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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(Polarisproject). According to Polarisproject, 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. As of 2012 there were 1.5
million trafficking victims in the United States.(Polarisproject). The victims of sex
trafficking are not working for a paycheck. They are not involved in the sex trade by their
own free will. They are slaves. This is happening in our home towns, the cities we know and
love(FBI). Sex slavery is in our back yards and most people dont even realize it. Its time to
change that.

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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 all around the world such as New York City,
Bangkok, or even in unsuspecting suburban neighborhoods (Soroptimist).
Sex Trafficking is a global problem. Sex slaves in the United states only make up about
0.9% of sex slaves globally (qtd. in Smith). Heather M. Smith is an associate professor at
Lewis and Clark College who specializes in Human Rights International Law Human
Trafficking. She refers to individuals that are trafficked across national borders and enslaved
as prostitutes upon arrival in destination countries as transnational sex slaves. Transnational
sex slaves make up a huge portion of the sex trafficking victims globally and despite
international efforts made in recent years, the number of victims continue to grow world
wide. Smith says that most sex slaves come from poor countries and tended to be trafficked
into countries that are generally more wealthy. The highest number of sex slaves are moved
between countries in Asia. Thailand is a major supplier and destination. Asia accounts for just
over half of the worlds population of sex slaves. With the numbers of peoples being
trafficked on the rise, the global community has been taking a bigger stand against it in the
last decade.
Many countries have adopted laws to specifically punish traffickers. Prior to the recent
human rights movement that now focuses on human and sex trafficking, many governments
of different countries around the world did not even collect data on the subject. Due to the

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nature of sex trafficking and many womens lack of will to report it, many governments often
felt pressure to keep quiet on the matter and were reluctant share information on it outside of
their boarders(Smith). Smith goes on to discuss the United States State Departments newer
policies that included assessing how other nations across the world handle and keep track of
trafficking which motivated countries to be more active in the persecution of traffickers and
record keeping of human trafficking cases, this was a big step for the global fight against sex
slavery.
America is no exception to transnational sex slaves. Foreign peoples are being brought
into America to be used as sex slaves everyday. In the 2005 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 eyeopening. 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 I have mentioned
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 according to Caseact.
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

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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 against their will for the purpose of sexual slavery. In his New York Times Article,
Peter 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 Polarisproject reports that some major hubs of sex trafficking include, Atlanta, New
York City, El Paso, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Houston and Charlotte. A study from
2014 showed that Atlanta made an estimate a total of 290 million dollars from human
trafficking(Polarisproject). Being a student at UNCC, Charlotte hits close to home for me
and it is very important in the sex trafficking ring in the United States. It is a major city in a
state that is very close to the boarder of two other states. There are two international airports
and many shipping ports located near Charlotte. Factor in the NASCAR track, major sports
teams, night life, and colleges; Charlotte is prime location for sex trafficking
(Thebluebanner). The Pkolarisproject recorded that North Carolina ranked 10th in the
country for the amount of calls placed reporting victims and instances of sex trafficking.
North Carolina has created new laws to protect the victims of sex trafficking such as An Act

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to Create a Safe Harbor for Victims of Human Trafficking and Prostituted Minors.. This law
requires that the state prosecute pimps and sexual offenders with the maximum criminal
charges. In addition it works to create a safe haven of sorts for the victims of sex trafficking
victims and is geared toward the prevention of sex trafficking(Thebluebanner). Megan
Brooks, a writer for Thebluebanner concluded in her article that Charlotte is no different than
the rest of the country or the world, even with extra steps being taken to prevent sex
trafficking the number of victims continue to increase.
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. Many
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 women 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 Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice,
Andrew Oosterbaan, stated that "there is an endless supply of victims in this country.(qtd. in
Koltra). 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. A study done by Polarisproject states that one out of six

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endangered run aways in the U.S. are likely victims of sex trafficking. 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(qtd. in
Tricked). He seems to have 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

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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.Even though the pimps featured in Tricked may not have considered
themselves to be sex traffickers, they were.. 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 in time psychologists may have some
more detailed explanations and insights for the buyers, but that explanation sums it up pretty
well.

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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. Rodney Hill and Amanda
Walker-Rodriguez gives a great deal of insight as to what exactly law enforcement has been
doing and currently does to combat sex trafficking. 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
andWalker-Rodriguez). There are also many organizations such as the National Trafficking
Human Resource Center whose goal is to spread awareness, help victims;it operates an antitrafficking 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.
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

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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 were all proud, they were happy to
show these documentary makers the lifestyles they lead. Life-styles that more often than not
include sex trafficking.
Sex trafficking is modern slavery. We as fellow human beings cannot ignore it any longer.
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 victims of trafficking.
Behavioral signs may include constant anxiety and nervousness, taking extreme measures to
keep to themselves, 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

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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, Nicole Dutch,, Lisa Grace, and AmySolomon.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.
Brooks, Megan. Human Trafficking in North Carolina Endures as an Ignored Issue.
Theblubanner. The Blue Banner. 19 February 2014. Web. 25 April 2016.
Hill, Rodney, and Amanda Walker-Rodriguez,. Human Sex Trafficking. FBI. Federal Bureau
of Investigation. March 2011. Web. 3 March 2016.
Koltra, 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.
Smith, Heather M. "Sex Trafficking: Trends, Challenges, and the Limitations of International
Law." Human Rights Review. 12.3 (2011): 271-286. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Tricked. Dir. John Kieth Wasson, Jane Wells. First Run Features. 2013

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What is Human Trafficking? Caseact. CASE Act, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.