tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/sex-trafficking-8371/articlesSex trafficking – The Conversation2023-07-24T12:15:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2099442023-07-24T12:15:09Z2023-07-24T12:15:09ZMassachusetts is updating its sex education guidelines for the first time in 24 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537922/original/file-20230717-232909-qmmoii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5472%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A dozen U.S. states still do not mandate sex education in schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-young-group-of-multiracial-students-hanging-royalty-free-image/1415841874?phrase=high+school+classroom+students&adppopup=true">Xavier Lorenzo/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In June 2023, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shared with the public a draft of a new framework that will guide <a href="https://www.doe.mass.edu/sfs/healthframework/">how elementary, middle and high schools in the state approach sex education</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/health/1999/1099.pdf">last time Massachusetts issued guidelines</a> that specify expectations for what Massachusetts students learn about sex in schools was 24 years ago, when most U.S. homes were not yet internet-connected. </p>
<p>The new guidelines are part of a larger framework that addresses many aspects of health, including physical education, nutrition and hygiene. They include important improvements over the 1999 version, including standards that pertain to the well-being of gender and sexual minority populations. That’s noteworthy, given that other U.S. states have recently <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/19/florida-bans-teaching-gender-identity-sexuality-through-12-th-grade/11695779002/">prohibited classroom education about gender identity and sexual orientation</a>.</p>
<p>The draft Massachusetts framework has been in development since 2018 but is not yet final. After a public comment period, which is open until Aug. 28, the framework is subject to approval by the commonwealth’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and could be adopted as early as the fall of 2023.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teenager lies on his bed while looking at his laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537923/original/file-20230717-184356-u9hkhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">For information about sex, young people turn to online pornography more often than talking to friends or parents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenage-boy-in-his-bedroom-using-a-laptop-royalty-free-image/1097875056?phrase=high+school+students+watching+disturbing+images+online&adppopup=true">Richard Bailey/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>I’m a public health researcher who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BgjSYDgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">focuses on sex education and healthy relationships</a>. I have co-developed and tested a new sex education module for high school students in Massachusetts with funding from the National Institutes of Health, so I read the part of the framework that deals with sex education with great interest. </p>
<p>I’ll provide some more detail on the Massachusetts framework below, but first it is important to understand the state of sex education in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Sex education and pornography</h2>
<p>Many young people in the U.S are not getting the sex education that they need. Currently, only 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia mandate any kind of sex education. As a result, it isn’t surprising that <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/adolescents-teens-receipt-sex-education-united-states">fewer than half</a> of U.S. adolescents say that they have received information about where to get birth control before having heterosexual intercourse for the first time. And the racial disparities are concerning: Black and Hispanic teens are less likely than white teens to receive education about prevention of sexually transmitted infections or HIV, or <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.08.027">where to get birth control</a>. </p>
<p>So where do teenagers and young adults go to get information about sex, in the absence of comprehensive sex education at school? </p>
<p>According to a nationally representative <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01877-7">study that my team published in 2021</a>, young adults in the U.S. are more likely to turn to pornography than to their friends, parents, doctors or any other source. That’s a problem, because pornography isn’t designed to relay medically accurate or helpful information about sex — it’s designed to get clicks or likes, make money and entertain the viewer.</p>
<p>Massachusetts is not one of the states that mandates sex education. However, <a href="https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section1">state law does require</a> all public schools to teach health education. As a local control state, Massachusetts issues frameworks and guidance and allows local school districts boards to decide how to implement them. This approach will continue with the new framework once adopted.</p>
<p>Importantly, the new Massachusetts framework recognizes the prevalence of pornography, and it addresses other critical sex education topics for the modern world. </p>
<p>For example, the framework specifies that in grades 6 to 8, adolescents should learn about laws related to sexual digital imagery. This is important because otherwise they may not realize that possessing or sending nude digital photos of people younger than 18 years old is a crime even if the sender is also a minor. </p>
