Sex Trafficking in The United States

Sex trafficking is the abduction, transfer, and coercion of an individual (often a young girl) who is completely taken over by and subservient to another person. The reason for this is to exploit the victim for forced labor, which is often prostitution or pornography. Sex trafficking exists  all over the world and everywhere in this country in both urban and rural areas. 

The United States Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA) protects minors from sex trafficking. However, there are no laws to properly protect adults from sex exploitation and human sex trafficking. A major reason for this is that it is very difficult to prove that sex trafficking is actually going on. In order to bring a supposed trafficker to justice you must have hard truth backed up by facts. The best way to do this is to have a victim come forward on their own accord.

And it is here where we run into problems for several reasons. The victims are often young, runaways, victims of prolonged abuse, from foster families, drug addicted, poor, foreign, and very frightened. The majority come from broken homes or are orphans. As a consequence they are ripe victims tailor made for a trafficker.

What is sex trafficking?

Forcing someone to work as a prostitute, in pornography or for an escort service. The individual is often young and naive; they may be U.S. citizens or foreign.

•  The victims are forced to work Using coercion (lies, threats, and violence) is how a victim is recruited. These techniques are very effective and more than often are the way to dominate and enslave someone against their will.and paid low wages or not paid at all. They work in the sex trade usually in bordellos or in pornography; in some cases they work for a sex trafficker who completely takes over every aspect their lives. Usually they are very badly treated and live in poor conditions.

• Conflict and Natural Disasters force migration into other countries where there are no jobs but sex work.
• Profit exists only for the trafficker
• Migration Scams are where legitimate work is promised in another country, but only a sex related job exists.
• Traffickers make a lot of money through sex exploitation.
• Lack of protection laws for adult victims encourages sex trafficking as to traffic is not l.   illegal.
• Demand for cheap sex labor in commercialized sex work. Pimps are the only ones who make money here.

              Poor or no human rights laws to protect victims.

Causes of Human Sex Trafficking

• Poverty is the main factor for people becoming sex traffickers. Families sell their children to traffickers who claim that they will get them jobs. Instead they sell them into a form of slavery for unpaid jobs like prostitution. Usually the victim is a minor and totally unaware of this and will only know that they will no longer be living with their family.
• Lack of protection laws for adult victims encourages sex trafficking as to traffic is not illegal.
• Demand for cheap sex labor in commercialized sex work. Pimps are the only ones who make money here.
• Poor or no human rights laws to protect victims.
• No jobs or legitimate work foster sex trafficking.
• Conflict and Natural Disasters force migration into other countries where there are no jobs but sex work.
• Profit exists only for the trafficker
• Migration Scams are where legitimate work is promised in another country, but only a sex related job exists.
• Traffickers make a lot of money through sex exploitation.

Who are the Traffickers?

• Men of low moral standards worldwide are the most traffickers. Frequently they are either drug addicts, gang members, con men or convicts. Most have developed a lingo or style that appears strong and admirable to an innocent, troubled, insecure young girl. These girls fall into a trap as they believe that the man is genuinely romantically interested in them; since these girls have been love starved or troubled their whole life they fall victim to these men because they wrongfully believe that the men truly care for them. In time some come to realize that they are just being used by the men for sex, and usually the men convince the girl to also have sex relations with another man at first, and in time with multiple men. Most of the time the girl is not aware that the man is a pimp and that she is his meal ticket. All too often it is too late for the girl to escape from this life as a sex slave as she lives in total fear of the man that she was sure loved her. She is convinced that there is no escape from this life.

• Women also of low moral standards work together with the male trafficker who is usually a pimp. Their primary function is to befriend a troubled young woman with apparent false pretenses such as friendship and concern. The young girls are in need of employment and need money; in some cases these girls are given money by the woman to prove to them how much the woman is concerned about her; she’s told that in the future after she has a job she can repay the women. The woman then introduces  the girl to a pimp who paints a rosy picture for her  promising work. Once the girl accepts the pimp will get only sex work for her. Here too, the girl feels obligated and frightened and accepts the sex work.