What is Sex Trafficking?
When most people think “sex trafficking,” what comes to mind may be popular Hollywood movies or crime time television. However, the reality is often a lot different than what the average person may understand.
As defined by the US Department of Homeland Security, sex trafficking is “a crime committed when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to perform commercial sex acts.”
A form of human trafficking, sex trafficking is modern day slavery.
In the United States and all across the world, women, children and men are sold to buyers who purchase them for sex every single day. In fact, this is happening in YOUR city:
There are over 26,000 trafficking fronts in the United States.
Sex trafficking victims may be of any race, age, gender or socioeconomic background.
Traffickers often target people they already know; they may be in a relationship with their victim or have familial ties.
Any minor engaging in commercial sex is legally considered a victim of sex trafficking.
Traffickers use many tactics to recruit their victims. According to Polaris, the top five methods by which victims are recruited into sex trafficking include being trafficked by an intimate partner, trafficked by a family member, tricked by a false job offer or advertisement, trafficked by someone posing as a benefactor, or recruited by means of other fraud or false promises.
Sex trafficking often begins through a process called grooming; traffickers lure their victim by building a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a person just so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
Traffickers may manipulate their victims through drug or alcohol use, trauma bonds, a false pretense of love and relationship, threats, or physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Victims may be trafficked through illicit massage parlors, escort services, strip clubs, bars, residential brothels, pornography, or pimp-controlled prostitution.*
Sex trafficking is much more common in our nation than the average person may think; in fact, our research shows
there are more sex trafficking points of sale in the United States than there are Starbucks. Sex trafficking can happen anywhere, in any town, even in a victim’s own home.
Although sex trafficking is extremely prevalent in our nation, it is vastly under-reported. Victims may avoid coming forward or seeking help due to fears, addictions, lies and relationships, or they may have been manipulated for so long they believe there is simply no other option for them.
At Rescue America, we work directly with survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation to give them another option - a way out and a path to new life. We exist to rescue, revive and empower the sexually exploited through a 24/7 hotline and emergency care program, and we believe there is a redemptive solution for every victim of sexual exploitation who desires to exit the life.
We know these survivors are worth so much more than the darkness they’ve been forced to live through, and we believe sex trafficking will not have the victory.
Will you take our hand and join us in the fight to bring freedom to the captives?
*Polaris Project “Types of Trafficking Cases in the US”
