Weichselbaum 1
If you asked random people on the street they would all probably agree to the statement that
“sex trafficking is bad”. But does the average person really know the extent of the issue? Sex trafficking is a form of modern day slavery that is prominent in the United States and throughout the globe. Traffickers use violence, threats, debt bondage, and threats to coerce adults and children to engage in sexual acts with strangers against their will. The victims who are targeted for sexual exploitation all have a few characteristics in common: poverty, minority status, histories of
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One is daughters being sold by their parents, either to pay off some debt or just because the parents need money, and that would be a no work way to go. Secondly, girls are abused at home and decide to run away to get out of the stressful life. But when they are out on their own, there’s no way to provide. So, they find “boyfriends” who are actually pimps. The younger that girl is, more money can be charged for her. Despite the enormous amounts of money a girl can make each night. “It is all handed over to their pimps, or else a beating may occur.” (Meyers, Diana.
"Feminism and Sex Trafficking: Rethinking some Aspects of Autonomy and Paternalism.")
Which, if you think about it, is what domestic abuse victims are running away from in the first place. The last common trend I noticed was husbands selling their wives services to others.
Claiming that since they are married he has the right over her decisions. The average night of a sex slavery victims includes being sent to perform for the highest paying customer, and having to listen to whatever he tells her to do. Their prime hours are from ten o’clock at night to five o’clock in the morning. During these eight hours there are no breaks, eating, or sleeping. Even if the pimp had her working in the daytime hours as well. The typical time to report back to their pimp is when
Human trafficking has been identified as a profitable illicit business. Sexual exploiters have profited off the sexual exploitation of women and minors, while businesses have profited from nonconsensual labor from minors who cannot express their own interest. (Marcus, et.al, 2002, p.47). The regional director of “Not for Sale” makes a valid point about profitable gains of human trafficking. “You can sell a bag of drugs once, but you can sell a person multiple times,” (Marcus, et.al, 2002, p.47). That quote is basically the mindset of traffickers who look forward to making a profit and decide partake in this illicit business. In regards to sexual exploiters and minors, there are only a handful of
Human trafficking is the modernized version of slavery that involves force, fraud, and/or a type of labor in a sexual act. The United States government defines it to be “In which a sex act is forced in which the person induced has not yet been attained eighteen years of age” (National Institute of Justice). Human trafficking is a threat to all nations and promotes breakdown of families and can support organized crime. Trafficking can occur everywhere. Human trafficking and human smuggling are related to one another, but different crimes. The difference between smuggling and trafficking is that smuggling is the illegal movement of someone across a border while trafficking is the illegal exploitation of a person.
“Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, and the transport of people within countries for sexual exploitation, forced labor, and/or organ donating.” (Gale) “Slavery is the condition in which one or more persons is owned as property by another and is under the owner’s control.” (American Heritage Dictionary) Trafficked people who are often regarded as disposable, are often used for these various reasons. Although, many believe slavery ended with the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery still exists in 2017. In order to understand that human trafficking is a form of slavery, one needs to examine what it is, the effects, and the solutions.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a
Most cases of modern slavery are started by a misleading lie, like the promise of an education, a normal job, food and board, or financial compensation. The victims often fall for these lies because they are usually from third world countries and will do anything that could possibly be for their benefit. Some parents of victims of child prostitution are lead to believe that their child will be working at a normal job for normal pay, but tragically this is
2010). Others were living in poverty and abducted or forced and manipulated with empty promises of a better life, with agreements in which are deceptive to the young girls (Hodge, D. 2008). Once the girls trust is gained, the girls are then used in order to gain profits and/or narcotics for pimps, they are forced into sexual acts for the exchange of money or drugs (Kotrla, K. 2010). 79% of victims of DMST have reported they were forced into trafficking (Crompton, Hardy, McPhatter. 2013).
Many people are perplexed by the unwillingness of victims in abusive relationships to abandon the tumultuous environment, even when given an opportunity to escape. Outside of personal, subjective experience friends and family can learn why and how this helpless mentality develops and most importantly, ways in which they can help.
