Neighborhood photo via Shutterstock.
By Kathleen Fatica
When the average American citizen hears the word “sex trafficking”, their mind likely conjures up images of prostitutes in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, women in Cambodia being auctioned off by their parents, and kidnapped women in far-off places. While these thoughts are all accurate, there’s a problem. They’re never depicting your peer at school, next-door neighbor, or woman next to you on the subway – a disparity in thought far from the truth.
In a time where alarming and deeply personal issues such as climate change and school shootings dominate the news, it can be difficult to recognize a partially hidden problem like sex trafficking as the rising American issue it is. However, recent evidence shows that sex trafficking in America is only growing more common as it crops up everywhere from small suburban towns to big cities.
Human trafficking victims include children involved in the sex trade, adults age 18 or over who are coerced or deceived into commercial sex acts and anyone forced into different forms of “labor or services,” Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year, mirroring incidents across the nation in Denver, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Forth Worth. Sex trafficking generates a billion dollars a year, doing business through sites like Backpage, Craigslist, and Red Book to sell young people to local and international pedophiles.
So how exactly do these people get ensnared in a situation like this? The patterns of vulnerability and cyclical violence that are seen in international sex trafficking issues are mirrored in the American sex trafficking system. There are three main populations that become victims of sex trafficking; women promised a job overseas, runaways, and women tricked by a male suitor.
As for factors additionally influencing these populations, one survivor comments for The Guardian that childhood abuse, especially sexual abuse, can make trafficking victims more vulnerable to a pimp’s advances, as well as the lavish lifestyles promised.
According to Unlucky 13, once inducted into prostitution, the prostituted child is brainwashed into believing they are worthless and that nobody will want them anymore. This makes the child extremely afraid to flee or run away from the abductor.
Mirroring the issues of underserved populations such as indigenous women in other countries regarding sex trafficking, young people living without resources struggle especially to escape the sex trafficking system in the U.S. In impoverished or rural areas with few resources, the amount of sex trafficking cases has risen. Even when human traffickers are stopped and caught, trafficking can easily continue. When places such as Milwaukee face economic hardship, the trafficking can easily become a vicious, seductive cycle that is only momentarily interrupted by an FBI raid as the victims are left with the same lack of resources, safety, and financial security.
So how can we be on the lookout for victims of sex trafficking if it’s just a few blocks away?
Within personal friendships and relationships, warning signs to watch for include low interest in age-appropriate activities, untreated sexually transmitted diseases, and signs of physical abuse. Additionally, Unlucky 13 urges communities to watch young people for multiple cell phones, expensive gifts, and drastic changes in attitude, clothing, and friends as indicators.
Within a community sense, if a woman (or women) consistently looks disoriented or made up older than their age while accompanied by an older man or woman, these are also signs that businesses such as hotels watch for.
In the case of an emergency, 1-888-373-7888 is the National Human Trafficking Hotline for the United States.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathleen Fatica is a freshman at DePaul University working towards a degree in Creative Writing and Public Relations. Before she joined The Culture-ist, Kathleen worked as an editor and writer for student newspapers at DePaul University including Her Campus DePaul and The DePaulia. When she’s not busy writing or editing, Kathleen enjoys listening to female rappers and color coding her planner while she city-hops her way across the globe. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram at @kathleeen2102