<p>The framework also suggests that adolescents should be able to analyze similarities and differences between friendships, romantic relationships and sexual relationships, and discuss various ways to show affection within each. It expects them to be able to define sexual consent and describe factors, such as drug and alcohol use, that can influence capacity to give consent. It recommends teaching strategies to help students recognize when someone is grooming or recruiting a young person for possible commercial sexual exploitation like human trafficking.</p>
<p>While these points are strong, I would like to see a recommendation that schools tell youth that mainstream online pornography is not a good source of information about sexual behavior.</p>
<h2>A series of online games</h2>
<p>Our research team, which includes <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sph/profile/kimberly-nelson/">Kimberly Nelson of Boston University,</a>, <a href="https://sph.unc.edu/adv_profile/julia-campbell/">Ph.D student Julia Campbell of the University of North Carolina</a> and BU <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomeka-frieson/">masters student Tomeka Frieson</a>, has been working on new sex education teaching materials for Massachusetts high schools for <a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/search/2sD11hHbEka-FPXly3o0yw/project-details/10406366">the past two years</a>. As researchers, we endeavored to create an online sex education module that reflected the best available evidence and feedback that we got from young people. </p>
<p>Our teaching materials are in the form of short, online games that students engage with on their own time, and then come back to the classroom to discuss. One of the games has students order the effectiveness of 11 different contraceptive methods. Another provides them with information about ways pornography can provide unhelpful expectations about sex and sexuality. A third game invites students to act as an advice columnist to solve relationship problems for peers. </p>
<p>When we tested the materials with 54 teens ages 14-18 years old in Massachusetts in 2022, we found a statistically significant positive impact on a range of outcomes, from increased condom use to fewer experiences of abuse by a dating partner. We will partner with a number of Massachusetts high schools in the next several years to continue testing the impact of our module. </p>
<h2>Reading the framework</h2>
<p>In reading the new Massachusetts guidelines, our team noted several strengths of its approach. </p>
<p>First, the framework is evidence-based. In other words, the recommendations reflect the latest and best available research about how adolescents develop, learn and behave with regard to sex and sexuality. </p>
<p>Second, the guidance is developmentally and age-appropriate, with different recommendations for different grade levels, and with careful attention to diverse perspectives, cultural differences, and the importance of delivering material in a way that would not traumatize students.</p>
<p>Third, the framework encourages youths’ critical thinking, reasoning, decision-making and problem-solving. </p>
<p>It is my hope that Massachusetts will strengthen the guidance on pornography. If it does, the new framework will be well positioned to serve as a national model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Rothman receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>Twelve states do not require sex education of any kind.Emily Rothman, Professor and Chair, Occupational Therapy; and Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1896882023-05-09T20:05:49Z2023-05-09T20:05:49ZLolita: why this ‘vivid, illicit’ portrait of a pervert matters at a time of endless commodification of young girls<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523976/original/file-20230503-16-ulz43x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5168%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In an occasional series, our authors make the case for or against controversial books.</em></p>
<p>In his afterword “On a Book Entitled Lolita”, Vladimir Nabokov never mentions the word paedophile. He never mentions the word rape either. </p>
<p>In his mind, Lolita is not about a man sexually and mentally abusing a 12-year-old girl. The novel is about him getting at America. Which is about as damning an assessment of a culture as you’re ever going to get. </p>
<p>Nabokov explains that having “invented” Europe and his native Russia in many critically acclaimed books, he turned an outsider’s eye on the Land of the Free. In effect – though he says he didn’t mean to – he ripped it to shreds. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cover of the first edition of Lolita.</span>
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</figure>
<p>Some might find Nabokov’s self assessment deliberately evasive. We sense in his elegant desperation the desire not to have his masterwork reduced to a scandalous headline – to “the psychological urges of a pervert” – and thus to the very thing that drove the masses toward it. This is a sleight of hand that today would be advised by a shiny PR team and a coterie of lawyers wringing their hands (but not written nearly as well).</p>
<p>When Nabokov was writing Lolita, he and his wife Vera were crisscrossing the United States butterfly hunting. The specimens they collected, pinned and captured under cut glass are preserved in museums all over the country like a trail of breadcrumbs. </p>
