Bintley, !

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Emily Bintley
Professor Malcom Campbell
English 1103
Its 2016 and Slavery Still Exists
Today, I want to discuss an issue that ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our
social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime.
Im talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its
true namemodern slavery. In 2012 Barack Obama, president of the United States of
America made these remarks in a speech on human trafficking, he himself addressed the issue as what it truly is. Slavery. Since 2007 it has been estimated that there are 20.9 million
victims of human trafficking in the world. Of these victims 4.5 million of them are victims of
sex trafficking . A lot of people think that this is happening everywhere in the world except
America, but those people could not be more wrong. Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are
trafficked in America every year. As of 2012 there are 1.5 million trafficking victims in the
United States. The Urban Institute conducted studies that showed the underground sex industry in the US made anywhere from 39.9 million to 290 million dollars depending on the city.
The average age that a minor enters the sex trade in America is 12-14. One out of six endangered run aways in the U.S. were likely victims of sex trafficking(Polarisproject). The FBI
website states that 293,000 American youths are currently at risk to falling victim. These victims are not working for a paycheck. They are not involved in the sex trade by their own free

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will. They are slaves. This is happening in our home towns, the cities we know and love. Sex
slavery is in our back yards and most people dont even realize it. Its time to change that.
So what exactly is sex trafficking? It is a form of human trafficking that is the exploitation of
mostly women and children across international boarders or within nations with the purpose
of forced sex work. Sometimes it is very visible in the form of street prostitution, but it can
also be found in more unexpected places. These places may be unmarked brothels, or spas,
massage parlors, strip clubs or a variety of fronts for the illicit business. These fronts may be
in major cities such as New York City or even in unsuspecting suburban neighborhoods
(Soroptimist). In 2002 a small suburb in New Jersey was in for a shock when law enforcement discovered a stash house that was part of a sex trafficking ring operated in the New
York metropolitan area. The police entered the house on a tip expecting to find illegal aliens
working in an underground brothel. What they actually found were four girls ranging from
ages of 14 and 17 held captive as sex slaves. From the outside the house appeared to be a
lovely old Victorian style home. Close to an elementary school, a supermarket and a convenience store no one in the neighborhood suspected a thing. Inside the house was living hell
for the victims that were held captive there. The conditions were atrocious with bare, dirty
mattresses, dirty bathrooms with no door. The young girls were malnourished and in poor
health, brought over from Mexico and did not have any documents. Plenty of girls just like
the ones found in this house are brought through stash houses located all over the U.S., they
come from all over the world and can be smuggled into America quite easily through Mexico(Landesman). This story is not unique, situations very similar are happening every day.
Illegal immigrants are brought to America, sometimes under false pretenses, sometimes

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against their will for the purpose of sexual slavery. In his New York Times Article, Landesman
says, These sex slaves earn no money, there is nothing voluntary about what they do and if
they try to escape they are often beaten and sometimes killed. The issue of foreign peoples
being brought into the United States as sex slaves is as pressing as U.S. citizens being forced
or coerced into the the trade. In the2005 and 2006 U.S. Department of States Trafficking Report it was estimated that there were 14,50017,500 individuals trafficked annually into the
United States (Clawson, Grace, Solomon). These numbers should be eye-opening. They were
for me. When I started researching this topic I thought that I was aware of its severity. I knew
the basics and expected to find numbers and statistics that would match the general knowledge that I already had. I was very wrong. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. We
cannot even begin to know how many victims exactly are out there because they are forced to
be silent. Globally, less than one percent of trafficking victims are identified(Caseact).
Now that we have a good idea of what sex trafficking is, lets look at the victims. Most victims of sex trafficking tend to be vulnerable types of people. According to research from two
studies, it is said that 70 percent of women involved in prostitution were introduced before
the age of 18. The average age they are introduced is between 11 and 14. Man experts estimate that there are currently 100,000 DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking) victims in the
U.S. and 325,000 are potentially at risk (Koltra). It is clear that young women seem to be the
target for sex trafficking and that they are introduced at a very young age, but lets take a
deeper look at what makes some woman more vulnerable than others. Girls who were abused
are generally more susceptible to fall victim to sex slavery than those who were not. Drug
and alcohol addictions also add to vulnerability. Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obsceni-

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ty Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, stated that "there is an endless supply of victims in this country. K. Koltra, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Baylor University in Texas says, Among those most at risk are youth who have
run away or been "thrown away" from home, those who are homeless or have a history of
abuse, and those in the foster care or child protective services system. Even though many
women in the United States are adults now, they started out in the sex trade as minors and
every day more and more minors are introduced(Koltra). Of these girls in America that are
introduced to sex slavery some are brought in through abduction, promises of modeling or
dancing careers. Others are forced into it by family members. There are also many cases
where victims are romantically involved with someone that will force them or manipulate
them into prostitution. Traffickers use psychological and physical tactics to keep these girls
under their control. They may exploit a girls drug addiction or shame them by telling them
their family no longer wants them. Some traffickers may threaten the girls with physical
abuse or the harm of their family or those they may care about. These girls are trapped and
scared. The federal law states that if these individuals are performing commercial sex
through force, fraud, or coercion, or are induced into commercial sex while under the age of
18, they are victims of sex trafficking(Polarisproject).
The people that traffic these girls are traffickers, they may also be referred to as pimps. These
people know what they are doing is wrong and usually do not care. In the documentary
Tricked, a pimp named Robert Money gave an interview. He says he is proud of his profession. It is a choice. He says that pussy is a commodity and that all girls are either prostitutes or whores, they can sell their pussy or they can give it away for free. He seems to have

