What is Sex Trafficking?

A brutal, hidden and almost-ignored crime is happening in our own neighborhoods all around the world. No matter where you are in the world, in Bangkok, Thailand or Lancaster, Pennsylvania (the heart of Amish country), it is being committed every day, every hour, every second in your own backyard. Women and children are being pimped for sex. Pimping may not sound so bad but it is... The music and entertainment industry has glamorized the pimp so much that most people think it's actually a good job that makes you a lot of money. SO WRONG...

A pimp is a sex trafficker. But what is sex trafficking you may ask. Sex trafficking is the exploitation of persons (even young men are victims) for sexual slavery. What is slavery? Benjamin Skinner, the author of " A Crime So Monstrous: Face-To-Face With Modern-Day Slavery", defines it as "a slave is a human being forced to work through fraud or threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence." That may sound not too bad either because the average American worker feels that way. But sexual slaves have been forced into prostitution against their will...

They are lured with jobs as waitresses, hairdressers and as nannies but end up in brothels were they are beaten and raped. And a lot of them are abducted right in the middle of city streets, especially young children. What do you think what has happened to most of the people on missing children and missing persons ads? I am afraid to admit that I will not be surprised to find out that a majority of them have become victims of sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is not yet a legal term but it should be as nations and US states are currently putting human trafficking in their law books. If a sex trafficker is arrested, they are usually only charged with prostitution. Prostitution is a slightly lighter charge than rape. And most of the time, victims of sex trafficking become criminals in the eye of the law because victims out of fear and/or attachment to their pimp/sex trafficker cannot admit that they are actually being coerced into sexual slavery, almost always forcefully pressured into doing sexual favors for strangers. Stories of sex trafficking victims are horrific... They are gang-raped, severely physically abused and murdered. These are the extremes but most victims who escape are seriously psychologically wounded and sometimes physically injured from STDs (sexual-transmitted diseases) and remnants of beatings and mutilations.. Even years after they've been freed from sexual slavery.

So, what are you going to do? Just sit there and read this post and do nothing... I hope not. I hope you are as enraged as I am against this terrible crime against humanity. There are many online resources out there; here are a few...

www.love146.org
www.ijm.org
shoerevolt.com
polarisproject.org
www.endslaverynow.com
www.gems-girls.org