Sex trafficking may not be what you think. Many myths and misconceptions surround an arena most of us will never know. But we can all seek to understand — and be aware of how to detect and intervene in a situation of exploitation.
The following questionnaire is not recorded or visible to anyone. It’s a simple tool to help you see how many fables you can dispel with facts, and to grow your own awareness of the realities of trafficking in our community.
FACT
Source: Shared Hope International
FACT
FACT. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines sex trafficking.
Check out the TVPA at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/what-human-trafficking/federal-law
For a victim over the age of 18, force, fraud, or coercion constitutes sex trafficking.
No transportation has to take place for a situation to be considered sex trafficking. Sex trafficking occurs when any person under the age of 18 exchanges a sex act for anything of value. For a person over the age of 18, force, fraud, or coercion constitutes trafficking.
For more information on the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) visit Human Trafficking Hotline online.
The most prominent age a victim enters the “life” of sex trafficking is age 15.
The median age is 12-14 years of age.
Source: Thorn
One study found that 85% of sex trafficking survivors had been abused as children.
Source: World Without Exploitation
Trafficking and prostitution are not the same thing. Individuals in the sex trade industry often appear to be willing participants in their exploitation, however that is not the case. The manipulation and coercion involved in “grooming” (preparing a victim for exploitation) often includes emotional bonds which make the victim feel as if they are choosing thier exploitation out of attachment to their trafficker.
Prostitution consitutes only a minimal amount of cases where an individual chooses to participate in the sex trade industry, of own free will, above the age of 18, without force, fraud, or coercion. Very few cases constitute prostitution and many who engage in sex work in this manner have been previously trafficked.
Sex trafficking victims are most often lured into a sex trafficking situation through some type of an intimate partnership/marriage proposal. Source: Polaris Project
One of the largest myths surrounding sex trafficking is that victims are kidnapped and restrained in order to be utilized in the sex trade industry. Although this can occur, it is NOT normally the case.
Traffickers seek to create emotional bonds with victims or a sense of fear, in order to ensure the victim’s compliance to be bought and sold for sex.
FACT
Source: American Journal of Public Health, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, 1999. www.abolisionistmom.com
Most studies have shown that sex trafficking is much more often the form of trafficking in the US than labor trafficking. Polaris Project states that in 2016, sex trafficking accounted for 73% of all trafficking cases. However all trafficking is an injustice to humans and considered modern day slavery.
Source: Polaris Project
FACT: Polaris Project states that isolation, emotional abuse, economic abuse, threats, and physical abuse are the top five methods of force, fraud, and coercion to retain a victim in a trafficking situation.
Source: Polaris Project
