As always, thanks for reading (and congrats on making it through yet another angsty work)! This is the part of the show where I hand out a few thank yous and throw some research at you.
First, a big thank you to myshatae, who introduced me to the movie "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" from which I stole a title and a little dialogue. Watching this film honestly got me through a period of writer's block and helped me finish the story when I'd been stuck on the ending. So, if you're unhappy with the ending – well, I don't want to say it's Mysha's fault per se, but...mayhaps :)
The title of this work is a reference to the movie (partially because I thought it fit well and also because I'm lazy and hate naming things). A sort of bonus reference to the movie is seen in the last bits of dialogue between Hyungwon and Hyunwoo. In "Birdman," the play within the movie ends after Riggan says the final lines, "I don't exist. I'm not even here. I don't exist. None of this matters" before the character's death. Hyungwon says these words before his death, and Hyunwoo repeats Hyungwon.
Since the play within "Birdman" is an adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," I decided to introduce each chapter with a quote from Carver. Again, just me thieving from better writers. So that's just another tip of the hat to "Birdman" and its origins since I was rather fascinated by the film. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a confusing and perplexing watch.
As for the research behind this book (is this really a book? It's only around 42K words...a novella, perhaps?), I'd like to provide some context and sources for you interested readers. I don't know if I did more research before this work than others or if I simply saved more sources, but I'll just put the main highlights here since I had a lot of material saved. Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist; I'm simply a curious person with access to the internet, so don't mistake my curiosity for legitimate credibility. That said, feel free to ask any questions, and I'll answer with what I know.
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1) In the chapter where Hoseok explains some of the psychological theory behind coping mechanisms, he mentions four categories. Now, this is just according to one particular study I found, but I think it holds up fairly well with other models. As mentioned previously, the four main strategies identified are "avoidant coping, internalized coping, angry coping, and active/social coping" (see School Age Children's Coping...). Avoidant coping mechanisms were found to result in fewer behavioral problems but increased sexual anxieties, and internalized coping resulted in "increased guilt and PTSD hyperarousal symptoms." Active/social coping was found to have no clear relation to either symptoms or benefits, and angry coping resulted in a variety of behavioral and emotional issues.
2) The ending of this piece frequently mentions "invisibility." I found this interesting because "Birdman" seems to be in constant tension with the idea of visibility; the main character is fighting desperately to be visible, to be something, to be remembered. Hyungwon, in the end, wants just the opposite. This is a result of his coping mechanism, which is described a bit in chapter 7.
Hoseok notes that Hyungwon is utilizing some form of dissociation (an avoidant coping mechanism) to distance himself from his trauma. With dissociative coping strategies, the subject "develops the ability to mentally leave the abusive event as it is happening. The journey they make is inside their heads, to try to find a safe place" (see How Do Children Cope...). Similarly, individuals may try to block out trauma with the aid of substances such as alcohol or drugs in an effort to repress memories or emotions.
While both these mechanisms apply to Hyungwon in part, the coping strategy most emphasized in the ending is known as "disappearing," also known as "fading" or "spacing out" (see How Do Children Cope...). This section of the article was rather interesting: "I used to work with a girl and you could almost see her shutters come down. Physically they are present but actually they have gone inside their heads. One of the adult survivors I worked with described to me how she would spend up to a third of her waking day 'invisible.' ...she was pretty sure that when she was in this state other people stopped seeing her." As with dissociative strategies, "disappearing" is the individual's attempt to avoid dealing with the real world.
3) While Hyungwon's coping mechanisms emulate aspects of dissociation, Minhyuk is described to cope in a different manner. Now, to be entirely honest, the coping mechanism I assigned him wasn't necessarily within the four categories of coping that I came across during my research, but there's some science behind it nonetheless. Hoseok observes that Minhyuk seems to be coping by caring for Hyungwon. In this manner, Minhyuk is setting compassionate goals, which were defined in one study as "striving to help others and avoiding selfish behavior...making a positive difference in someone else's life" (see How Helping Others...). According to the study, which was observed over 6 weeks, compassionate goals "were associated with lower levels of symptoms and less relationship conflict." So while I can't propose that this is an entirely realistic response to sexual trauma, there may be some psychological justification behind caring for others as a personal coping mechanism.
