Although it isn’t talked about much in mass media anymore, sex trafficking and slavery is still rampant and closer to home than you’d expect. But what is sex trafficking? Typically, sex trafficking is defined as the act of illegally transporting people from one area to another for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but often times this isn’t the case. Sometimes the people being sex trafficked are still in the same area, they are still going to class and on weekends going to the city to be trfficked all the while seeming normal to their peers. The victims are manipulated to think that their family members, friends, or teachers won't understand them. But even in those situations there's a possibility that the trafficker is also threatening death upon their loved ones.
Recently I listened to a Ted Talk “In The Face of Human Trafficking” by Megan Rheinschild. The big takeaway from the video was that even though we don’t see sex trafficking, it is still very much prevelent in society. We should be more educated on how to spot it or how to prevent it within our communities. Understanding the reason why children and teens get to that point in the first place, would be the first step in the process.
Rheinschild tells a harrowing story of a teen who was sex trafficked. Throughout, her trial where she testified against her procurer, she asked why she had to explain the terminology she used during her examination. She criticized the jury, stating that they should know more because of how prevalent and common it was (and still is). She eventually said that if she had people in her life who believed in her and showed her love, she most likely wouldn’t have been in the situation of testifying against her abuser in the first place.
The system had failed her, as well as her parents— her dad in jail for “pimping” while her mom was involved in prostitution during her father’s time in jail. Her home was incredibly unstable, and she was sexually assaulted when she was at the young age of 12. The unnamed victim of this story shed light on how broken homes can create a person with a false sense of reality, negatively shape their lives, and perpetuate the cycle of abuse. She was about 15 when she ran away to be with a man who said he’d save her from her current, only to be put back in the same situation, but in a different place. We need to know the ways in which people are “recruiting” children and teens into sex trafficking.
Rheinschild brings up an interesting and thought provoking sentiment. Once a person is pulled into this type of sex trafficking, the likelyhood that they will die in year or less increases each year they are stuck with their trafficker being abused. The people who are usually taken in by traffickers are run aways from broken homes or are kidnapped. It’s heartbreaking to realize how many families are missing children, siblings, and parents because of the unfortunate circumstances they find themselves in and not by choice. We can help by donating money to organization that help victims of sex trafficking and human trafficking in general or donating clothes and food to shelters that house runaways. All we have to do is start somewhere.
Recently I listened to a Ted Talk “In The Face of Human Trafficking” by Megan Rheinschild. The big takeaway from the video was that even though we don’t see sex trafficking, it is still very much prevelent in society. We should be more educated on how to spot it or how to prevent it within our communities. Understanding the reason why children and teens get to that point in the first place, would be the first step in the process.
Rheinschild tells a harrowing story of a teen who was sex trafficked. Throughout, her trial where she testified against her procurer, she asked why she had to explain the terminology she used during her examination. She criticized the jury, stating that they should know more because of how prevalent and common it was (and still is). She eventually said that if she had people in her life who believed in her and showed her love, she most likely wouldn’t have been in the situation of testifying against her abuser in the first place.
The system had failed her, as well as her parents— her dad in jail for “pimping” while her mom was involved in prostitution during her father’s time in jail. Her home was incredibly unstable, and she was sexually assaulted when she was at the young age of 12. The unnamed victim of this story shed light on how broken homes can create a person with a false sense of reality, negatively shape their lives, and perpetuate the cycle of abuse. She was about 15 when she ran away to be with a man who said he’d save her from her current, only to be put back in the same situation, but in a different place. We need to know the ways in which people are “recruiting” children and teens into sex trafficking.
Rheinschild brings up an interesting and thought provoking sentiment. Once a person is pulled into this type of sex trafficking, the likelyhood that they will die in year or less increases each year they are stuck with their trafficker being abused. The people who are usually taken in by traffickers are run aways from broken homes or are kidnapped. It’s heartbreaking to realize how many families are missing children, siblings, and parents because of the unfortunate circumstances they find themselves in and not by choice. We can help by donating money to organization that help victims of sex trafficking and human trafficking in general or donating clothes and food to shelters that house runaways. All we have to do is start somewhere.