TED Talk Analysis

TED Talk: The Fight Against Sex Slavery

I watched a TED Talk entitled “The Fight Against Sex Slavery”, which is one of nine talks included in a playlist called “The Pursuit of Justice”. The talk was given by a forty year old woman from India named Sunitha Krishnan. She presented this talk in November of 2009 in Mysore, India to a TEDIndia audience. I was drawn to a video on this topic because I previously attended a conference that focused on stopping sex trafficking and giving help to its victims.

 Sunitha Krishnan starts out by telling the stories of three very young girls, their ages ranging from three to five years old, who had each been sold into sex trafficking and later rescued. When they were found, they were all HIV positive, and by the time that this talk was given, all three of them had passed away due to this. As a visual aid, Krishnan includes a photo of each of the children. This appeals to the emotion of the audience because it allows them to actually put a name and face with the tragic stories, which makes them more real.

three young girls that were sold into sex trafficking

Later, Krishnan tells her own story. When she was just fourteen years old, she was attacked and raped by eight men. For years after she was raped, she was isolated and treated differently because she was a victim. This experience filled her with anger and gave her a passion for helping other survivors of sex trafficking. As of 2009, she had rescued over 3,200 women and children from sex trafficking. Her personal contact with sex trafficking and her involvement in saving others like her shows the audience that she is a very credible source and has vast knowledge of the topic she is speaking about.

Not only does Sunitha Krishnan work to rescue victims of sex trafficking, but she aids them in assimilating back into normal society as well. The rescues women are trained to be welders, carpenters, security guards, and many others. Many of them work in major construction companies. Visual aids are used again to show the women working in these jobs. This part of the process is very important to Krishnan because it was the isolation after she was attacked that affected her the most. She does not want these girls to have the same experience, but, rather, to flourish in their new skills and be treated normally by the rest of society.

rescued women working for a construction company

           Throughout her entire presentation, Sunitha Krishnan maintains eye contact with the audience and remains confident in her words and gestures. Her tone of voice is soothing, yet powerful. She uses volume, tone, and timing to create different moments in the speech or to emphasize certain parts of it. Also, she employs natural, but stern hand gestures. She points, extends her arms, and holds out her hands. Over all, through the utilization of all of these aspects of her speech, Sunitha Krishnan is able to convey her message very passionately and in a way that compels the audience to listen, to think, and to act.

Sunitha Krishnan speaking passionately