Background:
Sex trafficking has become a hot topic in the media in recent years. Especially regarding high-profile cases like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. But sex trafficking does not always look how we imagine it to be. A sex trafficking victim can be trafficked in and out of their own home. They likely have a close relationship with their trafficker and may or may not see themselves as a trafficked individual at all. Today, you’ll learn about types of trafficking typically seen in sex trafficking cases.
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Watch this TikTok (then share it!) talking about familial trafficking
Action: Imagine This
Familial Trafficking: A 7-year-old living in Arizona lives with her mom and two brothers. Every day her mom invites different people to her house and they sexually abuse the children. The mom feels this is normal because her mom did it to her and her grandmother did it to her mom. They use the money from this ‘family business’ to pay for necessary items like food and shelter.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation (Pimping/Prostitution): A young girl is kicked out of her childhood home near Chicago when she turns 18. After living on the street for a couple of nights a pimp approaches her and says he will provide her a meal and a place to stay. Within a few days, the girl has been seduced by this pimp who coerces her into participating in a prostitution ring and controls all the profits generated. Within 6 months she is convinced she’s in love with the pimp and starts recruiting other girls into the prostitution ring to please him and make the situation easier for her.
CSE can include strip clubs, pornography, escort services, illicit massage services, sugaring, and other forms of sex-related work in exchange for goods/services through a third party.
Keep in mind there is a difference between those who go into the commercial sex trade independently and those who are recruited into it. Not ALL of those involved in the sex trade are being trafficked. However, when we listen to survivors and research more about the sex trade, we learn that even those who independently choose to enter usually choose it out of a lack of choices and a need for survival, and may even unintentionally end up becoming a trafficking victim themselves. We will learn more about this on day 11.
Child Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CCSE): A 15-year-old boy runs away from his home in San Francisco to Oakland, where he lives on the street. An older woman approaches him and asks if he has a place to stay. She brings him home and in exchange for staying the night, she asks him to sleep with her husband and he does. They didn’t use force, fraud, or coercion, but because the boy is a child, he cannot consent and it is considered human trafficking.
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