4) The process of trafficking has been broken down by the UN into 3 main phases: the act ("recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons"), the means ("threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim"), and the purpose ("exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs") (see Child Trafficking: Myth vs. Fact). Additionally, in the recruitment substage of the first phase, it's a sad reality for the majority of cases that victims are trafficked by someone they know. In some cases I came across during the process of research, I read about children who were trafficked by a parent (see Trafficking's Invisible Victims...) or by their parent's partner (see He was targeted...). In the case of this work, Hyungwon and Minhyuk were trafficked through Hendy, who was a somewhat familiar character from their neighborhood.
5) At one point in the story, Minhyuk mentions that all the children were gathered in one room, and some of them (including Hyungwon) were chosen to be sexually abused thereafter. This scene, as well as the motel setting in and of itself, was partially based off an article I read from the perspective of a male child who was a victim of sex trafficking in Thailand I believe (see Boys are Sold...). The setting of the larger Tampa area was inspired by a separate article which also tells the perspective of a victim and mentions being "traded around in rooms with other children at times" (see He was Targeted).
6) There are many damaging long-term effects of this type of abuse. Some of the articles I read mentioned suicide attempts subsequent to the abuse (see He was Targeted, Who Buys a Trafficked Child...). Victims are also at higher risk for abusing substances such as alcohol and/or drugs (see How Do Children Cope), although it should be noted that this behavior may be a perpetuation of an addiction created and maintained by the perpetrator of the abuse (see Case Reveals Trauma). In such cases, people who trafficked children may have forcibly addicted them to substances or offered up substances in order to gain leverage over the child and establish dependence upon the perpetrator (see Child Sex Trafficking). Particularly in cases featuring a male victim of sex trafficking, feelings of shame dominate their psyche most likely due to the social expectation that males should be able to resist victimhood more successfully than women (see Case Reveals Trauma, Who Buys a Trafficked Child).
7) Originally when writing this story, I had been planning to take a more digital approach. The exploitation of children has been facilitated through use of the Internet and will continue to grow in influence over the course of our future, as the Internet can increase the scope of a trafficker's market and reach to interested clientele (see Child Sex Trafficking). I'll leave you with a sobering quote – "Sex trafficking is an ever-present and growing issue in our society, but here's the more uncomfortable side of that statement: it means more people are okay with supporting it with money, clicks, views, and downloads" (see Did You Know).
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References:
"How Do Children Cope with Sexual Abuse" - https://my.optimus-education.com/how-do-children-cope-sexual-abuse
"Child Trafficking: Myth vs. Fact" - https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/child-trafficking-myths-vs-facts
"He was targeted for human trafficking through his mom. Now, he shares his story to help others." - https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/he-was-targeted-for-human-trafficking-through-his-mom-now-he-shares-his-story-to-help-others/67-9d294d1d-13f6-4ce2-b451-66c17b7e2b8b
"Trafficking's invisible victims: Boys trapped in the sex trade" - https://www.foxnews.com/us/invisible-victims-boys-trapped-in-the-sex-trade
"How Helping Others Can Relieve Anxiety and Depression" - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201710/how-helping-others-can-relieve-anxiety-and-depression
"School age children's coping with sexual abuse: abuse stresses and symptoms associated with four coping strategies" - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9056102/
"Boys are Sold for Sex, Too" - https://blog.theexodusroad.com/human-trafficking-stats-stories-boys-are-sold-too
"Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men" - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2018/01/30/sex-trafficking-column/1073459001/
"Case reveals trauma of male sex trafficking victims" - https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2018/11/15/male-sex-trafficking-victims/38535701/
"Child Sex Trafficking" - https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/child-sex-trafficking
"Did You Know Men And Boys Can Be Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Too?" - https://fightthenewdrug.org/men-and-boys-who-are-sex-trafficked/
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Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought of "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance"!