<p>Nabokov wants you to see the novel as he does: as points on a map, literal and figurative. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>And when I thus think of Lolita, I seem always to pick out for special delectation such images as Mr Taxovich, or that class list of Ramsdale school, or Charlotte saying “waterproof”, or Lolita in slow motion advancing toward Humbert’s gifts, or the pictures decorating the stylised garret of Gaston Godin, or the Kasbeam barber (who cost me a month of work), or Lolita playing tennis, or the hospital at Elphinstone, or pale pregnant, beloved, irretrievable Dolly Schiller dying in Gray Star […] or the tinkling sound of the valley town coming up the mountain trail […] these are the nerves of the novel. These are the secret points, the subliminal coordinates by means of which the book is plotted.</p>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503528/original/file-20230109-18-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vladimir Nabokov.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Giuseppe Pino/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>His assessment rings true, though in my mind the sensations land differently. For Nabokov, the “hollows” and “byroads” of Lolita glow “like a pilot light somewhere in the basement”; the novel “throbs” in his “own private thermostat” as a constant comforting presence. For me, Lolita cracks open the mercury. </p>
<p>I have read Lolita every decade since I was a teenager. And in the roll call of memory the book unfurls in a cinematic wave: vivid, illicit, frightening. I too see Lolita advancing in slow motion toward Humbert’s gifts – and a shiver of recognition runs through me. </p>
<p>As a teenager, I wanted to be Lolita – just as so many good girls in the West in the late 20th century were effectively trained to do. I coveted the false power of the ingenue in secret. I imagined myself in the car with Humbert in the dead of night on those long empty highways, as he drives Lolita away from safety to those functional motels – the “clean, neat, safe nooks” where “they could make it up gently”. </p>
<p>Humbert’s male gaze is like a living thing, visible, hanging like a seductive shroud over everything, a terrible forcefield capable of creating a ruinous edge of competition and jealousy between mother and daughter and drawing Lolita closer and closer to him. </p>
<p>In my twenties, I wanted to save Lolita because, as Humbert observes, she has “nowhere else to go”. </p>
<p>In my thirties, I wanted to be Nabokov instead. The recognition of what he was able to conjure on the page ignited a wholly different sense of shock and awe. </p>
<p>In my forties, my only aim was not to get too political about it. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sue Lyon and James Mason in Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Lolita (1962).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
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<h2>The problem with censorship</h2>
<p>Reconsidering Lolita in the 21st century raises interesting questions about the relation of literature to censorship, book banning, and the contemporary equivalent of expressive erasure, cancel culture. </p>
<p>The manuscript of Lolita was initially rejected by every American publisher who considered it. It was eventually published in France in 1955 by the notoriously fearless Maurice Girodias, who also published English language versions of books censored in Britain and America, including works by Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Samuel Beckett and William Burroughs, among others. </p>
<p>After its publication, Lolita was not officially banned by the US government, but it was banned by various local jurisdictions, schools and outlets. It was also banned as obscene for periods of time in France, England, New Zealand, Canada, Argentina and South Africa. In Australia – recognised by many literary researchers as one of the harshest regulators in the world – readers were denied access until 1965. </p>
<p>These bans were designed to protect morality and uphold national order. Researcher Nicole Moore suggests that, in the new millennium, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The idea of there being a nation state that can draw a border around itself to say, “we are like this, our reading public is like this, and different to this other reading public”, that is just a notion that has gone with the wind. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not so. Nation states don’t censor as much as they used to, if at all, but the machinations of censorship continue in arbitrary ways. In April 2022, PEN America released an <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hTs_PB7KuTMBtNMESFEGuK-0abzhNxVv4tgpI5-iKe8/edit#gid=1171606318">Index of School Book Bans</a> – the first time the organisation has conducted a formal count of this kind. It was compiled as a response to “rapidly expanding scope of censorship over the last ten months”, during which 98% of titles were deemed to have been banned in certain jurisdictions without due process (though what that process might be, exactly, remains unclear). </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503529/original/file-20230109-15-o9t9r7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
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<p>Lolita features on the list only once. According to today’s arbiters of morality, the most dangerous books in American schools are not Lolita or the Marquis de Sade’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel)">Justine</a> or Pauline Réage’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/story-of-o-9780552089302">Story of O</a>. In fact, risqué literary classics feature only rarely. </p>
<p>The index reads instead like a sad denial of contemporary adolescent identity, particularly in relation to race and sexuality. The majority are Young Adult titles which position LGBTQIA+ and multicultural characters front and centre. </p>
<p>George M. Johnson’s <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/all-boys-arent-blue-9780241515037">All Boys Aren’t Blue</a>, a book of essays about growing up Black and queer, is banned in over 29 jurisdictions. <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gender-Queer-A-Memoir/Maia-Kobabe/9781549304002">Gender Queer</a>, a graphic memoir written and illustrated by Maia Kobabe and celebrated for its coming of age exploration of non-binary identity, is banned in over 40 – from New York to Florida, Washington, Virginia and Texas. </p>
<p>This deliberate erasure of queer voices and stories highlights the problem with censorship of any kind. Which books get to go through to the keeper cannot depend on who is drawing the lines in the sand, yet this is ultimately how all censorship works. </p>
