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Leigh DUndas
JUST STAND UP:
My Fight for Freedom: From the Brothels of Asia to the Streets of America
Dundas’ Book Reveals Rare Insights Drawn from the Fight Against Child Slavery – And Translates These Lessons Into a Roadmap Individuals Can Use To Fight Injustices In Order to Secure a Better World
In her debut memoir, “Just Stand Up – My Fight for Freedom From the Brothels of Asia to the Streets of America,” renowned Human Rights Attorney, modern-day abolitionist, and celebrated public speaker Leigh Dundas takes readers on a riveting tour as she wades into the darkest corners of child sex slavery in radical-Islamic-controlled regions of southeast Asia, where Jihadist’s bombs are exploding 330 times a year amongst towns whose only claims to fame are the hundreds of child brothels lining their dirt alleys.
This one-of-a-kind book opens on a lighter note with reflections into a unique childhood that culminated with the author entering college at age fourteen, which memoir then briefly follows the author’s early legal work at some of the world’s largest law firms representing leviathan-sized corporations – often summarized in side-splittingly hilarious anecdotes – which work Dundas readily admits expanded her professional skill sets … yet left her soul unsatisfied.
Just Stand Up is a far cry from most books written by attorneys. Penned with healthy amounts of humility and self-deprecating humor – and intentionally interweaving anecdotes from the author’s younger years with chapters that shine an unflinching light into the most harrowing corners of human trafficking – it balances the evils that man can perpetrate against the ever-present truth that humans can do better for their brothers, sisters and children.
At times reminiscent of a good Erma Bombeck or James Herriot read, Dundas’ memoir is like none other – leaving readers by turns riotously laughing, then moved to tears, and in the final analysis overcome with a steadfast resolution: to apply the overarching lesson so delicately drawn from each chapter’s true story and Just Stand Up.
An excerpt from a 2018 email Dundas wrote to her colleagues, which graces the book’s jacket, gives readers an unvarnished taste of what lies between the covers:
“I’ve now made it safely to what is Ground Zero of the Red Light Jihadi region, where radicalized Muslim bombers are seeking to liberate an Islamic state …. Since my last trip to this town of 140 child brothels, the two “hotels” (brothels) that I usually stay at were bombed. After the sun went down tonight, we traveled thru this no-man’s-land that leaves one questioning whether hell is truly reserved for those who’ve passed. The last photo captur[es] in garish colors & unflinching light the juxtaposition that keeps me coming back to this work. These girls are being raped for profit, multiple times a night, by men five times their age… in what is unequivocally the fastest growing criminal economy on this planet.
Their only witnesses? The teddy bears lining every corner of their rooms.
The simple reality is that the children living in the rooms here, lying side-by-side on mats on the floor, and hugging their well-worn stuffed animals to their chests like life preservers … well, these children cannot & do not self-rescue. While every one of the 40 million people enslaved on this planet undeniably deserves rescue, I choose to spend my time with these girls. In these towns. Who stand no chance of escape absent a miracle, outside intervention, or both. So that is what’s up on the dark side of the moon, 10,000 miles from home….”
Coming full circle in later chapters, Dundas pulls no punches by drawing parallels from the behaviors of communist regimes she encountered in her anti-slavery work to the modern-day incursions into civil liberties and constitutional rights that occurred during the COVID-19 era.
Testimonials
Praise for “Just Stand Up”
“Leigh Dundas’ first book is a tour de force. A modern-day Joan of Arc, Leigh’s masterful narration takes the reader to places most women and even men have never seen – from the back rooms of child brothels in Jihadi country … to the board rooms of America, where she defeats tyrants who would willingly trade freedom pecuniary gain or fictitious security.
Brilliantly written, with unmatched prose and unflinching honesty, Leigh leaves us here as she does on stage: laughing, crying, rejoicing – and remembering that the fate of the planet hangs on the courage that is found within us all.”
This notion was also underscored by many influencers, including Mel K, who likewise penned an endorsement remarking that Dundas “[d]emonstrat[es] in clear terms how her anti-slavery work in foreign countries necessitated a 5th Generation mindset, [and] details as well how this skill set translated successfully into defeating unconstitutional initiatives here in America during the last 1,000 days” while astutely concluding that, with “[e]qual parts humility, humor and heart-wrenching honesty, Leigh leaves the reader with the clear message that our talents and skills come second to our decision to take fearless action … and that battles are won by those with the courage to Just Stand Up.”
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About the Book
Just Stand Up is 300+ pages, and is now available in a collectible Deluxe edition that includes 25 pages of rare color photos of the author’s work fighting the child brothel industry, and is also available in the regular edition. To order your book, click here.
Just Stand Up is published by:
LBD Publishers
ISBN: 978-1-933408-65-1
Published: April 2023
