Yes, Sex Trafficking Is A Modern Issue
Humans are being sold against their will for sex.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines trafficking as, "carrying on trade, to trade, to buy and sell." The sex trafficking industry is the buying and selling of human beings. Sex trafficking happens daily and it does not seem to make headlines as often as it should. Our society is completely focused on the wrong issues and sex trafficking seems to be pushed aside. Sex trafficking is usually portrayed as an issue that happens in places across the globe but is also happening on our own soil in large quantities.
Not only are our own citizens being taken, illegal immigrants are being brought into our country. The United States government has reported that around 50,000 women and children alone are trafficked into America each year. That is 50,000 women and children that are being taken from their homes and families all around the word to be sold into a life of misery. The world of sex trafficking is a global issue that has been proceeding for centuries that is not spoken of enough and spares no victim, mother or child.
Ignorance of the hard facts of sex trafficking is one of the largest downfalls. I know that if enough people were on board, then this issue would cease to exist. I do not ever see this issue completely being stopped unfortunately due to the wickedness of the world. Although, I do think that as more awareness spreads more and more people can be saved from this life. Lily Lee, a writer for the Priscilla Papers, states the severity of the issue, "With a multibillion-dollar industry of an underground nature, with an enormously dark power behind it, obtaining accurate data on the extent of the problem is almost impossible."
The actual facts of what happens to these men, women, and children need to be released to the world. Issues such as sex trafficking that are seen as taboo are sugar coated for society. The horrible living conditions and forced abortions are not as talked about as they should be. Women and children are most commonly at risk, but men are not excluded from this issue. Roughly 2% of all victims are men, but this 2% adds up to about 400,000 people These men, women, and children did nothing to deserve what they are going through and for many, it was simply because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Karla Jacinto is a survivor of sex trafficking. She calculated that in the span of four years she was raped 43,200 times. Jacinto tells Rafael Romo, CNN journalist, the horrors of her experience, "He started beating me with a chain in all of my body. He punched me with his fists, he kicked me, pulled my hair, spit at me in the face, and that day was when he also burned me with the iron." Jacinto is living proof of the issues that organizations try to show to the world. Hearing the devastating news from someone who experienced these things hopefully makes the issue come to life so others will want to help. Jacinto was 16 when she was rescued which left her with a life ahead of her. She is a lucky one that received help, but not all victims get out of the industry with help to cope.
Victims need to receive help and know that what happened to them is not their fault. Instead of focusing so much attention on things of this world that do not matter such as trends or celebrities, we should put our attention on the fact that human beings are being treated inhumanely and forced to do horrible things against their will. Along with the physical pain that the women must endure during their experience, the lasting emotional effects can be more deadly than any disease. Because of the lack of knowledge, survivors are usually not given the help that they need to carry on. Survivors are all impacted in some way when they are taken out the cycle.
For many, it is physical issues that they must live with for the rest of their life and many will have to battle with mental illness such as social anxiety. This can become a huge barrier for these victims to have a better future and get a job to be able to take care of themselves. Many have very low self-esteem and think that what they have gone through is their fault. Some of these girls will even let themselves fall back into the lifestyle because they feel as if they have no other use in society. If the world knew more about these issues, more victims could have help and the ring would be immensely decreased.
Sex trafficking is seen as a global issue, but it is happening on our own soil. In 2010 Minnesota and Tennessee had cases of a large sex trafficking ring being busted. The rings that were busted were filled with Somali youth. A warrant was finally granted when Somali parents that were living in these areas went to the police enough time with their concerns about gang activity. Most of the girls that were found in these rings were under the age of 13. The women in the ring were from a country of low literacy.
Actress Demi Moore had a perfect statement on the issue of trafficking in America, "I think many Americans are more willing to accept that there are girls enslaved in Cambodia or Delhi, and really can't imagine that it's happening right here…As a society, we owe it to them to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else."
She is completely right and I think that it is amazing that such a famous person has addressed an issue that seems to never be brought up.
