Saturday, April 20#blacklivesmatter

Sex Trafficking Is Not One-Dimensional

The Bougie Aunt | Published 9:00 a.m. E.T. August 01, 2020

10 minute read

SUPPORT HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS!

Human trafficking is a horrible, disturbing activity that disrupts and stains a victim for their entire life. The links (paid links) I posted support organizations that empower victims of human trafficking. It helps them take back the power they have lost over their own life. I searched for products that I will be buying as well to guarantee the authenticity of me promoting them. But either way, if you click on the links, you will be helping rid this world of human trafficking. Enjoy the rest of the article!

WORLD HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS DAY

Two days ago, July 30, was World Human Trafficking Awareness Day. A day designed by the United Nations to shine light upon the ongoing conflict of human trafficking. Human trafficking is the force or coercion by one upon another for acts of labor or commercial sex. Human trafficking involves an extensive number of people, with 40.3 million of them being slaves. Why are we not taking more action to halt this practice? Let’s investigate the various forms of human trafficking and the legal protections behind it to find out why. This article will be part one of my discussion on human trafficking.

SEX TRAFFICKING

Sex trafficking tends to be the form of human trafficking highly conversed about the most. Mainly because sex tends to be a taboo topic. So, anything relating to sex, like sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography, etc. receives attention, but negative attention (shaming of the victim and oversimplified language). Negative attention prevents certain issues from being addressed. 

Within the United States, sexual exploitation is stereotyped through a naive teenage girl and a sadistic male predator. And while this stereotype is real for some, it eliminates key players and victims out of the picture. 

WOMEN CAN BE TRAFFICKERS TOO

Women traffickers and male victims are often overlooked in the realm of sex trafficking; the undermining stereotype places assumed roles on them. However, women play a bigger part in trafficking victims than one might think; about three in 10 sentenced human traffickers are women. This is noteworthy because of the language surrounding convicted women traffickers. It demonstrates how hard it is for law enforcement to rid their minds of the over-generalization where only women and children are victims in sex trafficking and men are the aggressors.

The language often vilifies the women who participate in trafficking by making a clear discernment between ‘traditional’ women and women traffickers. And, I am not justifying women traffickers’ behavior by any means, but it is harmful for reform. The reform is not adequately addressing why women become traffickers; women traffickers are just presumed to not be ‘true’ women. Because, the ‘ideal’ women in trafficking situations ‘should be’ in a dire state. Women’s reasons for involvement in sex trafficking remains mostly unknown. The only research currently out states women primarily become involved because of intimate relationships they have with the male trafficker. I believe more research would help surface underlying issues that would lead to better reform. 

MALE VICTIMS ARE JUST AS EQUAL AS FEMALE VICTIMS

Male victims are ‘sex deviants’ to law enforcement. The sex deviant archetype portrays male victims as consensually entering sex trafficking because they are sex addicts. Subsequently, it is harder for law enforcement to believe they need help. Because, their ‘masculinity’ should make them not susceptible to being taken advantage of. Additionally, homophobia is another significant reason why male victims bear shame and fear disclosing their story. Because, even in cases of rape or coercion, there is a cultural stigma around a man lying with another man. Consequently, there are skewed data statistics. Why? Well, male victims do not want to ‘out’ themselves and endure public shame. And, less males testifying results in skewed legislation. The skewed legislation presents itself through law enforcement often blaming the male victim for being a ‘sex addict’ even though male victims are not at fault for their explorations.

SUPPORT HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS!

Please click on the links to help support businesses who work with victims of human trafficking. I will greatly appreciate your efforts to support these businesses. Let me know how you like the products either in the comments, through my Instagram and Twitter pages, or both! #CommissionsEarned

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *