For The Victims And For The Voiceless: An "I Am Jane Doe" Review

As I searched for a documentary worthy of writing about, I stumbled across the silent silhouette of I Am Jane Doe. I wasn’t going to just write about anything. I had to use a documentary that impacted me—something worthwhile. Well, spoiler alert, I Am Jane Doe is most worthwhile. It is worth all the ugly outrage that it instills with a single view. This is a documentary directed by the award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio.

The film is a perplexing and horrifying account of the lives of three young girls who were sold for sex through an Internet domain called Backpage.com. As viewers take in the sickening statistics that are portrayed throughout the film, they also follow a direct timeline of the long and wearisome road these courageous young girls traveled to make sure that Backpage.com would put an end (once and for all) to their nasty and severe tendency toward allowing underage sex trafficking on their website. This documentary doesn’t pose an argument so much as call attention to the vulgarity of the misuse of the Internet in our day and age. I thought the documentary was effective in raising awareness—by way of outrage—in a thoroughly unaware public.

Not only do viewers get to see the timeline of the girls’ intense opposition with corporations, judges, Backpage.com, and a ludicrous law that is exploited (almost as easily as Backpage.com exploits its many underage victims) time and time again, but viewers also get to hear their shame-stuffed testimonies that are always accompanied by their guilt-filled tears. 

The film was released on February 10^th, 2017. The environment that the film was released into had barely gotten a break from the intense argument between the victimized girls and the gross old men at Backpage.com. It was on January 10^th, 2017, only a month prior to the documentary’s release that the Senate Subcommittee compelled Backpage to testify at a hearing. The first and fifth amendment rights were invoked, and nothing was decided.

One of the last statistics of the documentary states that, “to date, no amendment to Section 230 has been enacted by Congress to prevent websites from hosting child sex ads.” Section 230 holds the one slight legal loophole that has been protecting the villainous faces of this website. It is “a provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.” As if the rest of the film isn’t enraging enough, this single line produced almost enough fire in me to march right up to the court myself and make them understand just whom they’re protecting and whom they are neglecting.

John Ducoff bluntly asks, “Do you protect kids from trafficking, or do you profit from their suffering?" These words resonate inside of me, just as I’m sure the writers, producers, and makers of this movie hoped they would resonate with everyone who got a hold of it. I can’t imagine that there is a specific target audience for this film, simply because the most understandable target would be everyone. This is a crime against innocent children! Even some of the most grotesque people out there in the world have enough heart and humanity to protect our children.

Some of which narrate bits and pieces of this documentary. Children who were specifically victims of Backpage.com share their own points of view, and as much as I enjoy playing the devil’s advocate in my writings and arguments, I cannot seem to justify thinking that Backpage.com would have anything better to say than these girls! I’ll argue that while they’re only speaking from their own points of view, they’re at least speaking the truth—an awful truth about the horrors they have had to endure and will have to endure in their minds for the rest of their lives.

That’s why I think that this film will invoke change, no matter how many people view it. No matter how many awards it receives (side-note: due to the recent release of the movie, no awards or nominations could be found, however, you might check out it’s Rotten Tomatoes score) In a perfect world, Backpage.com would consider this documentary, see the pain they’ve caused these people, and do everything they can to repent to and repay them. Even if that weren’t to happen, ideally, an important government worker or two would pick this up and join in the fight. They would become the extra voice that this resilient wind of hopeful change needs.

Perhaps, though, the only people who take the time to watch this documentary are people like me. And perhaps they don’t feel like they can make any change, or set this situation apart in any way from the turmoil that our troubled world insists upon. Well, I’ll say that at least it’s is a start. Those of us who do find rage upon the big screen and behind the curtain of everyday life, those of us who empathize even though we could never truly (and hopefully never have to) understand… we are watching. We are waiting. And perhaps, we are being called to action. Even if that action is just furthering the awareness of the cruelty that should not be allowed to survive this trial.

This documentary incorporates a lot of pathos (in case you couldn't tell judging by my reaction), and rightfully so. It also utilizes ethos and logos in its direct timeline as well as its multitude of quotes and appearances from arguably the most important people in this case. It is a stirring and wrenching documentary, and I guess I can think of no better ending than with this quote from David Boeis: “There’s a question as to what kind of society we’re going to be—whether we’re going to tolerate sexual trafficking in children. That is an affront to everything that we believe.” I’ll ask on behalf of David Boeis, Mary Mazzio, and all the Jane Doe’s out there: “What kind of society are we going to be?”