Human trafficking has received increasing global attention over the past decade. Trafficking of women and girls for forced sex work and, to a lesser extent, domestic servitude, were the sole focus of advocacy and assistance. There is recognition in today’s society that women, children, and men are trafficked into many different forms of labour, and for sexual exploitation. In her article, “Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women”, Cathy Zimmerman and Heidi Stockl focus on the commonality of human trafficking and how evident it is in everyday life. They bring in the health effects and possible solutions to human trafficking to help validate their opinion and argument. In the solutions they offer, Zimmerman and Stockl shine a light on policy-makers/decision-makers, health-care providers, and researchers/funders and what each of these groups of people can do to help combat the issue of human trafficking. In a quote from their article, Stockl and Zimmerman say: “Health care providers and organizations involved with trafficked persons should increase their capacity to identify and refer people in trafficking situations and provide sensitive and safe services to people post-trafficking”. This quote shows how Zimmerman and Stockl believe human trafficking should be combated by caring and talking to those affected by the issue but how they also believe awareness should be made about human trafficking so as to allow people surrounding the issue to identify and help victims of this issue. Zimmerman and Stockl’s view on the ways human trafficking should be combatted relate to those of Soroptimist due to the fact that the two groups of people are focused mainly on helping women and girls who have been trafficked and trying to get them to a better life after getting out of the trafficking situation. Both groups focus on helping men as well, providing options to help them such as raising money and awareness, and getting educated on being able to identify victims of human trafficking.
Girls develop a dependency on their pimps. Kristina Davis wrote in her article "How Girls Get Lured into Brothels" for The San Diego Union Tribune "They are plied with alcohol and drugs."(Davis) The pimps get the girls hooked on drugs and alcohol to get the girls to need them. The girls become addicted to the substances and need their pimps to supply them with more. In return, the pimps make then work as prostitutes for them. Although the girls develop a physical dependency due to drugs and alcohol, girls can also become emotionally dependent on their pimps. The pimps use friendship and kindness to trick the girls into having an emotional dependency to them. Kristina Davis wrote in her article "How Girls Get Lured into Brothels" for The San Diego Union Tribune '"They are made to believe in the beginning that they are cared for, and by then it’s too late,"' (Davis) The pimps make the
About 62% of girls who are brought into sex trafficking have a huge lack of a stable home life, and a large majority of these girls suffer from childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence at home, poverty, and running away lead to a much greater threat. About 374 girls have trafficked per day in Atlanta alone, and 100 juveniles per night. These girls have come from a difficult a background and need to feel safe in their lives. A vast majority of these girls have not felt loved and have felt endangered in their homes. On March 12, 2017, 168 girls were found in Texas, and only 117 of those girls were reported missing. The girls were all under that age of 18 and victims of sex trafficking. 95% of sex trafficking victims are uneducated not only in school but also about sex trafficking. Also, these girls are young, and a source says that 45% of the victims of sex trafficking have not received a substantial education past the 7th grade. These girls have not been taught about the warning signs of sex trafficking and how to defend themselves. In fact, many girls in America do not even understand the effects of sex trafficking. In the end, these girls are faced with a battle that most are not prepared for, but with assistance and education, they could become more
Girls are commonly trafficked into sexual exploitation or bonded servitude. The sexual exploitation of boys is a fast-growing issue in
The author also argues, “Young people who run away from abusive situations at home, and
One day, her boyfriend claims they need money for food and that is when she is introduced to prostitution and starts working for a Romeo pimp (Trafficked Teen Girls, 2010). Romeo pimps are human traffickers who often attract young girls for the purpose of exploiting them later (Abolish Child Sex Trafficking, 2015). Romeo pimps tend to use psychological manipulation as the central means of control (Abolish Child Sex Trafficking, 2015). To explain, Romeo pimps come into the lives of the adolescents through comfortable locales or social media platforms to get to know the child’s vulnerabilities as well as to become the person the child desires in their life (Abolish Child Sex Trafficking, 2015). Once they gain the trust and love of the individual, the exploitation begins and the child is usually unable to withheld from their partner’s demands since he/she trusts them and feel life without them is unthinkable. Thus, the children are deceived into committing sexual and illegal acts as the pimps are psychologically manipulating them into believing these acts are done for love when in reality they are collecting money from these acts for their own advantages. In conclusion, due to emotional susceptibilities, traffickers are easily able to wield and influence
Sex trafficking has turned into a developing social issue where people have become very valuable . In a neo-liberal state where financial flexibility and liberalization are frameworks set up to make a supposedly more unhindered society of equivalent assets and opportunities, this has been acclimated to end up a benefit making industry by traffickers who utilize the false deceptions of better lives abroad to trap individuals who experience high levels of poverty.
Sex -trafficking has not dissipated over time; it is a growing, adaptive market that is prevalent across the world. We are not talking about an industry that sells depleting commodities. Sex trafficking is a giant market that profits on human slavery. It is paramount that this issue be moved nearer to the forefront of global consciousness, in light of violations of basic human rights and losses of autonomy.