<p>If the power to ban an artwork on ideological grounds exists, then the capacity to do so cannot be limited. We cannot decry the banning of books in one arena yet cancel them in another – this is intellectually confused. No less importantly, the impulse to suppress challenging or disturbing art transfers the burden of reality onto the art rather than onto ourselves. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/marguerite-duras-called-the-lover-a-load-of-shit-but-her-novel-about-her-affair-as-a-15-year-old-stuns-with-its-emotional-force-185779">Marguerite Duras called The Lover 'a load of shit', but her novel about her affair as a 15-year-old stuns with its emotional force</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The afterlife of Lolita</h2>
<p>In 2021, Jenny Minton Quigley, the daughter of Walter J. Minton, who first published Lolita in America in 1958, edited a collection of essays titled <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/lolita-in-the-afterlife-9781984898838">Lolita in the Afterlife</a>. A fierce advocate of unfiltered artistic expression, just as her father had been, Quigley grew up in “the house that Lolita built”. She wanted to test the enduring power of Lolita in the glare of the #MeToo movement and the fraught political climate of Trump’s America. </p>
<p>In Lolita in the Afterlife, Nabokov is critiqued and celebrated. The writers pick apart Lolita’s rendering in film, her appropriation by the fashion industry as a “paean to white femininity”, the limits and capacity of the empathetic imagination, and the ugly beauty of Nabokov’s prose. Roxane Gay describes him as a “tricky bastard”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523963/original/file-20230503-14-oc0x2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The volume also considers the experiences of reading Lolita in trigger-happy colleges, in the oppressive gloom of lockdown, and in Iraq, where “pleasure marriages” between men and girls as young as nine are still culturally sanctioned. </p>
<p>But it is the final essay, “I Cannot Get Out Said the Starling” by Mary Gaitskill, that best captures the distinction between reading a work of art and holding the work or the writer responsible for the real trespasses operating outside of its imaginative orbit. </p>
<p>Moral outrage over a book is a convenient deflection and does nothing to stem the tide of abhorrent behaviours. In fact, it fuels appetite for the works in question. Lolita has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. </p>
<p>Gaitskill gets this. Like Nabokov, she is a writer unafraid to commit to the page what others dare not say. In her short story collection <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/bad-behavior-9780241383100">Bad Behaviour</a>, she digs around remorselessly in the grey areas of human psyche and interaction. She turns a nonjudgmental eye on Lolita: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Truly, the darkness – the cruelty – of the story is not obscured but <em>heightened</em> by the beauty of the language through the force of artistic contrast, and that contrast is stunning, making the reader feel the wild, often terrible incongruity of human life on earth. This incongruity – the natural coexistence of beauty and destruction, goodness and predatory devouring, cruelty and tenderness, a world in which countless torturer’s horses scratch their “innocent behinds on countless trees” – is a core mystery of life. And that mystery is the true heart of Lolita.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What emerges in Lolita in the Afterlife is a recognition that outrage misdirected at the book or the writer does nothing to negate the realities aligned to it. </p>
<p>Despite all the noise and the banning, Nabokov’s novel still stands. It stands next to pornographic spin-offs and Lolita lollipops and the seemingly endless commodification and exploitation of young girls and women. It stands in the middle of a global rise in human sex trafficking in the 21st century, with American men as the biggest consumers.</p>
<p>It stands alongside alarmingly high rates of the abuse of children. A <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=186230">Child Maltreatment Study</a> recently released by the Queensland University of Technology suggests that 65% of Australians have experienced some form of abuse as minors. The monster is still in the room. </p>
<p>Almost 70 years since it was first published, Lolita continues to be read from Tokyo to Tibet to Tehran. Because it needs to be. Because books like Lolita are a reckoning. For Nabokov, Lolita wasn’t the butterfly – she was the pin.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The outrage misdirected at Lolita – and its author – does nothing to negate the realities it reflects. Reading Nabokov’s novel now raises questions about censorship, book banning and human nature.Sally Breen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Publishing, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1991942023-04-27T13:01:39Z2023-04-27T13:01:39ZSlavery’s historical link to marriage is still at play in some African societies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508608/original/file-20230207-18-9ckb4k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women in parts of the world are victims of slavery</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Governments and religious institutions regulate marriage. Such regulations are heavily laden with specific moral ideas and cultural taboos. There are heated debates around what counts as “proper” marriage: should polygamy or monogamy be preferred? What should be the minimal age for marriage? </p>
<p>Despite these debates, all contemporary societies see marriage as a sacrosanct institution that deserves legal protection. Not so slavery. </p>