Even though these rings were on American soil, it proves that being uneducated affects this world. If more Americans knew what was going on than the industry could become substantially smaller. Organizations that are already working should advertise their mission more to get the word out to more people. With social media information can be spread like wildfire. The knowledge of rings such as this one could help to prevent another to open. Countries that are less developed, less wealthy, and less politically stable are at maximum risk for sex trafficking, Lily Lee writes in the journal Priscilla Papers that, "Ninety-seven percent of CSE victims are recruited due to poverty-related issues, and more than 32 percent of females in the country [of Cambodia] are illiterate."
If women were more educated they would have an easier time of getting a stable job that would keep them from falling into the sex industry. This is one of the reasons why this type of issue is pushed aside in developed countries such as America. Countries that are more developed are seen as more of a destination site for the victims to be sold to. It seems impossible that this sort of inhumanity can happen in America, such a well-developed country, but it happens daily. America statistically should not have sex trafficking, considering the low poverty level. This is one of the most mind-blowing pieces of the entire issue.
On the other end of the worldly spectrum is Nepal. Nepal is ranked 18 in the poorest countries in the world. Because of this, Nepal is a large site for women and children to be taken from. 42% are unemployed and 38% are below the poverty line. The victims are unfortunately not an asset to the country because they are mostly women and children. When they are taken the country as a whole is not affected. Women in Nepal cannot own property and are seen as their husband's property. Many of Nepali women are sold to India to work in the brothels there. On the way to their destination, the victims go through unimaginable circumstances. They are raped, gang raped, beaten, and have their breasts and genitals burned with cigarettes. The women would also undergo, "... starvation, coercive drug use...ruptured spleens, broken bones that never healed, stabbings, and gunshot wounds".
When they reach their destination and are sold to their new owner, they will be forced to have sex with paying customers and often have to clean.
One survivor spoke of her experience,
"I couldn't even see the light outside. Everywhere, there were high walls and pillars. Only very small windows. If sometime, we wanted to look outside, we looked through that very, very, small window. And sometimes, when we got sick, we were taken outside for injections. That was the only time we could see sunlight. Our only air, inside, was from a fan..."
They are not seen or treated as equals, much less human. The trafficking world is out of hand and is expanding more towards taking children. Children are easier to coerce into the industry because their innocence leaves them more susceptible to the deviations of the world.
Child victims of sex trafficking in Nepal have gone up 7% in only three years. These children are sold into adult areas such as dance restaurants, massage parlors, and carpet or garment factories. The children in some situations have to perform laborious tasks as well as sexual acts. Asia buys a lot of their slaves from Nepal. The victims typically go through a system through India, Pakistan and Malaysia. Thirty-six percent of the victims are younger than sixteen according to the Plos ONE academic search premier. Non-government organizations have attempted to develop interventions that will bring the issue of trafficking up. They are working to make this issue commonly known so that more solutions can be made. These organizations have also worked to help the survivors of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, most of these organizations have been of little help. These organizations seem to always have a glimmer of a spotlight and then something new in the world will catch society's eye.
If organizations that want to help this issue want to make an actual impact they should get a public figure to help spread their news and use social media as the main platform for information. If more well-known icons advocated for these organizations there would be a better chance at change in the sex trafficking world. People are more accepting of information given to them by someone that they admire or look up to. The organizations sending out everyday people to talk about what must be done does not have a substantial effect. This decrease in sex trafficking would lead to a decrease in the number of women in the industry which would then decrease the number of unborn babies that are killed daily in this world.
Abortion is another major part of sex trafficking that is even less talked about than trafficking as a whole. Abusive relationships and sex trafficking are similar in that of the issue of pregnancy and abortion. Men do not want their slaves to have children as it would be a money or space burden to them. Many of the men punish the woman if she gets pregnant, as if she had any way to prevent it. They use this as a way to try and show their dominance over the woman. They will talk down to the woman and say that it is her fault and that it is up to her to get rid of her own child. Men will often time beat the stomach of the woman or perform their own form of abortion. Both of these methods not only kill the baby but greatly impact the body of the woman. The woman will be in immense physical pain and abortions have very high risks of mental illness afterward. If a woman says that she will not have an abortion the man will often time threaten the lives of the woman's family or her own life.
