Emily Graves spoke with Joy Farrington about the release of her book, human trafficking and working with people in the sex industries

Joy: As in how they see that industry?

Emily: Yes, just how they see the world.

Joy: How they see the world? Well, that's a good question. I'd say that particularly in Thailand, I spoke with men and women who had been in the industry for a while and it had come to a point where they didn't really have any dreams or aspirations that seemed like a reality to them. If we really pushed them, they were like, 'Well actually, I'd love to do that,' but it was like their being in that environment for so long had shut down some of their dreams and shut down some of the ways that they feel they're able to relate to the rest of the world. Does that make sense?

Emily: Yes, definitely.

Joy: So I almost feel like they see themselves as separate from what we would see as normal life and that they're in a subculture that's separated and boxed off and no-one necessarily focuses on them that much.

Emily: So why does this issue mean so much to you? Is it because you've actually seen and talked to these people?

Joy: Yes I think so. Once you've met somebody and it becomes real to you, it's not just theory anymore: it changes things. But at the same time before I even met anyone who had been trafficked, just hearing about the injustice of it broke my heart. I think once I'd first come to understand this whole area of sexual exploitation, it was like I couldn't switch off to it anymore. It got my heart and then I couldn't look away from it.

Emily: In the book you describe these women as 'pearls'. Why are they pearls to you?

Joy: Well, I slightly nicked the idea from a friend of mine who also works with women in the sex industry in Liverpool and she set up a project called Pearls. It's essentially taken from Matthew 13, where God talks about the pearls of the Kingdom. We all are pearls - but when you think about what a pearl is, it's created in friction: it's created in a hard place, but it's of such value and beauty. Whether we realise it or it's subconscious, we often view people who are in this part of society as worthless and as having lesser value than somebody who is working at a nice, safe, 9-5 job. Seeing them as pearls is flipping that on its head and saying, No: you are a pearl of great price and you're worth going to another country to seek you out, or just going to a different part of my own city to seek you out and tell you that.

Emily: How do you feel, particularly knowing that this is going on in the UK: it is on your doorstep?

Joy: Do you mean human trafficking in particular? Because I guess we have street prostitution throughout the UK and trafficking is when you are forced and you are moved from one city to another against your will. When I realised that was happening in the UK and it's not just something that is in Eastern Europe or is in Thailand, but unfortunately it's happening everywhere: it happens in the UK, in America, there are these massive hubs of it - it broke my heart and it's made me really angry as well that in a society where we call ourselves a developed nation, we call ourselves a Christian nation, we are exploiting our young men and women for sex. It's just horrendous. When I really sit and think about it, it does make me angry and that's what fuels me to go, 'Come on: we need to do something about this!'

Emily: So what does the word 'justice' mean to you?

Joy: That's a good question. Justice is standing up on behalf of those who are voiceless or have had their voice taken away from them and seeing the tables turned; seeing their lives restored. I see restoration and justice going hand-in-hand. Often we use the word 'justice' and it looks like banging someone up in jail - and that is part of it, but what I found in my own life of finding personal justice for things, it has involved my heart being restored. The inner parts of me have found healing and restoration. I guess the justice that I seek for the women, is that the perpetuators are brought to justice, but it's also about those who have been victimised having their lives restored.

Emily: In your book you're incredibly honest about life events that have happened to you. You do look at the whole thing of other people's lives, but you actually look at your own struggles that you've faced and overcome with things like self harm, relationships with guys and online grooming and things like that. How do you feel telling the world all about these different areas that are really personal to you?