<p>Today slavery is abolished in all countries. But 250 years ago various forms of slavery would have been legal on all continents. </p>
<p>During the period of legal slavery, marriage and slavery were closely interconnected and sometimes overlapped. Slave owners could force their slaves to marry, remain unmarried, or separate from their spouses. They could also marry them. </p>
<p>The forms of power that allowed slaveholders to coerce enslaved persons into unwanted marriages (or out of wanted ones) haven’t disappeared. </p>
<p>First, slavery has not ended. African women and children are caught in illegal networks controlled by sex traffickers who cater for a persistent demand in vulnerable (and therefore sexually abusable) persons. This, today, is outlawed and prosecutable as either slavery or forced marriage. But in the past such a demand was largely met through the provision of enslaved persons who could be used for sexual and conjugal purposes. </p>
<p>This points to <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Trafficking+in+Slavery%E2%80%99s+Wake">continuities</a> in the types of services required, as well as the traffic geographies that connect vulnerable people from the South to demand in the North and Near East, as well as from poorer peripheries to urban centres within different regions in the South. </p>
<p>Second, during <a href="https://csiw-ectg.org/survivors-hearing-for-reparations-for-conflict-related-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-kinshasa-principles/">recent</a> African wars, militias kidnapped women and forced them into marriage, and sexual or conjugal slavery. Here, too, there are clear continuities with historical forms of wartime captivity. African women – survivors and activists – have been on the forefront of global movements speaking out against these abuses. </p>
<p>Thirdly, <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/descent-based-slavery/">African abolitionists</a> today fight against groups who illegally enslave people and defend slavery as a legitimate institution, based on the alleged slave descent of its victims . These practices are peculiarly resilient in connection to the acquisition of enslaved wives or concubines.<br>
I have been studying slavery in African and global history for over two decades. As part of this research, I have considered the relation between slavery and marriage.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063231">research paper</a> co-authored with professor of politics Joel Quirk, we introduced a collection of articles on slave ‘marriages’ in Africa from 1830 to today.</p>
<p>While slavery has lost the ideological battle almost everywhere, women nevertheless continue to be objectified and subordinated under the protective cloak of “marriage”. What forms of “marriage” are nothing but slavery in disguise? In such cases, does the terminology of “marriage” merely serve the interest of perpetrators? </p>
<p>We can learn from the history of African women’s resistance against slavery, a history that has not ended. The voices and actions of women who were enslaved in the past, or who experienced enslavement today, reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to it. </p>
<p>This history is not only an important part of the past that should not be forgotten. It can also be useful to activists and decision makers today.</p>
<h2>Historical slave marriages</h2>
<p>It is still common for people to think of historical slavery as coinciding exclusively with the history of Africans transported to America and the Caribbean as dehumanised labour for the profit of Euro-American racist capitalism. But this was only one of multiple historical forms of slavery. </p>
<p>Slavery also occurred within Africa and between different groups of Africans. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/plantation-slavery-in-the-sokoto-caliphate/3BAA8C45E8E5A017BD67473B85DF80F3">Research </a>by African and international historians leaves no doubt that slavery was a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-world-history-of-slavery/slavery-in-africa-18041936/F01667F6DC2CDF8A51D6F9E0D5505E6E">legitimate institution</a> in most African societies in the Nineteenth Century. In Africa in the 1800s, ‘marriages’ between enslaved people and freeborn people were relatively common. Usually a ‘slave wife’ benefited from some protections compared to other categories of female slaves. But slave wives were nevertheless subordinate to free wives, first wives and higher-ranking wives. </p>
<p>Whether the role of the ‘slave wife’ or the ‘conjugal slave’ was perceived as relatively desirable, or whether it was instead experienced as a daily torture imposing dreaded burdens on its unfortunate bearers, was contextual and individual. But such hierarchies were not uncommon. As historian Ettore Morelli <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063232">has shown </a> for Sesotho- and Setswana-speaking societies of the Highveld in today’s Lesotho, they gave rise to complex social dynamics of resistance and accommodation. </p>
<p>In most African societies there were many ways of being a slave and many ways of being a wife. There were hierarchies within slavery and hierarchies within marriage. <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-466;jsessionid=614732E6961AD8AD9096A836E01F8206">Researchers</a> have only just begun to explore this area.</p>
<p>It must also be remembered that both marriage and slavery in Africa in the 1800s existed within patriarchal societies. In such societies positions of political dominance and public prestige are primarily held by men, and in which men have rights in women that women do not have either in their male kin or in themselves – even though the features of patriarchy varied from case to case. Everyday <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/everyday-gender-inequalities-that-underpin-wartime-atrocities/">gender inequalities </a>common in patriarchal contexts influence historical and contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking.</p>
<h2>Modern-day slave marriages</h2>
