In the last several decades, the issue of child sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has become a global epidemic. Child sex trafficking is defined as the sexual exploitation of anyone under the age of eighteen and can include many forms of exploitation such as prostitution, child pornography, and child sex tourism for financial gain. This article provides an examination of what is currently known about child sex trafficking, the historical context of child sex trafficking including the implication of major anti-sex trafficking legislation and the awareness bought by the media, the use of theories such as the Radical Race Feminism, and Addiction Theory to understand CSEC victims, the implication of key policies …show more content…
According to the United Nations Protocol for Prevention, Protection and Prosecution of Trafficking in Person’s, Especially Women and Children, human trafficking is the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, and obliging a minor (a person under the age of eighteen), to perform a commercial sex act by force, fraud of coercion (as cited in Miller-Perrin and Wurtele, 2017, p. 124). CSEC the child is thought to be a sexual object and a commercial object. Furthermore, Miller-Perrin and Wurtele (2017), explained that to be considered sex trafficking rather than a sex crime (e.g. molestation, sexual assault, and rape) the commercial aspect or the exchange of financial asset is essential to CSEC and sex trafficking (p. 125). Children are treated as not only a sexual object that belongs to whoever buys them but also a commercial object to be used for financial …show more content…
Children who have been sex trafficked or sexual exploited have all of these mental health issues and also have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), dissociation, and attachment issues (Miller-Perrin and Wurtle, 2017, p. 136). In fact, 77% of sex trafficked victims between the age of fifteen and forty-five had PTSD after being rescued from CSEC (Miller-Perrin and Wurtle, 2017, p. 139). Furthermore, in addition to mental health issues many sex trafficked survivors have several physical health issues. Ernewein and Nieves (2015), reported that victims suffer from unhealthy eating habits, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and broken bones and other physical injuries (p. 798). In addition, Barnet (2016) reported that 80% of CSEC and sex-trafficking victims reported suicidal thoughts (p. 250). In brief, all victims of sex trafficking even after being recused suffer the consequences of being exploited sexually for the rest of their lives. These children have not only their childhoods taken away from them but their entire
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.
An estimated 20.9 million people are currently being trafficked worldwide (The Polaris Project, 2014). According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA, reauthorized in 2013), sex trafficking is defined as, “A commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, and/or in which the person induced to...
Awareness of child sexual trafficking can be viewed as a balanced scale, with one side representing the country’s population that is fully informed of the issue, while the other side is either unaware or unattached to the issue. The public needs to have more involvement with this affair based on multiple concerns; first, the act of child sex trafficking itself is a serious crime that violates human rights (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Second, various negative health repercussion including transmittable sexual diseases, physical damages, mental disturbance, post traumatic stress disorders, and other illnesses plague many victims (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Third, sexual trafficking is responsible for generating poverty as a result of obstructing economic, and social development (Reid, 2012). Child sex trafficking proves to be a global dilemma affecting numerous countries
According to Reid, “… child sex trafficking would comprise all activities involved in inducting a minor’s involvement in commercial sexual exploitation, from the initial recruitment of the minor into commercial sex exploitation to buying the sexual services of the minor” (3).
Sex trafficking is when women, young girls, and young boys are held in slavery and forced into prostitution for the financial gain of others in brothels in the United States, Europe, and other developing countries such as Thailand and the Philippines (Sexual Slavery). It’s happened to many women and children throughout many years in many of these countries for money and more power. Often purchased or kidnapped off the street, women, girls, and boys are trafficked across international
Domestic sex trafficking is the vile new innovative business model used in the sex industry to promote prostitution. The myth about sex trafficking is that it is a foreign not a domestic problem. Sex trafficking is a very lucrative business. The “John’s” create a demand and the “pimps” provide the supply. Child abuse, child neglect, pornography, pedophilia and prostitution are all links in the chains that enslaves America’s children for the pleasure of adults.
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
Discussion Significance The results provided by the present research study supported the hypothesis that there is a need of safe housing for sexually exploited and sex trafficked youth in Rochester, Minnesota. With a growing population and an expanding community, Rochester is seeing an increase in the demand for sexual trafficking. Although this issue is present, it can be difficult to identify the victims. More specifically, victims often fall through the cracks and since a lot of agencies or programs tend to be female-oriented, male victims will often go unnoticed more than female victims.
Barbara Amaya was sexually abused by members of her members at the age of ten. With a depressed state of mind, Barbara ran away from home at the age of twelve. It was then that she was taken off of the streets by a couple that had the desire to care for her. After a month of being cared for, the couple put her out on the streets for prostitution. Barbara was sold to another sex trafficker that transported her to New York where she experienced sex trafficking for eight years of her life. During this time Barbara was abused, shot, addicted to drugs, stabbed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked, beaten, and jailed. As a result of her addiction to methadone, Barbara was no longer a valuable asset to her trafficker. She was forced out on the streets of New York by herself. Today, Barbara is a sex traffic survivor, who occasionally has flashbacks of her past (Amaya).
Recently, a horrendous gang rape and murder case in India has caused many people to speak out against sex crimes. A female medical student was beaten with metal rods, raped, and then thrown from a moving bus by four men. In response, many people have called for stricter laws dealing with sexual violence. This has also lead to some focus on the sex trafficking aspect of sexual violence. In an article by the Editorial Board of the New York Times, issues of enforcement were brought to light by explaining that sex trafficking is growing in India because of extreme poverty, “a gender imbalance resulting from sex-selective abortion practices,” and “India’s affluence.” The writers of “Sex Trafficking in India” adequately argue that in order to solve the issue of sex trafficking there needs to be stricter enforcement of existing laws that deal with sex crimes by appealing to their intended audience through statistics, expert testimonies, cause and effect, and descriptive language.
Sex trafficking is a world wide epidemic. It targets unknowing victims such as women and children enslaving them and exploiting their innocence. Human trafficking is becoming one of the biggest money making organized crimes in the world. The sex trade is one of the most profitable of all current slave trades. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them. In order to stop this monstrosity in the world, we need to start at the root of the problem. We must bridge the barriers between gender, class, and race in order to respect one another and live in harmony
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 $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
“Stolen people, stolen dream” is the brutality faced by numerous, vulnerable, gullible children in the black market around the world even in the admirable United States. Trafficking of children is the modern day slavery, the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. More than ever, it has become a lucrative method that is trending in the underground economy. A pimp can profit up to $150,000 per children from age 4-12 every year, as reported by the UNICEF. Also, according to the International Labor Organization statistics, “There are 20.9 million victim of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands in the United
The “Land of the free” is not so free after all. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry after illegal drugs and arms trafficking . Human trafficking is like modern day slavery; it is defined as the loss of freedom to another 's control by force, fraud or coercion. The United States turns out to be the #1 destination for child sex trafficking. I chose this topic because it interested me the most out of all other topics. When finding a topic to do research on, none of the topics left me asking myself so many questions. The fact that i barely knew anything about human trafficking, made me realize that there might be many people out there that are like me. People who probably think that human trafficking rarely happens,
To understand how to prevent child sexual abuse, one must begin by understanding what child sex abuse is. When a perpetrator intentionally harms a child physically, psychologically, sexually, or by acts of neglect, this crime is known as child abuse. Child sex abuse consists of any sexual activity that includes a minor. A child cannot consent to any form of sexual activity. More importantly, when a perpetrator engages with a child this way, they are committing a crime that can have lasting effects on the victim for years. Moreover, child sexual abuse does not need to include physical contact between a perpetrator and child, some forms include but not limited to; fondling, intercourse, sex trafficking, exposing oneself to a minor, masturbation