Abstract
In the United States sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative businesses. Women are exploited and are sold from different countries and transported from states to state like animals. The worst part of this atrocity is half of these women are children
Slave Sex Trafficking in the United States
The Bible states that the love of money is the root of all evil; these words still rings true in the United States. Living in an industrial society in the twenty-first century, one would think that with civilization comes integrity. Not only is slave trafficking present in the United States, it is a lucrative business.
What is Sex trafficking? One is tempted to believe that it is a trade foreigners practice in America by luring or kidnapping women and young girls to America and enslaving them. This is true but it is more than that. Sex trafficking in American is both local and international. Granted it is easier to enslave foreign women mostly because of their inability to speak English well and their lack of friends or relatives. Run-away teenager girls are also easy quarry for traffickers, they believe that these unscrupulous men who initial treat them well are good men not knowing that it is the beginning of disaster for them. Another reason is that these girls are very often, from very troubled homes; and they are mesmerized by these pseudo-charming “pimps Times have changed and people are realizing that prostitutes and sex slaves are two different people. As a matter of fact, many more people are paying attention to the plight of these unfortunate females.
No matter how many agents fight to stem this sin, sex trafficking is here to stay. Thinking otherwise would be living in a world of illusion, and the main reason this business will thrive is there is a market, the johns. These poor females have nowhere to go and the man who wooed them with food and nice clothe and treat them well is now a different man. They have had the angel now the devil is coming out, and before they know it they have fallen into a very dark abyss.
In her article, Tina Frundt who at the age of fourteen was one of these girls now advocate for their liberation. She says that the average age for girls to go into sex trafficking is between the age of twelve and fourteen; as a matter of fact some of them even start at age nine. Frundt tells her story; she says that she was broken into prostitution at age fourteen. Like many other teenage girls she was rebellious and thought her parents did not understand her. Consequently, when she met a twenty-four year old man who listens to her and showered her with gifts, she was in heaven. Six months after their initial meeting, she spiraled into hell; the man she thought she was in love with asked her to have sex with his friends, she refused and he physically punished her.
Having sex with his friend would have been her induction to prostitution, she claimed she loved him, and she will do anything for him and blamed herself for her punishment. That evening she was sent to to her first job on the street. It was nauseating; she only made fifty dollars of the required six hundred dollars he told her she is suppose to earn that night. Often times he would beat her and lock her in the closet if she defied him or did not bring in her quota. Sadly this girl realized that life at home is nothing compared to life on the street.
Frundt’s Story had a happy ending fortunately for her. So did Kendall’s (not her real name). At sixteen, Kendall decided that she would runaway eith her boy friend DJ. They ran away without money and the only thing they had was their clothe and DJ’s car. They lived mostly in the car but every now and then they would sleep in a hotel. To earn money she had to prostitute herself while DJ drove around in his car and get drunk. Kendall went to school each day and in the evening she would prostitute herself, at DJ’s request. If she became hungry, she would have to call him and ask if she could spend some of the money she earned. Of course the money is DJ’s and if she did not make enough he would beat her. This went on for a whole year before she came to herself and went home. Today she is attending community college and hopes to work in law enforcement (Rachael Marcus, n.d.).
Saying that this teenager’s saga is an isolated case in the United States would make America look superior to other countries, but it cannot be said. Chuck Neubauer (2011) of the Washington Times says, “1.6 million children younger than 18 — native and foreign-born — have been caught up in this (United States) country’s sex tradeThe number of victims is hard to quantify because of the lengths to which traffickers go to keep their crimes hidden.”
Among advocates who fight to return the lives of these young girls lost in sex slavery is Tina Frundt. She has made it her life work to redeem other young girls from the life she once knew. She is the founder of Courtney’s House, a Washington, D.C.-based group that helps sexually exploited children.
Frundt is adamant that these young girls are enslaved and theyare not criminals but victims. And she fights to help these girls to get counseling. Jessica Weiss another advocate says:
But trafficked youth continue to end up in the criminal justice system or are labeled delinquents or habitual runaways, says Karen Stauss, Director of programs at Free the Slaves, an organization that works to end modern forms of slavery--like trafficking--around the world. State laws are not properly responsive, Stauss says, so youth are treated like criminals, not victims. And because many law enforcement officials are not trained to recognize a trafficking victim, they often see the child as delinquent.
It is easy to see how young girls get into trouble and become slaves to prostitution, but one wonders how do older women become this way. They are grown, they are already responsible for themselves; they have not run away with nowhere to go. What is the attraction for these women? They are already dependent; they are victims of drug addiction. Most of these women are easy to spot in bars; especially by “pimps” who make studying people their life work. These “pimps” are scouts and these women being always high or ready for a fix, in their semi-conscious condition they are just as gullible as a fourteen year old girl. Their methods are to befriend women, create emotional and/or chemical dependencies, and then convince them to earn money for them by prostitution. Drug and alcohol dependencies are tools that pimps use to manipulate and maintain control over Women” (52).
