Karhu 1

Mia Karhu
Ms. Elizabeth Caruso
UWRT 1103
03/01/16
Living for Someone Else
The first time I ever heard about sex trafficking was in a high school bathroom. I
overheard a conversation about a girl who had previously graduated from my high school getting
arrested for being involved in the sex trade in our city. At the time, I was not sure what the sex
trade was or that it was even an issue in my hometown to begin with. After doing a little research
on it, I became mortified at what my city had become.
Sex trafficking is defined as the use of force, false promises, and/or intimidation to
persuade someone else into giving the trafficker permission to sell their body for a profit ("What
Is Sex Trafficking? - Shared Hope International"). Most people may think that this kind of thing
does not happen often. One common misconception is that sex trafficking mainly occurs overseas. What most people do not know is that sex trafficking is not only just happening in their
country but even in their cities and small towns.
During my research process I came across many articles written by female survivors
trying to describe the horrible industry that is sex trafficking. A heart wrenching article written
by a woman named Tina Frundt who was involved first hand in sex trafficking allowed me to see
a point of view that would become one of the major influences of my paper and beliefs as a
whole. Tina was manipulated into the sex industry when she was only fourteen years old.

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Traffickers often use manipulation as their greatest tool in gaining total control over their victims
in order to get what they want (Frundt, 2005). Like many other teenage girls, Tina had the desire
in her heart to be loved but had not yet received the love that she had so greatly desired. So when
a man came into her life and showered her with the attention she had sought after, although he
was significantly older than she was, she couldnt help but fall in love with this stranger. How
could she have known all of the promises and kind words were only there to gain control over
her? Once he had gained this control, he was able to easily convince her to come live in
Cleveland with him where he sold her and several other girls into prostitution.
After reading this article I couldnt help but wonder how these pimps could so
shamelessly manipulate young girls. I found a source that helped better explain this to me.
Shared Hope International wrote that traffickers lure them through promises of protection, love,
adventure, [a] home, [and] opportunity (What Is Sex Trafficking? - Shared Hope
International"). There was something that connected all of these promises. These were promises
that any average human being would desire. It made me understand how a young girl could trade
her body so easily for something as simple as love or protection. Another source suggested that
at-risk youth, such as the homeless youth, were very often good targets for these traffickers to
pick up. I read in an ASPE article that in 1999 the homeless community made up of 1,682,900
youth and children in which 71 percent of these youth were considered at risk for prostitution
(Estes & Weiner, 2001). This wasnt a surprise though, given the way traffickers often lured girls
into the industry.
Now that I understood how these traffickers could convince girls, and sometimes boys,
into the industry I was left wondering how someone could get away with literally selling another
person. How something modern society has seemed to have left in the past still flourishes. This

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led to many other questions including: what are the laws set for sex trafficking both globally, and
locally? In trying to answer this question I ran into multiple sources telling me different things.
For example, one source told me the law could not get involved with sex trafficking because the
girls being exploited were, in some cases, over the legal age or giving consent for their
prostitution ("United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime"). Another source told me that the law
can arrest both the trafficker and the victim if they both get caught in the transaction of selling a
body (WTLC). The UNODC explained that Attempt[ing] to commit a trafficking offense,
participation as an accomplice in such an offense, [and/or] organizing or directing others to
commit trafficking ("United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime"). Though the ideals behind
these laws are well thought out before they are applied the actual effect they have on these girls
is almost always negative. These laws result in a swarm of already terrified sex workers, who
already have plenty reason not to come forward and speak out in the first place, even less likely
to come to the authorities.
Media plays a big role in the portrayal of the sex industry. In most countries, the public
looks to the media to educate them about social issues happening around the world, but media is
not doing a good job educating the public about sex trafficking. Most people are left unaware of
the sex trafficking industry altogether. How does the media portray the industry currently?
Typically, most media outlets do not describe the extent to which the human trafficking industry
destroys women and men but instead glances over the details in order to keep their audience
comfortable (Sillesen). The way the situation is framed in the media report can alter the opinion
of the viewer: "Terms such as 'prostitute' and 'hooker' were used more frequently than 'victim' or
'survivor'" (Bruxvoort). The public is now more inclined to believe that these girls involved in

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sex trafficking are giving consent for the selling of their bodies, which, in most cases, is
incorrect.
It is obvious when considering the information and statistics that sex trafficking is one of
the largest violations of human rights in the history of our species. The specific type of
malpractice dates back to the dawn of our species and it is disgusting. To consider ourselves to
live in a modern age is incorrect when you consider the fact that there is a large portion of the
population that is treated and traded as if they were some common good. Demeaned from being
human to being nothing more than an object for sexual gratification.

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Works Cited
"What Is Sex Trafficking? - Shared Hope International." Shared Hope International. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"Human Trafficking Into and Within the United States: A Review of the
Literature." ASPE. N.p., 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime." What Is Human Trafficking? N.p., n.d.
Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Frundt, Tina. "You Searched for Tina+frundt - Women's Funding Network."Womens
Funding Network. N.p., 28 Nov. 2005. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"WTLC." Human Trafficking. WTLC, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Sillesen, Lene Bech. "Covering Sex Trafficking: Journalists Can Do Better." CJR, 12
Aug. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
"Sex Trafficking | Human Trafficking for Sex - End Slavery Now." Sex Trafficking |
Human Trafficking for Sex - End Slavery Now. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Greve, Ashley. "Human Trafficking: What about the Men and Boys? Home HTC Blog
Human Trafficking: What about the Men and Boys?" Human Trafficking Center. N.p., n.d. Web.
21 Feb. 2016
Coorlim, Leif, and Dana Ford. "Sex Trafficking: The New American Slavery."CNN.
Cable News Network, 21 July 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

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Bruxvoort, Dana. "Is the Media Helping or Harming Anti-Trafficking Efforts? Home
HTC Blog Is the Media Helping or Harming Anti-Trafficking Efforts?" Human Trafficking
Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.