Originally published on the CGS blog on April 22, 2016.
Every year, thousands of women and children are sold into sexual slavery, also known as human trafficking. When people think of human trafficking they often think that it’s like the movie Taken; there is a mistaken assumption that sexual slavery only happens overseas and that the victims are snached off of the street from their families. This is not the case. A majority of sexual slaves are prostitutes.
The reality is that every prostitute on the street is a sex slave. They have been manipulated and coerced into selling their bodies, often for the profit of their pimp. Predators use methods such as “minimization and denial of physical violence, economic exploitation, social isolation, verbal abuse, threats and intimidation, physical violence, sexual assault, and captivity” to manipulate women and children into sexual slavery. Those who are not under the control of a pimp are often backed into prostitution by economic necessity, drug addiction, or mental health issues. These women have been forced into sexual slavery not necessarily by another human being, but by both internal and external circumstances out of their control.
I can’t count the number of times I have heard the phrases “they like it” or “they choose to do it” in reference to prostitution, and it never fails to infuriate me. No little girl grows up saying she wants to be a prostitute someday. No one aspires to sexual slavery. So where do these ideas stem from?
It is my belief that these ideas come from mass denial of a problem due to a pattern of sexualization of women in the media. Americans have become so accustomed to the idea that women exist to be sexualized. It can be seen on TV, in magazines, and even on the street as women are catcalled day in and day out.
According to a study published in Psychiatric Times,
Acceptance of prostitution is one of a cluster of harmful attitudes that encourage and justify violence against women. Violent behaviors against women have been associated with attitudes that promote men’s beliefs that they are entitled to sexual access to women, that they are superior to women and that they are licensed as sexual aggressors.”
The fight to end human trafficking is a fight to bring awareness. To save these women and children, we must recognize as a country that they are all victims. Instead of criminalizing prostitutes, locking them up, and throwing them back out onto the street, we must provide help. We must stop denying that prostitution is a problem. We need to begin calling it what it is: sexual slavery.
Look out for CGS’s Webinar registration coming soon. Stay tuned to hear from some very influential women and learn more about human trafficking.