Sex trafficking in the United States is for more extensive than anybody thinks; mostly Americans are taken form one state to the next but never from the country. Americans are also less rewarding then the international slaves. American “pimps” take these women from their initial buyers and put them to work off their debts or until they work enough money to buy their emancipation. Some of these women are never set free. Poor European women know what they are coming to America to do but they have no clue how long they would be in bondage. Sometimes the bargains they make before leaving their country is not kept and they have to work longer periods than they expected. Their freedom is at the discretion of their “pimps.”
Statuary laws are different in different state and if a girl consents to have sex, aned she has not reached that age whether or not she gives consent the man with whom she has sex with has committed a felony, if it is proven that they had sex. On the other hand, if this same girl is caught prostituting she is arrested. This is a travesty of justice. Considering how many children are forced into prostitution, the first step for this minor should be counseling.
It is a shame that we live in a world of advanced technology, an era when men have gone to the moon; yet we are still facing slavery at its worst. No catastrophe can be compare with what is happening to women and young girls. This evil is not going away, instead it is getting worse. ;’ Child Traffic Statistic reports that: “child/human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.” 2.8 million Is the estimated number of children who run away each year. Forty-eight hours after running away a third of these children are inducted into prostitution or pornography. Of the total human sex trafficking, eighty percent are women and girls. Every year three hundred thousand children will probably fall prey to commercial sexual exploitation.. Trafficking of United States citizens around the country is estimated to be two hundred thousand. “Child pornography is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States right now. Reports of exploited children grow every year, in 2009, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children received more than 120,000 reports on its cyber tip line. In 2010, the number grew to over 160,000 with the vast majority being from child pornography.”.”.
These numbers are staggering and unless people become aware of their environment and stand up and declare war on these illicit practices the statistics will continue to rise. The most sacred thing a person can posses is his or her body. It is all right if someone wants to destroy his or her body, but no one has the right to enslave another and make the decision what he or she does with his or her most revered possession. Even though some people are becoming vigilant and are trying to rescue these exploited women, it is not enough. Help needs to be provided for these people. Chances are that they will return to the only life they know.. “Prevention Project (TPPP), a multi-agency initially launched in 2004 by the district attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, rather than criminally prosecuting youth, the prosecutor's office coordinates with over forty agencies " advocates, community youth and welfare organizations"--to ensure that prostituted youth have housing and education and that their physical and mental health needs are addressed.
No one wants to work at a job that he or she does not enjoy doing, and although these prostitute do their jobs every night they cannot be getting any enjoyment from it. Doing something that is distasteful must affect them psychologically. They must be hurting whether or not they admit it. The life of a prostitute must be a very sad one, and rather than putting them in jail they should be counseled; they should be shown empathy. The state of Minnesota is the first state to begin a recovery program for prostitute. This program was funded by the Minnesota legislature. Some of the women thought that the program did not fit their needs. They wanted a program that caters to their drug addiction and the sexual trauma they experienced.. (Nelson, 2000)
Since Minnesota has started its program, the following states have enacted programs to rehabilitate prostitutes: Arizona; California; District of Colombia; Hawaii; Maryland; Nebraska; Nevada; New York; Oregon; Wisconsin (2004). There is much talk about prostitute but there is hardly any talk about the men who buy sex. Without these men there would be no prostitution, therefore, men are the biggest contributor to sex trafficking. As a matter of fact they are far more perverted than the prostitutes. A man who wants to have sex with a five year old girl needs to be castrated. Men’s perversion know no boundary, it does not matter if they are married or not married. Granted not every man is perverted. Maybe the prostitutes should be left alone and rehabilitate the men.
Melissa Farley, Emily Schuckman, Jacqueline M. Golding, Kristen Houser, Laura Jarrett, Peter Qualliotine, Michele Decker (2011) did a study between sex buyer with men who do not buy sex. One hundred one men who buy sex, and one hundred men who did not buy sex, the men were “matched by age, ethnicity, and education level. Most had a wife or girlfriend at the time of the study. Sex buyers are more promiscuous; had many more sexual partners (prostituted as well as non-prostituted) more apt to commit felonies, misdemeanors; crimes associated with violence against women, abuse-drugs; commit considerably more sexually coercive acts against women than non-sex buyers. Sex buyers show less empathy for prostitutes than non-sex buyers and they did not think that prostitution has a harmful effect on the community. Both groups thought it is harmful to both the woman herself and to the community. “Sex buyers masturbated to pornography more often than non-sex buyers, imitated it with partners more often, and had more often received their sex education from pornography than the non-sex buyers. Significantly more of the sex buyers learned about sex from pornography compared to the non-sex buyers.
Both groups agree that there is physical and psychological harm in prostitution. Two thirds of each group agree that “a majority of women are lured, tricked, or trafficked into prostitution.” Many of the men had an awareness of the economic coercion and the lack of alternatives in women's entry into prostitution. Almost all of the sex buyers and non-sex buyers shared the opinion that minor children are almost always available for prostitution in bars, message parlor escort and other prostitution in Boston.” Despite the awareness that the “women are exploited, coerced, pimped, or trafficked” sex buyers continue to buy sex. Many of them have bought sex from women who were controlled by pimps. Both sex buyers and non-sex buyers agreed that exposure would be big deterrent to buying sex.
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