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very little respect for women although he claims to take care of his girls. This is most likely untrue, countless girls who worked for pimps similar to Robert money have been interviewed and the stories do not match up to what most pimps say. Danielle a former sex slave
who was interviewed in Tricked discussed how she was lured to her pimp under false pretenses and forced to work. The consequences for not working were getting beat, and her family being threatened. She said many of the girls she met had very similar stories to her and all
said their pimps used similar methods. They did not get to keep the money they made, if they
wanted or tried to leave they were beat, and they were often moved between states. These
pimps were traffickers and many are. The pimps like to think they are helping these girls,
they admit to beating them to maintain control. They are vital in keeping the trade of sex
slaves flourishing(Tricked)
I had many questions when I first began researching sex trafficking and one of my main
questions was why is the practice so large if it is illegal. Upon further research I found the
answer to my question was a similar answer to any question that has to do with a wanted
product and service. Like any business this illicit industry follows the rules of supply and
demand. If there is a demand for sex slaves and people are willing to pay there will be a supply(Koltra). So who is demanding them? Those who are encouraging the business are not the
type of people you may think. They may be fathers and husbands. They may be men who just
have the money and are driven by sexual desires(polarisproject.org). It is hard to pin point
exactly the kinds of people that buy sex slaves because we cannot truly know the motives of
the buyers and it is not easy to get into their minds. A simple theory is that the trafficker is
motivated by money and the buyer is motivated by sexual urges and desires(Koltra). I think

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in time psychologists may have some more detailed explanations and insights for the buyers,
but that explanation sums it up pretty well.
While buyers and traffickers fuel and run the business there are forces just as strong working
hard everyday to put an end to the sex trafficking industry. Local police patrol officers are
constantly on the look out for signs of sex trafficking and sex trafficking victims and detectives monitor many websites that are known for their enabling of sex trafficking. In 2000
Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which created the first comprehensive federal law to address trafficking. This law uses three Ps: Prevention, Protection,
and Prosecution. In 2001 the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons was established. 900 children have been rescued through the combined efforts of the FBI, National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Department of Justice Child Exploitation
and Obscenity Section. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement play a key role in enforcing the TVPA(Hill, Walker-Rodriguez). There are also many organizations such as the
National Trafficking Human Resource Center whos goal is to spread awareness, help victims, and has an anti-trafficking hotline where people can call and report tips on trafficking.
The efforts made by the U.S. government have been great and produced results, but there are
some people that think the government is not doing enough. Julie Ruvolo wrote an article for
Forbes expressing her dissatisfaction. She feels that police enforcements shutting down of
websites that are used to solicit and sell sex slaves are doing more harm than good. Ruvolo
thinks that if those websites stay up it will do more good in trying to catch the people buying
sex slaves and therefor get rid of some of the demand.

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Despite law enforcements

great efforts and various organizations dedicated to spreading

awareness and to preventing and stopping sex trafficking, the industry is still making billions
of dollars. A big reason that sex trade continues to operate in the U.S. is because there is a
culture of tolerance in this country. Clothes, songs, video games, movies, television shows,
social media and other forms of entertainment glorify the sex trade. A song called It's Hard
Out Here for a Pimp took the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2006. Anyone can
type in pimp in any search engine and find thousands of results displaying songs, movies,
ringtones, clothing glamorizing pimps(Koltra). It is hard to put an end to this modern slavery
when forms of it are being publicly praised and made to look cool. There was a very disturbing scene in Tricked where the film makers were allowed to follow Robert Money to a meeting of pimps where they all brought some of their girls to show off to each other. It was a
giant party, all of the pimps were dressed up, had decorated cups that were specially made for
them commonly referred to as pimp cups. They are all proud, they are happy to show these
documentary makers the life styles they lead. Lifestyles that more often than not include sex
trafficking.
Sex trafficking is modern slavery. We as fellow human beings cannot ignore. We need to
learn the facts, know whos at risk, pay attention for signs of sex trafficking, and get rid of
the culture that promotes it. If you know someone who is under 18 preforming sexual acts for
money they may be being trafficked. If someone has restricted movement because of someone they are afraid of they may be being trafficked. If someone works unusually long hours
and doesn't seem to be able to stop they may be being trafficked. Behavioral signs may include constant anxiety and nervousness, taking extreme measures to keep to themselves,

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submissive, or always avoiding eye contact. If someone you know has little control over
their life, has very little or no personal possessions, is not control of their own finances, is
not in control of their own documentation such as I.D.s or is not able to speak for themselves
they may be being trafficked(Polarisproject). Pay attention and try to help those who cannot
help themselves. Its 2016 and slavery still exists within the United States of America.

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Work Cited
Clawson, Heather, Dutch, Nicole, Grace, Lisa, Solomon, Amy.Human Trafficking Into and
Within the United States: A Review of the Literature.ASPE. U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. 30 August 2009. Web. 3 April 2016.
Hill, Rodney, Walker-Rodriguez, Amanda. Human Sex Trafficking. FBI. Federal Bureau of
Investigation. March 2011. Web. 3 March 2016.
Kotrla, K. "Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking In The United States." Social Work 55.2 (2010):
181-187. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Landesman, Peter. The Girls Next Door. NY Times. New York Times. 25 January 2004. Web.
3 March 2016
Obama, Barack. Modern Day Slavery. Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. Sheraton
New York Hotel and Towers, New York, NY. 25 September 2012.
Polarisproject. Polaris, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
Ruvolo, Julie. Sex, Lies and Suicide: Whats Wrong with the War on Sex Trafficking. Forbes.
Forbes Media LLC., 26 Jun. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2016
Sex Slavery/Trafficking: Frequently Asked Questions. Soroptomist. Soroptimist International
of the Americas, n.d. Web. 9 April 2016.
Tricked. Dir. John Kieth Wasson, Jane Wells. First Run Features. 2013