight to end sex trafficking. Not to mention men account for about 20% of the industry ( you can read an article about this topic here: Nearly One in Five Sex Workers Are Men (vice.com)). I did find, however, that one of the only areas of the website with resources that are being directed at men is a section dealing with sex and porn addiction. They offer a restitution fund for recovering addicts to allocate their funds for a greater purpose as opposed to what they claim is fueling the sex trafficking industry. The invoked audience is now very specifically women who have been exploited in the sex industry, women who are consensually a part of the sex industry, women who have successfully gotten out of the sex industry, and men who struggle with an addiction to porn and sex. The next major audience is allies and donors.
A donation jar featured virtually everywhere on the website
Without volunteers (or allies as this organization refers to them as) and donors, nonprofits would not be able to do the work that they are trying to do. Contrary to the mission statement, they seek out and train civilians who do not have lifestyle experience to become allies and work with the organization. They also offer help with setting up your own local ministry under Treasures to try to recruit women out of the clubs and offer prayer for those still in the industry. It is paid training meaning that the person who wants the training must pay the organization for it which is another way for the nonprofit to collect without just accepting donations. You can look at it as sort of like an initiation fee because without the training you can not volunteer with Treasures or open ministries in your area with their help. This goes directly against the mission statement by working with women who lack personal experience in the areas they are being trained for and knocks the credibility of Treasures to women who naturally would be skeptical of receiving help from them in the first place. Most women in the industry or who have been in the industry, as well as survivors of trafficking, have an extremely hard time opening up to people who they consider to be civilians (meaning they don't actually have personal experience or understanding of what the adult industry is really like and the hardships you encounter being in it). Outside of selling merchandise and training to generate funds, there are many spots you can find to make a donation. On the homepage of the website, there is a menu bar that includes a link to donate which is pretty straightforward and is to be expected on any nonprofit page. There is also a link to the Freedom Home which is a separate donation hub specifically for buying a space that could be used as a resource center for the organization. On the Freedom Home page, they tell a story that appeals to pathos by using linguistic strategies. Treasures writes about needing to buy a home that they could turn into a space for the nonprofit to work out of. They go on to say it is because more than once they have rented from a building that required renovations in lieu of getting cheaper rent and upon completing their own renovations on it, they were informed that their lease would only be renewed for double (or more) of that current rent. This can make anyone upset because it makes the landlords sound as though they are taking advantage of a nonprofit organization and in turn, taking advantage of vulnerable women. This page subtly includes a $750,000 single-family home budget goal for the project. Returning to the home page for the website, if you scroll down the page there is a get involved button leading to another donation link and at the bottom of the page, there is even a give now button in case you missed all of the other donation cues. This is actually a very strong appeal to logos because by using different placement and verbiage, they are able to make the donations the center of the website without explicitly writing give us your money now. I believe generating revenue through donations and purchases is one of the main purposes of the website itself. After all, with the plethora of knowledge and resources they claim to be providing to those impacted and those allied, who wouldn't want to support them to the fullest, financially that is.
Click this photo for Treasures full stats pdf booklet
I'm going to take a moment to discuss the statistics heavily scattered about the website that I had mentioned above. I would consider the statistics a triple threat to artistic appeals by appealing to logos, pathos, and ethos. The stats on the homepage are all featured in black and white which add a dark undertone to what felt until then like a light and flowing space. Putting the facts in black and white gives a literal visualization of something that is clear-cut as data is supposed to be. The facts themselves organically build trust between the nonprofit and the reader. The audience feels informed and as though this organization must have a good understanding as to what they are fighting because of the amount of knowledge they offer to anyone who is interested. They even offer a stats pdf booklet that I have linked to the above photo. Something that I found odd was that the very facts featured on the home page use different numbers inside of the pdf booklet. I would say that if you took the moment to compare the two, this would give an appeal to ethos that would be discrediting because you would be unsure of which statistic was correct. I'm sure that whoever created this was unaware of the inconsistencies but it does leave you to wonder if they created their own stats for the sake of personal agenda. From my own research on these topics, I have found many inconsistencies with the facts that are offered by Treasures compared to other researchers and organizations. I believe that this could possibly have to do with the religious side of the non-profit and their hidden agenda of pushing legal adult industry workers and consumers to be reprimanded the same way as traffickers. I have a particular interest in these types of studies as I am planning to specialize in defense cases for sex workers and trafficking survivors and also look at this as my life's work. The key audience that is meant to be invoked is specifically civilian allies looking to donate or get involved with the cause. The audience excludes victims of trafficking and workers in the adult industry, as they don't need to read about the high rate of traumatic events in order to get an idea or visualization of what is happening behind the glitz and glamour. They also have personal experience and know others which could potentially lead them to realize that some of the statistics are fabricated for personal agenda. To you, I pose a question, who would you rather trust? Someone who says that they have experience in the area of work or someone who is able to show you the statistics and data behind what they are doing and why they are doing it? Unfortunately, one section of the audience that seems pretty left out from who the writer claims to be trying to attract would be the women who are still currently in the adult industry through consensual means with no plan of leaving it. This however makes sense given that we have seen one of the purposes of the organization that they do not specifically talk about is trying to end sex work altogether.
A Lisa Simpson meme
One section of the audience that is listed in the mission statement yet we haven't gotten to talk about much is consensual adult industry workers. On a personal note, I know women who have contacted Treasures because they live in the L.A. area. They did so in hopes of resources for themselves and their families as many of them are single mothers. When they disclosed that they are industry workers who are not interested in leaving they were turned away and told that the most the organization could do for them is pray. Although the mission statement states that they are working towards empowering current industry girls, they don't really have any offerings for women who are looking for support and resources who are comfortable as sex workers. This is a darker side of Treasures that they attempt to bury under the blanket of the work that they are doing or say they are doing. If you go to the section about sex and porn addiction or the resource tool kit, not only do they blame the men who pay or support sex workers, but they also blame the sex workers themselves and call for demanding equal treatment of people who facilitate sex trafficking and consensual adult industry workers who choose to do the work that they do. Contrary to what Treasures says, studies have shown that by decriminalizing consensual sex work, there is a larger platform for being able to spot, identify and help stop trafficking cases. It also would help consumers to be able to partake in places where the workers can be verified as being consenting adults. Lastly, it would decrease violence and assault on workers by allowing for safer working conditions. By attempting to further punish sex workers and their clientele, they are forcing an already underground lifestyle to be fearful of speaking up when they see or know something. Ultimately, we have now found that Treasures' audience invoked got even smaller. Now including women survivors of sex trafficking, women who are ex-industry workers, allies, and civilian donors.
Three women wearing a sex worker necessity: Pleasers
The main purpose of the website is to recruit donors and volunteers who want to end both sex trafficking and the adult industry as a whole. Unfortunately, what it actually offers as resources and support does not appear in detail on the website. Instead it focuses on gaining traction for its own resources and funding. The overall success of the website is pretty high. Treasures has continued their work as a nonprofit organization for the last 18 years. They currently outreach to 5,000 women annually and provide care for 2,000. They also have trained 120 allies on 6 of the 7 continents to continue to do their work for them, meaning that they have taken their organization from being solely Los Angeles and Orange County based to being world wide. The audience for Treasures is particularly potential donors and civilian allies while still including female survivors of sex trafficking, female ex industry workers, and female industry workers actively trying to get out of the life.
Comments