<p>Modern-day or contemporary trafficking in women and girls meets a demand for women whose sexuality, fertility and labour can still be imagined as fully controllable. Trafficking is <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/406-trafficking-in-human-beings-especially-women-and-children-in-africa-second-edition.html">recognised</a> as a major problem in most African sub-regions and countries.</p>
<p>In addition, in Africa’s recent conflicts large numbers of women and girls have been abducted by militias whose members seized females as booty, as in the case of the Lord Resistance Army in northern Uganda. Their commanders redistributed female abductees among their officers. Forced wives were expected to become pregnant. Their children would join societies ruled by warlords who sought to establish new autonomous political and social units. </p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/expertiseguide/sociology-social-policy/dr-eleanor-seymour.aspx">Eleanor Seymour</a>, <a href="https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/persons/eunice-apio">Eunice Apio</a>, and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/history/people/academic-staff/professor-benedetta-rossi">Benedetta Rossi</a><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144039X.2022.2063237?tab=permissions&scroll=top"> explored </a> how, if at all, these phenomena were in continuity with forms of female captivity common in the region’s warfare in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jun/28/child-sex-trafficking-wahaya-girls-slavery-niger">form</a> of trafficking that has proven resilient in contemporary Africa is the sale of young concubines (also known as ‘fifth wives’) to Muslim men who feel entitled to purchase girls of alleged ‘slave’ status to avoid committing the sin of fornication. These practices, in Niger for example, have been <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/reports/wahaya-domestic-and-sexual-slavery-in-niger/">combated</a> by African anti-slavery non-governmental organisations whose members are Muslims who argue that there can be no Islamic justification for these forms of conjugal slavery today, if there ever was. </p>
<p>Historic slavery lives on today in various forms and is exacerbated by contemporary slavery. Research on this history can reveal the perspectives and strategies of those enslaved and inform policy aimed at reducing their oppression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benedetta Rossi receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 885418. </span></em></p>The voices and actions of women who were enslaved reveal how oppression works and what made a difference to those exposed to itBenedetta Rossi, Professor of History, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908062022-09-21T18:29:11Z2022-09-21T18:29:11ZThe scourge of sexual violence in West Africa, unveiled<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485395/original/file-20220919-791-i8yuke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C32%2C5457%2C3605&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Respectively 60.6% and 62% of women in Liberia and Sierra Leone have experienced at least one act of sexual violence in their life. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IStock </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="https://gbv.westafrica.exposed/en/portraits/zougbas-testimony/">Zougba</a>’s husband fled the <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2022/04/26/burkina-faso-attempts-uncertain-dialogue-with-armed-groups/">jihadist violence</a> crippling Burkina Faso, she soon found herself with her young son, daughter and other women on the road in a mission to join him. After 10km, four armed men surged into view from the side of the road. Her children bore witness as the men raped her, one after another. The police arrived too late.</p>
<p>More than 40% of women in West Africa are victims of violence at least once in their lifetimes, according to a 2018 report, <em>Réseau des Femmes Elues Locales d’Afrique</em> (REFELA). Together with Central Africa (65% of women are victims of violence), these two regions constitute the part of the world with the highest level of violence against women (REFELA <a href="https://knowledge.uclga.org/IMG/pdf/africities_rapport_analytique_vef_23.11.2018_.pdf">2018 report</a>).</p>
<p>To better identify the extent of such violence, particularly sexual violence, its variation by age and the main perpetrators involved, here we present some indicators. The countries covered are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Togo. Data was obtained from Demographic and Health Surveys (<a href="https://www.dhsprogram.com/">DHS</a>), compiled with the view of determining the types of violence women have experienced, the age at which the violence began, its frequency as well as its perpetrators. We incorporate victims’ testimonials from the <a href="https://gbv.westafrica.exposed/en/">GBV West Africa Exposed</a> website to put faces on what could otherwise be anonymous numbers.</p>
<h2>In search of reliable data</h2>
<p>The major challenge in measuring indicators of violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly in West Africa, lies in the lack of reliable data.</p>
<p>The reasons are similar to other parts of the world: poor reporting facilities, a persistent culture of victim-blaming and a heavy taboo surrounding sexual abuse. African countries also suffer from imperfect statistical and demographic data system, making what is visible only <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3927971/">the tip of the iceberg</a>.</p>
<p>In recent years, the DHS have attempted to gather data to capture the full spectrum of domestic violence in developing countries. Although they generally cover only women of childbearing age (15-49), they produce results that are nationally representative and comparable across countries. However, indicators of violence against women obtained from DHS are not exhaustive across countries.</p>
