Nakia Greaves

Essay 3
Human Trafficking/Sex Trafficking
What is Human/Sex Trafficking? Well human trafficking is an illegal
movement of humans for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or
commercial sexual exploitation. It's a form of modern day slavery which
exists throughout the United States and globally. Women and children are
forced against their will to pay their debts to their pimps by personal services
all around the world. As a nation we need to be attentive of what the
meaning of human trafficking is, how it works, how to end it and help our
women and children in need. In this easy the main focus will be on
human/sex trafficking within the United States and that it should have more
attention than it receives. Things that will be touched upon are how people
are subjected to human trafficking in certain areas, conditions of victims
while being trafficked, and how we can reduce the amount of people being
trafficked. Just because you arent aware of it doesnt mean its not happing
around you.
Since human/sex trafficking is dominantly known for happening in
other countries, like India (14 million), China (3.2 million) and Thailand (2
million), a lot of people think it doesnt occur in the United States. But
according to research, statistic and facts human/sex trafficking is a big deal
in the United States as it is in other countries. On a national scale, the United
States is affected by human trafficking in numerous ways. Some ways that
the United States are affected by human/sex trafficking is that all over the
world women and children are being sold into our country, about 100,000300,000 kids in the United States are forced into prostitution each year and
12-14 year old girls are forced into prostitution. (Culp-Ressler, "Exposing the
Forced Prostitution and Human Trafficking of American Children").

The human trafficking industry within the United States makes about
9.8 billion alone. Some areas that are involved in human/sex trafficking
within the United States are Denver, Colorado which makes about 39.9
million and Atlanta which makes about 290 million. (Culp-Ressler, "Exposing
the Forced Prostitution and Human Trafficking of American Children"). Human
trafficking also takes place at big events such as the super bowl. The super
bowl events are one of the premier activity rates of human trafficking
(Carroll, "Does Sex Trafficking Increase around the Super Bowl?). The most
widespread states within the United States involved in human/sex trafficking
are California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
Texas is one of the main routes for human trafficking; its widely
consider a major destination. Its ranked number two for human trafficking
crime right after California. A report from The Schapiro Group found that on
a typical weekend night in the state of Texas, an estimated 188 girls under
18 years of age are commercially sexually exploited through internet
classified sex ads. Dallas, Austin, San Antonia and Houston are the major
capitals that are involved in human trafficking. Houston holds all the features
that make a community vulnerable to human trafficking. Houston is homebased to a large number of sexually oriented businesses such as strip clubs,
massage parlors and modeling studios. As far as Dallas, Austin and San
Antonia theyre home-based to universities and professional sporting events
that appeal to many folks. They also host major events and conventions,
which creates greater demand for the sex trafficking industry. Annually there
are approximately 6,000 runways which are then lured into sex trafficking
after 48 hours of leaving home in Dallas and in 2007 the Dallas police
department identified 119 minors that were exploited for sex trafficking (Ed.
Robert Sanborn and Jennifer Solak. Robert Sanborn, The State of Human
Trafficking at Risk."). Between the years January 2007 and September 2008
about 1,229 incidents were identified of human trafficking. Another
important fact to know about human trafficking in Texas is that the National

human trafficking hotline receives more calls from Texas than any other
states in the United States (Center for Public Policy Center, Texas Human
Trafficking Fact Sheet.). California is also one of the hot spot for
international trafficking. Their big capitals such as San Francisco, Los Angeles
and San Diego are high intensity of child prostitution. Between the years
2010-2012 approximately 1,277 known victims have been identified and
1,798 individuals have been arrested. About 72% of trafficked people are
American citizens in California and traffickers reach out/find their victims
through recruiting and advertising online (Center for Public Policy Center,
California Human Trafficking Fact Sheet.").
Pimps, hustlers, sex traffickers you name it, all find ways to recruit
women and children into the sex industry and it isnt pretty. Young women
are lured with false promises of work and false marriages that end up being a
burden situation. Women are sometimes sold into the sex industries by their
husbands or boyfriends and children are usually sold by their parents.
Women and children are also sold in the sex industry by being kidnapped or
online advertising. Sex trafficker victims are frequently endangered to debt
bondage. Debt bondage is person's pledge of their labor or services as
security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation (Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, "Debt Bondage."). The pimps, hustlers, prostitution
manger has various ways and means to mold their victims. Certain ways that
they do that is by starvation, beatings, physiological abuse, rape, gang rape,
no access to phone, the victims are forced to take drugs and they also face
many health risk while in the hands of a pimp.
Some people may debate that human trafficking is not that remarkable
in the United States because they generally dont hear a lot of cases about it,
and it's a topic that politicians dont generally speak about. But just because
you dont hear about it doesnt mean its not happening. If people in the
United States were more aware of what goes on in the human/sex trafficking
industry, we as a nation would be able to help reduce the numbers of people

being forced into the industry and also victims that are hurting
psychologically and physically. Sadly, there isnt a lot of support for victims.
The psychological impacts that the victims may suffer from are isolation,
hopelessness, low self-esteem, self-blame, depression, and fear of men.
Victims may have feelings of disgust and worthlessness. Some may attempt
drug overdose or suicide by poisoning or hanging. On the physical side, there
are more long-term effects. There are lots of human sex slaves that are
exposed to sexual transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Women are being
forced to have unwanted pregnancies and abortions. And not to forget the
health risk they faced such as scabies, tuberculosis and hepatitis. If people
were more educated on human trafficking, they can help spread awareness
by spreading the word, starting hotlines and starting organizations and look
for the signs that someone is being trafficked such as, not being able to
come and go as pleases, has a pimp, not being able to speak for themselves
and needing a third party. These things can help reduce the problems that
victims are facing on a day to day basis and can help reduce the amount of
victims that are being taken within the United States. If you see something,
say something.
To be brief even though some human/sex trafficking cases go unheard
within the United States doesnt mean its not relevant. A lot of kids are
being forced into the industry each year, the sex trafficking industry in the
United States makes a lot of coins, there are a various amount of states
involved within the United States, victims are put into serious and damaging
living circumstances that contribute to physical and psychological long-term
effects. Being more aware of this situation we can help our victims who are
suffering and help reduce the amount of people being trafficked, nationally,
one step at a time and eventually globally with the spread of knowledge.

Citations:

"California Human Trafficking Fact Sheet." N.p., n.d. Web. Oct.-Nov.

2015.
Culp-Ressler, Tara. "Exposing The Forced Prostitution And Human
Trafficking Of American Children." ThinkProgress Exposing The Forced
Prostitution And Human Trafficking Of American Children Comments. Tara
Culp-Ressler, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
"Debt Bondage." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.
"Managing the School or College and Its Staff." Human Resource
Management in Schools and Colleges (2009): 31-58. Web. Oct.-Nov. 2015.
"Texas Human Trafficking Fact Sheet." N.p., n.d. Web. Oct.-Nov. 2015.
Sex Trafficking." Polaris. N.p., 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.