Prostitution And Human Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking, particularly that of children, has become a growing concern in the United States over the past several decades (Kotrla, 2010). By definition, child sex trafficking is “when a child (under 18 years of age) is induced to perform a commercial sex act” (U.S., 2013, para. 4), and includes forms such as prostitution and pornography (Kotrla, 2010). Researchers suggest that children are the most vulnerable to becoming victims of prostitution (Kotrla), and it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 victims in the United States (Estes & Weiner, 2001). Sex traffickers, otherwise known as “pimps,” often lure children with promises of food, clothing, love, and shelter, and then the pimps manipulate the children to keep them in prostitution (U.S. Department of Justice [DOJ], 2015). Awareness of the issue has led to the development of organizations, such as Children of the Night, that seek to help victims escape the sex trafficking industry (Children of the Night [COTN], 2016d).

The sex work industry has changed and is changing over the years, similar to controversial issues such as, gay rights and abortion. Hence, there will never be a ‘black and white’ solution due to the distinct views of what prostitution entails versus what the law intends to do about it. Decriminalization is the removal of criminal penalties from an act formerly defined as crime (Weitzer, 2012, P: 49). Prostitution should be decriminalized so the government can regulate public safety and the safety of sex workers. This paper will also, examine how the government can regulate the prostitution business and reinforce the feminist ideology. In effort to best present my arguments this paper will be divided into different paragraphs, whereby each paragraph presents a different argument of why

Images of foreign lands usually conjure up when the thoughts of human sex trafficking come to one 's mind. The United States of America is not immune to this type of horrific behavior. America is the land of the free and yet something as awful as human sex trafficking occurs in our very own backyard each and everyday. According to the Department of Homeland Security the definition of human trafficking is “modern day slavery that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act” (“What Is Human Trafficking?”). In this research paper the reader will experience the savagery that comes with human sex trafficking and how it has expanded in the United States over recent years. Within this research

A major concern with prostitution and sex trafficking is that a trend is seen in terms of women's’ health that enter or are forced into the sex industry. One area that is is utmost significance is deteriorating emotional wellness of former and current prostitutes involved. Although, even if they are forced or join for willingly, they begin to experience trauma such as death, torture, rape, and abuse, which leads to the deterioration of their mental health. An investigation done by U.S. Branch of Wellbeing and Human Administrations national symposium has analyzed the impacts prostitution has had on a sex worker populace. The outcomes were a finding were a pervasiveness of PTSD, anxiety, and substance, dissociative, and disposition issue in a significant number of the prostitutes(Muftic and Fin 2013:1863). In this study, it can be observed that the trauma some of these women face whether it be from a young age or later on, they have significantly poorer mental health than their general population counterpart. The reason being that this trauma is something many other people do not experience. The sheer measure of injury, self-blame, push and any impediment are broad and are substantially more extreme in light of the fact that these ladies encounter it numerous circumstances, if not day by day.

Throughout the 21st century, the number of human beings being capture and put into sex trafficking and prostitution has risen. In 2013, about 270,000 young boys, girls, and women were forced into human trafficking in the United States alone and estimated 20.9 million in the world. The UN has also estimated that nearly 4,000,000 are trafficked each year. UNICEF has estimated that as many as 50% of all trafficking victims worldwide are minors and that as many as two thirds of those adolescents are at some point forced into the sex trade. This is a 52 billion dollar industry. Two kids are sold every minute, 120 per hour. In other cases mothers of these children would sell them off for money due to financial reason, which

Policies and laws fail to stop prostitution, and it will not stop. It is more costly to keep prostitution illegal. Prostitutes will be more vulnerable to getting criminal records, which then makes it harder for them in society, to obtain legal jobs. Also, with prostitution being illegal the workers may not be able to protect themselves from crimes against them. As prostitution is not legal, then they have to find discreet places to work, which usually is not in a safe environment. If some kind of crime against them did happen, they may feel that, they aren’t able to go to the police for help, as their work is illegal. It actually makes it harder on the worker, in turn making it harder for the client. There are all sorts of people who turn to prostitutes. From blue collar workers to high executives of companies, business owners and more. With prostitution being illegal, the clients are facing criminal charges as well. This does not only hurt the client, but communities as well. The author believes that people around the world have changed their older views and sexual norms to adapt to a more modern society. Brents, B.A., Jackson, C.A., & Hausbeck, K. (2010) concludes that prostitution is better being legalized than being criminalized (p.233). And with this change, people should reevaluate and learn from Nevada’s policies on prostitution being legal. While the author has shown many reasons why

Being the oldest profession, prostitution will create employment opportunities for many workers and also be a significant source of revenue for the nation (Weitzer, 2011, p. 9). It is significant to note that until today, prostitution-associated businesses are not eligible to paying tax in the US. Legalizing prostitution will enable county authorities to have a legal platform for collecting tax from brothels among other adult entertainment businesses. Such generated revenue would help the authorities facilitate development projects. This would boost the economy and improve the quality of service delivery to all citizens.