On the other side of pregnancy, in some areas, pregnant women are becoming a new consumer fetish. Pregnant women can sometimes be sold for more money. In this case, the owner will get the woman pregnant on purpose. Malee Lerdmaleewong and Caroline Francis, writers for Journal of Buddhist Ethics, state that, "The woman will have to carry her baby until almost full term and then the man will kill her baby. If the woman gets an abortion at this point she is usually forced to pay for the abortion herself." Many women have no money to their name, so their owner will put the abortion money as money that the woman owes. This causes the woman to have to work even more. Some of the methods of cheap abortion are, "insertion of sharp pieces of wood, candles and medicinal or herbal compresses; using hot stones...on the lower abdomen; medicines in toxic amounts to induce a miscarriage."
Abortion is never right, but it is especially sickening that these women have to go through this against their will. Women are also commonly given sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic inflammatory disease, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. Another reason why sex trafficking needs to be talked about more. These women should be able to get the health care that they need to get their bodies back to a comfortable and healthy state.
Along with the health of their bodies, their mental health needs to be addressed as well. Mental health of the victims can be one of the hardest issues that the survivor must deal with forever and attempt to overcome. These victims have been living their lives in fear for however long they have been in this world. They have been hearing constant threats towards themselves and their families. The victims have also been dealing with the thoughts of if it is their fault or how they got to this state. If a woman had to have an abortion then she is now dealing with the mental stress of that as well. All of the issues I have stated wind their way down to a mental health issue. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry did a study on survivors of sexual abuse, "Their review identified four studies of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation that had reported mental health outcomes data from which very high rates of anxiety (48%–97.7%), depression (54.9%–100%) and PTSD (19.5%–77%) were reported."
These numbers are high and it is really upsetting that they are as high as they are because these survivors should be able to get the help that they need.
Reintegrating into society can be one of the biggest obstacles these victims must accomplish. They have been stripped of their humanity and taken out of the normal world completely. Being sick for only one day from class causes a student to fall behind; being taken from society completely for years makes it next to impossible to catch up. Many of the victims have a perverted look on the world or themselves because their captor had brainwashed them.
An anonymous survivor spoke with Kristin A. Hom and Stephanie J. Woods, writers for Issues In Mental Health Nursing, of her thoughts of how to help women like herself, "I think there need to be places where women can go safely, any type of housing, maybe that be a safe location where they can live or some drop-in center so they can go ... where they can live and know that they are anonymous... I think one of the fears that a lot of the women have is….that they're going to get punished."
This woman's idea could help the survivors immensely. A home for the survivors to be around professionals that are equipped to help them with their needs is essential. Meals, a place to stay and a job should not be stressors for the survivors when they are first saved. A home where the survivors could speak of their experiences and be taken care of. They could also be given resources to help them to get a substantial job once they feel that they can go out on their own. The survivors should be cleared by their therapist from the home so that they are released when they are actually ready, not when they think that they are. Homes such as the one described would significantly drop the rate of people that relapse into the industry because they feel like they have nowhere else to go.
Once cleared from the home, the survivors should be kept up with by their therapist. Weekly meals could be provided for them as well if they need to save money and cannot afford food. I have seen a similar situation modeled for homeless men. The men were given resources to get back on their feet and meals. The rate of homeless men in my area dropped. Everyone falls at some point and the survivors should forever feel as if they have a team behind them that is rooting for them and will be there to pick them up if they fall.
Sex trafficking will never end, yet it could be significantly reduced if the ideas stated were enforced. The lack of knowledge that the world has on this issue is half the problem. The next step needs to be giving the survivors the substantial help that they require. The abuse that these people must endure is sickening. The deaths of unborn babies is wrong. Lives need to be saved, both mother and child, and the rings around the world must be put to a stop. In a perfect world, we could stop them all. As for now, we must do what we can to raise awareness and be thankful every day that we have security in the fact that we know how our next day will unfold.
