Jayshawn Pickett
Professor Moore
History of sexuality
31, March 31, 2014
Sex
Trafficking in the U.S
When we hear the phrase “sex trafficking”, as citizens of
the U.S we automatically think of women and even kids overseas who are being
forced into the sex trade or are brought here to be sexually molested. Those
who think this are wrong, sex trafficking is taking place everywhere and it
could be taking place right on your street corner. Seeing young women on the
streets in skin tight dresses and extremely tall heels should be an implication
that its taking place. We often look away when we should be trying to help
these young girls. We only face this harsh reality when we hear about child
abuse that takes place physically and mentally. To understand the aspects of
sex trafficking in the States, we all have to think outside of what we have
seen or heard. We have to open our eyes to the mind altering control that these
pimps have and exercise on these young women and children. There have been
cases of girls as young as 9 years old that are being sold on the streets for
sex. The average age of a person entering the prostitution field is twelve to
fourteen years old. It all begins with these teens trying to find themselves.
Many of them are abused at a young age which pushes them to find comfort on the
streets. They are comforted by their pimp and often fall in love quickly. They
are often asked “why don’t you just leave?” or “Can’t you get out?”. We don’t
understand that they are practically kidnapped and would be tortured or even
killed if they tried to tell anyone. On television, we often see pimps being
uplifted and glamorized which is a great marketing tool for the streets. Tv
shows, music videos and movies often portray the lives of pimps and make it
seem like being a pimp is the way to go and the right thing to do. Us young
people even use the term “pimp” in our conversations with our peers, when we
really don’t understand the true reality of this term. Pimps often lurk in the
shadows looking for young girls and women who have a weakness. They then
exploit this weakness and manipulate
that person like a puppet. Once the pimp gets inside the womans head, she will
do whatever he wants and when he wants her to do it. The same with children,
but maybe a little easier. “Sex trafficking has been found in a wide variety of
venues of the overall sex industry, including residential
brothels, hostess
clubs, online escort
services, fake
massage businesses, strip
clubs, and street
parties” (1)
Polaris Project, "Sex trafficking in the U.S."
Accessed March 31, 2014. (1)http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking-in-the-us.