Prostitution would be much safer in the United States if it were legalized. A study was done in the 1980’s that found that around 124 sex workers were murdered every year in the United States (“Atlantic City Prostitutes Taking Precautions as Death Toll Rises”). If the states would legalize prostitution within brothels only, measures could be taken to keep the prostitutes

A challenge that I took interest in is the horrifying problem that women and young girls face as victims of human trafficking and sex slavery. Women and young girls make up 98% of victims of trafficking for exploitation. Human trafficking and sex slavery is a form of modern slavery, in which traffickers profit from the control and exploitation of others. It is a multi-billion industry. Traffickers use control of others for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities and or forcing others to provide labor services against their will. Traffickers use many manipulative tactics to trap their victims in horrific situations such as using violence, threats, deception, and bondage.

While proponents of prostitution legalization claim it promotes women’s independence and autonomy, opponents argue that it exploits and objectifies women. In terms of putting ideology into practice, criminalization fails. The neoconservative ideology behind criminalization implies that women are unfit to make their own decisions about their sexuality. Under criminalization in the United States, females are arrested at much higher rates than males, despite the fact that when including johns, pimps, and brothel owners, there are probably more men involved in the practice (McKim 1). Additionally, every state (except some parts of Nevada) in the U.S. criminalizes women who sell sex, but only half of those states also have laws criminalizing men who buy sex (Mathieson 374). This discriminatory enforcement of prostitution laws undermines the gender equality this country is trying to achieve. The legalization and regulation of prostitution argues that the best way to promote women’s autonomy is by allowing them to take control of their own bodies and choose their own profession. Due to the imbalance between men and women within the sex trade, legalization advocates support allowing the exchange of sexual services for money between consenting adults. It is a “victimless crime;” however the question remains whether it perpetuates a culture of objectification of women.

Suffering from poverty makes life unbearable at times and is hard to escape from. Most individuals that live in poverty are vulnerable and have little hope to improve their lives. Being vulnerable and having no hope for life can often leads to desperation. Sex trafficking and become a means of survival for these individuals. Low income is a major cause for sex trafficking. Sex trafficking can become a reason for a single mother to feed her children or can be enforced by a significant other others are simply kidnapped and made to enter into the world of sex trafficking. “Stop Sex Trafficking” stated that “the victims of sex trafficking are usually women and children from poor families in rural and

Nevada is the only state in America that has legalized prostitution, however, in the 19th century there were no laws against selling your body for sex. (Grant). Laws against prostitution are new, only about a hundred years old. Many of the first women that settled into the New World sold their bodies as a source of income. In order to regulate and control prostitution there were places called Red-Light Districts. There were many red-light districts across America, in which commercialized “sex is isolated, encouraged, or both” (Grant). This led to landlords and the police enforcing and gaining profit from the segregation of prostitution in certain neighborhoods. The houses of prostitution in these districts

Human trafficking is based on many different forms of exploitation such as forced prostitution, forced labor, forced criminality, domestic servitude, forced marriage and forced organ removal. Human trafficking consists of 25-30 million slaves with the numbers only going up every year. 70% are children, 25% are women, and 5% are men. People are captured and taken away, and eventually sold to people to be used for their own personal gain. The average price for a slave is about $95, with low pricings more and more people buy these slaves only making the problem worse. 52 percent of human trafficking recruiters are men, 42 percent are women and 6 percent are couples or groups of people. 20 percent of the slaves are used for labor and the other

The Legalization of prostitution continues to remain a widely debatable topic today. Considered as one of the world's oldest professions from the Romans, Greek and ancient Egyptians, prostitution is an activity that apparently won't go away despite years of the ban by authorities worldwide. Prostitution remains illegal in almost every country but continues to be carried out behind the scenes. While countries legalize the operation of strip clubs, the same can't be said of brothels. In the United States, prostitution is illegal in most states except in Nevada. This paper presents an argument for the legalization of prostitution. Prostitution should be legalized because prostitutes just like any other people have the freedom of expression with regards to sexual orientation and sexual pleasure. Gentlemen's clubs sell sex as a fantasy and the same should be extended to brothels. Legalizing

Sex trafficking happens when someone uses his force or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or kids. Could be for prostitution, pornography in exchange for money, drugs. In general, the very nature of slavery implies that the slave is in fact available for sex, and the usual social conventions as well as the legal protections that would otherwise restrict the actions of the owner are no longer effective. Thus, extramarital sexuality between a married man and a slave was not considered adultery in most societies accepting slavery. A UN report gives an annual estimate of one million women or girls involved in force in trade and / or sexual slavery.