<h2>How prevalent is physical and sexual violence in West Africa?</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Figure 1" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484902/original/file-20220915-26-rs86om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Built from the DHS Program online data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.statcompiler.com">STATcompiler</a>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As shown in Figure 1, above, some surveys, such as the DHS, calculate indicators that distinguish between strictly physical violence, strictly sexual violence, and violence that is both sexual and physical. But this last category is added to each of the previous two when we are specifically interested in sexual violence or physical violence.</p>
<p>The proportion (%) of women who have experienced at least one act of physical or sexual violence in their life is very high in West Africa. In certain countries, this amounts to more than twice the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women">global average</a>) (27%) and six times higher than the <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-sante-publique-2022-HS1-page-8b.html">European average</a> (10%).</p>
<p>We nevertheless observe variations between countries. While it is relatively low in Mauritania (12.9%), Senegal (18.1%) and Burkina Faso (20.1%), it exceeds 60% in Liberia and Sierra Leone (60.6% and 62%, respectively). The figures for Liberia and Sierra Leone certainly reflect a legacy of civil wars in which physical and sexual violence against women (particularly rape) was deployed as <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2021/08/afr340162004fr.pdf">a weapon</a>.</p>
<p>The remainder of statistics sees Benin at 30.5%; Togo, 32.3%; Nigeria, 33.4%; Côte d’Ivoire, 36.2%; Ghana 44.5%, Mali, 45.1%, and Gambia, 48%. If we are to go by the numbers, acts of physical violence outnumber ones of sexual abuse by about three to one.</p>
<h2>Rates and trends of sexual violence</h2>
<p>Figure 2 presents the proportions (%) of West African women who have experienced acts of sexual violence in the 12 months preceding each survey. These included rape, sexual assault and any other act of a sexual nature without consent.</p>
<p>The figure looks at sexual violence framed as having been only sexual and concurrent with acts of physical violence. On average, 10% of women reported having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, and 4% in the 12 months before the survey.</p>
<p>Ghana has the highest lifetime sexual violence experienced by women (19%) compared to a lower level in Senegal (3.4%). Benin, Togo and Mali have lower levels than Ghana but exceed 10% (10.1, 10.5 and 12.6, respectively). Gambia, Liberia and Nigeria all score 9%, while Sierra Leone is at 7.4% and Mauritania, 6%.</p>
<p>The relatively low prevalence of violence against women in Senegal can be explained by the country’s <a href="https://www.afro.who.int/fr/countries/senegal/news/agir-pour-proteger-les-filles-et-les-femmes-contre-la-violence-au-senegal">considerable progress in gender policy</a> in recent years. For example, it is the region’s only country to have equipped every one of its ministries with a gender unit, while locally elected <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/agony-aunt">“agony aunt” figures</a>, known as the <em>Bajenu Gox</em>, watch over their communities in a bid to prevent gender-based violence. It has undoubtedly benefited from an influx of international organisations dedicated to promoting women’s rights.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Figure 2" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484906/original/file-20220915-18-ae4q86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Built from the DHS Program online data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.statcompiler.com/">STATcompiler</a>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In terms of trends, the proportion of women who report having experienced sexual violence in their lifetime has tripled in Mali (4% in 2006 and 12.6% in 2018), doubled in Gambia (4.6% in 2013 and 9% in 2019) and shot up by 30% in Nigeria (7% in 2008 and 9.1% in 2018). In contrast, it was divided by 2.5 in Senegal (8.4% in 2017 and 3.4% in 2019), by 1.4 in Sierra Leone (10.5% in 2013 and 7.4% in 2019) and almost by 2 in Liberia (17.6% in 2007 and 9.1% in 2019).</p>
<p>The increase in sexual violence in some countries in the region (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) is linked to the security crisis in the Sahel and its many terrorist attacks. In that regard, the story of <a href="https://gbv.westafrica.exposed/en/portraits/sadia-testimony/">Sadia</a> – a 28-year-old Malian woman, who was abducted by an armed group, detained for 19 days and raped – is not uncommon. Nor is that of <a href="https://gbv.westafrica.exposed/en/portraits/ariettes-testimony/">Ariette</a>, a 17-year old in Burkina Faso who was forced into marrying a 65-year-old trader who hits and rapes her every night.</p>
<h2>First acts of sexual violence at very young ages</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>“He was the son of my uncle’s friend whom I knew and considered my family. And yet when I was 14, he defiled me; he raped me. The pain of this rape had not finished consuming me until I found out that I was pregnant by this man.” (Lucy, Senegal)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Age is an essential factor in sexual violence in West Africa. Many, like Lucy, experience their first acts of sexual violence when they’re very young. Almost everywhere in the region, more than 60% of female victims of sexual violence report having experienced the first acts of such violence before the age of 21 (74% in Gambia, 71% in Mali and Ghana, 70% in Liberia, 67% in Nigeria, 65% in Togo, 62% in Benin and Sierra Leone, 35% in Mauritania and 12% in Senegal) (Figures 3a and 3b).</p>
