Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

Women take part in a rally called “March of Whores” to protest against discrimination and violence against women on International Women's Day in Bogota, Colombia, March 8, 2016. (Photo by John Vizcaino/Reuters)

Members of the Women's Organization to War on Styles (WOW) picket a dress shop in Berkeley, Calif., August 23, 1947, in protest to longer skirts and padded hips. They are the wives of GI students at the University of California. Left to right: Jackie Houser; Wanda Ames; Dorothy Inman; Terry Ligon; Ruth Van Arkel; Carrol Reynolds, and Barbara Carmichael. (Photo by AP Photo)

A hooded protester throws a petrol bomb to riot policemen during clashes, following a rally marking the 43rd anniversary of a 1973 student uprising against the military dictatorship that was ruling Greece, in Athens, Greece, November 17, 2016. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Two young women pose for a portrait, dressed in robes after collecting their Bachelor degrees in Conakry on October 12, 2020. Presidential elections are to be held on October 18, with incumbent President bidding for a third term in office, defying critics who say he forced through a new constitution this year enabling him to sidestep two-term presidential limits. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

Miley Cyrus performs onstage during the 2021 Music Midtown festival at Piedmont Park on September 19, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for MC)

A bakery worker rides a bicycle as he carries fresh bread on his head in Cairo, Egypt, February 9, 2016. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

Men hang at the back of a truck loaded with farm produce along a road in Ikeja district in the commercial capital Lagos, Nigeria December 19, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)