Source: Radio New Zealand
Gloria Masters founded Handing the Shame Back, a campaign and charitable initiative aimed at combating sexual abuse against children. GLORIA MASTERS / SUPPLIED
- Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking of young girls shines light on a ‘silent epidemic’, says survivor
- She wants mandatory reporting by teachers if they suspect a child has been abused
- Research suggests one in three girls and one in five boys are sexually abused
A woman who was sex trafficked by her family from infancy wants to see the government make it mandatory for teachers to reports signs of abuse to police or child welfare officers.
Gloria Masters founded Handing the Shame Back, a campaign and charitable initiativeaimed at combating sexual abuse against children and a US philanthropist has paid for her book, Keeping Kids Safe, to be supplied to every New Zealand school.
“If we did have a mandate for teachers to speak, I think we would find the floodgates would open,” she said. “I think there is so much concern out there. I know schools and teachers that I have addressed on this issue, usually, most of the teachers in that presentation will indicate that they have concerns about one or two children in their class.”
With international research suggesting one in three girls experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16 and one in five boys, she said it was time to start talking about a difficult topic.
“The powers-that-be do not necessarily accept the prolific nature of child sexual abuse in our country, which then leads to others who may wish to act on it feeling hamstrung or unable to. This is such a quiet, hidden subject, I call it the silent epidemic, it’s very unlikely that a teacher would raise their head above the parapet and say, I think this child’s being abused, it’s very hard for them to do so.
“It needs to be reported because we can’t keep expecting children to protect themselves. Teachers are often the first people that notice anything. Until it’s mandated, it’s a little bit difficult for them, because they’re under no obligation to do so. I think at the end of the day, most good people wish to stop this, but first of all, they have to be given permission to discuss it, and therein lies the issue.”
The education minister’s office had not responded to requests for comment.
Helping children speak up
People stayed quiet because of the cognitive dissonance or discomfort of believing such things happened at all, and they also tended to accept an adult’s word over a child’s – especially if it was someone well-thought of in their community, Masters said.
“The problem with silence is that it only serves one group, and they are the predators. All it does is ensure that more children get harmed because society doesn’t want to accept it, which means voices are not being heard.”
She was advocating for children to be taught a global hand sign, adopted by schools in America, to alert adults discreetly that they need help.
The global hand sign to alert adults discreetly a child needs help. SUPPLIED
Her book gave tips on how parents could protect their children, and how adults could spot telltale signs of abuse, such as a sudden and significant shift in their behaviour or self-soothing behaviours like thumb-sucking.
“It may be a child that was normally quite sunny and outgoing becoming withdrawn, they may show unexplained clinginess,” she said. “They may stop wanting to join in things where clothes need to be changed like PE or swimming.”
Other symptoms children might display included anxiety when someone arrived, having unexplained money or gifts, having aggressive or sexualised behaviour, or changed eating habits.
Epstein case shines light on trafficking
The scale of offending was clear from the number of cases in the news, Masters said, and abuse came in many guises, including online sexual content, grooming and child sex trafficking.
The trafficking and abuse committed by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had prompted other victims to talk about their own stories, she said.
While Epstein may have highlighted elite and cross-border trafficking, much of it remained offending within one country.
“It’s surprising to the world somewhat that this horror ensued with people at the top of the tree,” Masters said.
“The concern I hold is there can also be a lot of copycat stuff, and we know there are cults out there who are actively engaged in this type of behaviour as well.
“I was born and bred in New Zealand. I was raised in a family where I was sex trafficked and abused from infancy, and this was to go on for 16 years within New Zealand. There were many groups involved, and my family who were the main perpetrators and traders of me were the ones who made a significant amount of money.”
It was time for action and advocacy on behalf of children, she said.
“At the end of the day, I’m just one person. Come on New Zealand – if this was motor vehicle accidents, including children being seriously maimed or even killed at these rates, there would be a billion, a multi-billion dollar campaign overnight to save our kids.
“We need community behind it. We need leaders in every sphere speaking out, in terms of law change and what needs to happen for this to be almost impossible to continue to occur. We need education and we need information and awareness.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/22/woman-sex-trafficked-as-a-child-wants-mandatory-abuse-reporting-from-teachers/