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Sex trafficking

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Sex trafficking is a form of slavery in which a person is forced into  prostitution  for little or no money. Victims can be of either sex, but young women mostly comprise the industry. Many times victims know their traffickers, who lure them into the industry through various deceptions. They then are held captive. Most are threatened with violence, so they do not leave. Some are force-fed drugs to keep them in the industry. Sex trafficking is tied to  human trafficking , which is the act of trading people illegally and forcing them to work in the labor or sex industries. Reliable statistics are difficult to come by because of the hidden nature of the industry, but the International Labour Organization estimated that in 2016, 4.8 million people around the world were caught in forced sexual exploitation, the overwhelming majority of them women and girls.

Prostitutes in front of a gogo bar in Pattaya, Thailand. Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department [Attribution], via Wikimedia CommonsNGO RealStars' model for addressing the trafficking issue By Eran9010 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Overview

Sex trafficking has existed in one form or another since ancient times. Both children and adults were sold and traded as sex slaves. The term, however, has been in use since the 1980s when feminists used it to protest the sexual exploitation of women and girls in the commercial sex industry, which includes prostitution and pornography.

The United States addressed this worldwide problem in 2000 when Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which defined sex trafficking as the recruitment of an adult or a minor (person under the age of eighteen) and forcing, tricking, or coercing the person to perform sex acts against their will. Also in 2000, the United Nations drafted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which includes provisions against both human and sex trafficking.

For an incident to be considered a sex trafficking crime, it has to involve a commercial sex act, which means it must be related to the sex industry. For example, a person who is kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute and perform sexual acts for money is a victim of sex trafficking. A person who is kidnapped and forced to perform a sexual act on their perpetrator is a victim of  kidnapping  and rape, not sex trafficking. Sex trafficking does not only include prostitution, however. Victims can be forced to perform at strip clubs or in pornographic films. They can be sold as  mail-order brides  or forced into the  sex tourism  industry, in which people travel to engage in sexual acts.

Perpetrators, or traffickers, typically use several tactics to coerce their victims. First, they need to gain the victims' trust. Usually they look for vulnerable victims, such as runaways or young people with few friends, poor family lives, low self-esteem, or drug problems. They befriend them and court them, for as long as it takes. This phase, sometimes called "seasoning" or "grooming," can take months. The traffickers shower potential victims with gifts and affection. They make their victims believe they are loved and cared for—usually feelings the victims are lacking at home.

Once the traffickers gain their victims' trust, they begin manipulating and controlling them. Sometimes they trick their victims and offer them false promises, such as well-paying jobs or marriage proposals. Most often, however, they use violence and drugs. If victims refuse to obey the perpetrators' demands, they may be beaten, whipped, raped—anything to make them comply. Victims who are addicted to drugs are promised more drugs. Sometimes victims are drugged against their will. The traffickers psychologically damage their victims and make them believe that no one else cares about them. They make the victims fear for their lives or the lives of loved ones if they try to retaliate or leave.

In some instances, perpetrators prey on poor families or those addicted to drugs and trick them into selling their children, spouses, or other family members. This is very common in impoverished countries such as Cambodia. Traffickers make up stories about having children work for them in return for money or drugs, but in reality, they sell the victims into the sex industry. It is often too late by the time families learn the truth. The families are forced to continue the deal or face violence or poverty. In some cases, family members willingly sell their children or spouses into the sex industry to resolve debts or complete drug deals.

Topic Today

Sex trafficking is an ongoing issue worldwide, not only in impoverished or underdeveloped countries but also in industrialized nations such as the United States. Millions of victims are lured into the industry each year. Although women—mostly young women and underage girls—account for the majority of victims, a growing number of young men, boys, and transgender individuals are being targeted. The exact number of victims affected by sex trafficking is difficult to estimate because many victims are afraid to speak up to police officers and other officials when they are arrested on various crimes, such as drug possession or prostitution. Many countries have task forces devoted to breaking up sex trafficking rings, yet it is impossible to know the scope of the issue since it usually crosses international lines and jurisdictions.

The sex trafficking industry of the twenty-first century is very organized and encompasses numerous countries. Traffickers come from every socioeconomic and racial background. They are not only men, as many women—some of whom were trafficked themselves—run their own trafficking rings. Rings typically are organized in a hierarchy system, with the trafficker at the top and various associates and victims below them. Victims who have earned a trafficker's trust are usually higher up in the hierarchy and have more freedom than others have.

The industry is also very violent. Many victims suffer from severe abuse and are abducted, terrorized, raped, and drugged. They fear for their lives, and intimidation has caused many of them to resign themselves to this life; they stop trying to escape or thwart their traffickers. Because of the physical and mental abuse suffered over an extended period, some victims begin to experience  Stockholm syndrome , a condition in which they begin to care for and become attached to their traffickers. The traffickers are experienced in manipulating victims, making them feel loved and needed, which in turn makes it difficult for victims to break free of perpetrators.

Victims who are able to get away from their traffickers usually have no way to support themselves. Victims from other countries may not have identifying documents, such as birth certificates, passports, and drivers' licenses. These circumstances—among others—may lead the victims to return to their traffickers and the sex trafficking cycle. Many times, traffickers severely punish the victims for leaving. The victims may be subjected to horrific abuse, such as gang rape, death threats, beatings, and other violent acts.

The global  coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)  pandemic declared in early 2020 has had such a pervasive impact on societies and economies that experts monitoring the issue of human trafficking, including sex trafficking, observed that victims had only become more vulnerable. Reports, such as that conducted by the US Department of State in 2021, found that as local and federal resources, including both financial and personnel, were shifted to focus on combating the pandemic, sex traffickers had taken advantage of the chaotic environment, interrupted anti-trafficking efforts (including decreased protection), and negative economic effects such as job loss due to virus-control measures to conduct operations more freely and to expand their influence. The State Department report also indicated an increase in traffickers' use of online methods to locate and manipulate younger victims, as everyone had an even greater online presence under pandemic conditions, including school closures that led to more virtual learning.

Bibliography

Alvarez, Priscilla. "When Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America." The Atlantic, 23 Feb. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/how-sex-trafficking-goes-unnoticed-in-america/470166/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

Collins, Amy Fine. "Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door." Vanity Fair, May 2011, www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/sex-trafficking-201105. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

Coorlim, Leif, and Dana Ford. "Sex Trafficking: The New American Slavery." CNN, 21 July 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/sex-trafficking. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

"Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking." International Labour Organization, www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm. Accessed 16 Dec. 2021.

Hughes, Donna. "Combating Sex Trafficking: A History." Fair Observer, 6 Oct. 2013, www.fairobserver.com/region/north‗america/combating-sex-trafficking-history. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

"Human Trafficking." Administration for Children and Families, www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/fact-sheet/resource/fshumantrafficking. Accessed 16 Dec. 2021.

Hume, Tim, Lisa Cohen, and Mira Sorvino. "The Women Who Sold Their Daughters into Sex Slavery." CNN, www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/world/cambodia-child-sex-trade. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

"Sex Trafficking." Polaris, polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

"2021 Trafficking in Persons Report." US Department of State, June 2021, www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

Walker-Rodriguez, Amanda, and Rodney Hill. "Human Sex Trafficking." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Mar. 2011, leb.fbi.gov/2011/march/human-sex-trafficking. Accessed 6 Jan. 2017.

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