What impact does sex trafficking have on our society and how deeply are we affected?
To answer my inquiry question for this semester I must first answer another question. What is sex trafficking? This must be answered before answering my inquiry question as you have to know what it is before you can know how our society is affected by it. So….
What is sex trafficking?
- Sex trafficking is a type of modern-day slavery and human trafficking
- Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.”
- Commercial sex is also known as sex work which includes prostitution, stripping, sexual massages, and more
- It is considered to be sex trafficking when a person is forced to engage in sexual acts by force, fraud, or extortion
- Sex trafficking can exist in disguise of a business or job
- Fake massage businesses, strip clubs, hostess clubs, and escort services are examples of places sex trafficking hides
- The use of a minor for commercial sex is still considered trafficking even if there was no force, fraud, or extortion happening
- Victims of sex trafficking are not treated as humans, but as animals
- Victims are often malnourished, live and work in horrifying, unsanitary conditions, and are physically abused in multiple ways
- It is common to pick up STIs, burns, bruises, skin conditions, diseases, and more physical injuries as a victim
- It is also common for victims to develop serious mental illnesses as they experience and witness more traumatic things daily, then most people can imagine
To know what sex trafficking is, you should also know how it came to be
- A couple hundred years ago, sex trafficking was like any other type of slavery, legal
- 1525 was when the first slave voyage to the Americas from Africa occurred. Many of the people sent over were forced to do sexual acts, therefore they were victims of sex trafficking
- In the early 1880s the Chinese population in the United States was 95% male, because of the gold rush. The lack of women provoked the illegal trafficking of Chinese women into the United States. These women were enslaved and forced into prostitution. In the early 1900s the trafficking of Chinese women continued and flourished
- Sex trafficking continued and got even stronger after these events
https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking
https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/what-is-human-trafficking
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/sexualviolence/trafficking.html
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-ndia/legacy/2011/10/14/health_problems.pdf
https://theexodusroad.com/history-of-human-trafficking/
Hi Natalie,
This topic is very interesting as i feel as though there is a lot of misinformation on the internet regarding sex trafficking , such as the only way to be sex trafficked is to be kidnapped.Its interesting to read about how these victims are being dehumanized as we see in history that the mistreatment of groups of people is much easier when they are considered as almost sub-human. I think that researching how people are sex trafficked could be something insightful to look into and could maybe help answer your big question. Here are some resources that could aid you in your research. I look forward to reading your next blog post !
-Sammie
https://www.canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca/how-it-happens/
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/methods-of-human-trafficking/
Hello Natalie!
What a deep topic and I praise you for talking so thoroughly about something with so much stigma. I love how you definitively defined sex trafficking as it is something talked about in the media, but also something that many could not easily define. You also touched on the history of sex traficking and how the female Chinese population in America was subject to gruesome sex trafficking in the 1900s. My suggestion for you would be to talk a little bit about how different sex traficking is today than it was 100+ years ago and how the introduction of the internet has changed the way in which predators traffic women.
Below I have listed a few resources to help you with your research.
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/frontpage/2021/February/share-of-children-among-trafficking-victims-increases–boys-five-times-covid-19-seen-worsening-overall-trend-in-human-trafficking–says-unodc-report.html
https://caclapeer.org/human-trafficking-the-internet/
https://polarisproject.org/myths-facts-and-statistics/
Great work so far. I can’t wait to learn more about this topic!
-Ava
Hello Natalie!
What a wonderful research you did! this is affecting us in different ways in which some of them are harmful to our health. Consequences of sex trafficking can be immediate and long-term including stigmatization, delay in education and human capacity development or even death. On the other hand, we can prevent sex trafficking through the following ways;
1. Encouraging healthy behaviors in relationships
2.Fostering safe homes and neighborhood
3.Reducing demand for commercial sex
4,End business profits from trafficking related transactions