Half The Sky: Sexual Violence And Human Trafficking

Sex trafficking is a global problem that involves the exploitation and abuse of girls as well as women. This paper will discuss the problem, with an emphasis on the views expressed by Paola Monzini in her book Sex Traffic: Prostitution, Crime and Exploitation. The paper will look at the causes, consequences and prevalence rates of sex trafficking and will consider the impact of such factors as globalization and women’s poverty in perpetuating the problem or making it worse. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the ways in which a human rights perspective might translate into positive action to eliminate the trafficking of girls and women.

Human trafficking has been a controversial issue for many years. There are different types of trafficking, which helps makes it a widely diverse issue. In Thailand, traffickers rely on the poor desperate people of other countries as well as their own to fulfill their needs financially, physically, and emotionally. Thailand has various reasons why they use human trafficking; sex exploitation, forced labor, and obtaining their organs for an organ transplant. Sex exploitation has been used by mainly men for a long time. They choose both women and children to violate, sometimes even men. The prettier the woman is the more she is worth. All men, woman, and children could be forced into labor. This varies from what the owner wants from them. People can also choose to go and work for them because they think this is their only way of making money, but they usually do not see much of it. Finally, others purchase them just for their organs. There are very long waiting lists on some organs, by the time one comes about the person in need of the organ has already passed away. There are a number of steps and reasons that are involved in human trafficking. With all of these issues of; sex exploitations, and forced labor, and organ trafficking, the trafficked can become physically and mentally injured.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will. (“Human Trafficking.”) Differing definitions of sex trafficking in state laws make it difficult to know if the studies on sex trafficking are including consensual, adult sex workers, who are not victims of trafficking under federal or international law in their numbers. Vulnerable Native American women and youth are targeted by traffickers more than any other ethnic group. The data collected for the “Shattered Hearts” report from 95 Native women and girls suggest that the trafficking of Native girls into prostitution is a significant, though rarely discussed as a problem. Still, the studies do suggest that sex trafficking of Native women and girls, specifically, is present in the United States. (“Shattered Hearts.”)

The audience for this paper is an educated public and specifically those who influence or make policy regarding trafficking, most specifically in Colorado. The dominant discourse around human trafficking centers on sex trafficking, and I hope to encourage a more holistic view.

Kotrla, K., & Wommack, B. A. (2011). Sex Trafficking of Minors in the U.S.: Implications for Policy, Prevention and Research. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 2 (Iss. 1), article 5.

Boyd, Danah. "How Censoring Craigslist Helps Pimps, Child Traffickers and Other Abusive Scumbags." HuffingtonPost.com, 6 Sept. 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com/danah-boyd/how-censoring-craigslist-_b_706789.html. Accessed 25 Mar. 2017. This Huffington Post article not only discusses the internet's affect on human sex trafficking and sexual abuse, but focuses on the impact that "Craigslist" has had on the black market of sex trafficking and prostitution. Author Danah Boyd writes about her research into sexual abuse and how she believes that the censorship placed onto Craigslist has become more of a help rather than a hindrance for sex traffickers and pimps to find victims.

In this article we got to see the struggles that the girls went through from start to finish. It explained how the girls were promised better live but instead were forced to do these acts for many hours of the day every day of the week. It included the threats and rules the girls needed to follow. This information allows you to feel that you can understand and relate to what they went through. He explained that the police are trying to figure out what is the next step and what they can do to free other victims around the world.

Without much notice, the sex trade was "their" situation to deal with, a terrible part of culture in third world countries. But media and anti-sex trade advocates have brought attention here to sex trafficking has sluggishly increased in recent years through the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and other federal state laws.

The US State Department classifies China as a source, transit, and destination country for sex trafficking . Human trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the second largest form of organized crime in Asia. China is a common thread in many of the complex trafficking networks working in Asia. The Human Trafficking Organization reports, China transits victims from all over the world to Thailand and Malaysia. In addition to transiting, China is a popular destination country, importing women throughout the region from Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, and North Korea . Analyzing the attitude, culture, and opinion shifts through Chinese media will shed further light on the human trafficking phenomenon and look at the regional impact, due to China’s extensive involvement in sex trafficking.

In this eye-opening look at the contemporary American scourge of labor abuse and outright slavery, journalist and author Bowe visits locations in Florida, Oklahoma and the U.S.-owned Pacific island of Saipan, where slavery cases have been brought to light as recently as 2006. There, he talks to affected workers, providing many moving and appalling first-hand accounts. This book deserves the attention of anyone living, working and consuming in America.

Human trafficking refers to the movement of persons across borders for forced labor, sexual exploitation or other illicit activities. Sex trafficking is the most lucrative sector of human trafficking America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia. The global political economy, political corruption, human rights, gender and ethnic stratification, and migration are all related to human trafficking.

“Sex-Trafficking” is a very complex and layered phenomenon. Critically evaluate some possible explanations for it's continued prevalence and seeming invincibility to regulation and control.

At a global level, Human trafficking has two terms that are key to defining it: “[It is] trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or

The future conditions of the woman’s potential marital worth were much poorer than any punishment the violator could have received. Once a woman was raped, her virginity was no longer available for her husband to have. “‘Virginity is the ornament of morals, the sanctity of the sexes, the peace of families and the source of the greatest friendships.’ Its existence was a precondition for marriage. To publicly breach it was to compromise honor, rank, even life; a ‘deflowered’ girl inevitably became a ‘lost’ girl. . . ‘The ravishing of virginity was the worst rape of all.’” (Cite Book 1) An innocent woman had now completely lost her worth to society and her own dignity due to a man’s egocentric and merciless actions.

The trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of prostitution is big business. It has been and still is one of the biggest industries worldwide. These unfortunate women and girls do not lead normal lives, but rather they are bought and sold as commodities. They also usually have no control over their lives and live in conditions of extreme poverty and abuse. Trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and other abuse is suffered by women all over the world and it is a violation of human rights. The problem is one of international proportion. United States feminists as well as many nongovernmental organizations acknowledge that this is a huge problem that needs to be tackled with greater proportions. We