<p>Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone have the highest proportion of women who first experienced sexual violence at a very early age (before age 15) (34%, 29% and 22%, respectively). The figures are around 18% in Nigeria, 16% in Benin and 13% in Togo, Mali and Ghana, respectively. In Senegal and Mauritania, on the other hand, this precocity is less pronounced (3% and 8%, respectively).</p>
<h2>Violence is mainly committed by intimate partners</h2>
<p>The vast majority (more than 80%) of sexual violence against women in West Africa takes place within couples. On average, nearly 60% of victims named the husband or current spouse as the perpetrator (80.5% in Mali, 78.7% in Senegal, 69.1% in Sierra Leone, 68% in Mauritania, 61.5% in Benin, 53% in Nigeria, 44% in Togo, 43.8% in Liberia and 37.8% in Gambia). Nearly 16% of victims named a former husband or spouse (24% in Liberia; 21% in Togo and Gambia; 17% in Mauritania, Benin and Sierra Leone; 15% in Nigeria; 11% in Ghana, 10% in Senegal and 5% in Mali) while 10% of victims named a former or current boyfriend (30% in Ghana; 14% in Liberia; 10% in Nigeria; 8% in Liberia; 7% in Sierra Leone, Benin and Togo; 6% in Mali and 4% in Senegal).</p>
<p>To a much a lesser extent, other perpetrators of sexual violence reported by women in West Africa also include relatives, friends, acquaintances or strangers.</p>
<h2>High rates of teenage marriage and motherhood</h2>
<p>A traditionally entrenched feature of West African societies, teenage motherhood continues to blight communities despite shifting fertility behaviours and attitudes toward the family.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Figure 3" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484908/original/file-20220915-8999-kscx7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Built from the DHS Program online data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.statcompiler.com/">STATcompiler</a>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Figure 4" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484909/original/file-20220915-1785-i78il6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Built from the DHS Program online data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.statcompiler.com">STATcompiler</a>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
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<p>In part, this explains why women in West Africa are more likely to suffer from sexual violence at a young age and at the hands of intimate partners. Ariette, mentioned above, is one example out of thousands of an early and forced union that turned violent.</p>
<p>The percentage of women who have had a child before age 20 is very high (47% on average), even among recent young cohorts (Figure 4a). This situation goes hand in hand with the early age of the first union. For example, among women aged 20-24 during the 2010-2020 decade in West Africa, 52% entered their first union before age 20, with a low of 32% in Ghana and a high of 89% in Niger (Figure 4b).</p>
<h2>Domestic violence among first-time teenage mothers</h2>
<p>The link between the two phenomena deserves further scientific investigation in the context of frequent teenage motherhood and early domestic (especially sexual) violence. In situations like those in sub-Saharan Africa, where the transmission of family values is rooted in a strong hierarchy, the violence against teenage mothers can be perpetuated across generations.</p>
<p>But the persistence of social norms of early fertility within a union may clash with individual aspirations to freely control fertility choices. This collision can exacerbate levels of violence, particularly in the early years of childbearing.</p>
<p>To better analyse these implications, we are developing the EarlyFertiViolence project (Early Fertility, Marital Status and Domestic Violence During First Motherhood in West African Countries: Trends, Convergence, Divergence and Associated Factors), which is scheduled to begin in 2023, involving research labs and researchers at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University and the University of Chicago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>More than 40% are victims of violence at least once in their lifetime, according to research. This is likely the tip of the iceberg.Adama Ouedraogo, Enseignant-chercheur, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneClaire Scodellaro, maîtresse de conférences en démographie, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)Jenny Trinitapoli, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699042022-08-22T12:27:10Z2022-08-22T12:27:10ZSlavery and war are tightly connected – but we had no idea just how much until we crunched the data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479488/original/file-20220816-8518-l5gine.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C3%2C996%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ugandans watch the start of the International Criminal Court trial of former child soldier-turned-warlord Dominic Ongwen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/residents-watch-the-screening-of-the-start-of-the-icc-trial-news-photo/628000204?adppopup=true">Isaac Kasamani/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm">40 million people</a> are enslaved around the world today, though estimates vary. Modern slavery takes many different forms, including child soldiers, sex trafficking and forced labor, and no country is immune. From cases of <a href="https://www.gahts.com/publications/ygsrx3nh2ecyz6z-34kln-yh99p-as9yk-e7k8n-slkln-f3htp-t9p9l-x9kb3-e75h9-mrbd6-rw7m5-t3bdh-j43r4">family controlled sex trafficking</a> in the United States <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/">to the enslavement of fishermen</a> in Southeast Asia’s seafood industry and <a href="https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/VeriteForcedLaborMalaysianElectronics2014.pdf">forced labor</a> in the global electronics supply chain, enslavement knows no bounds. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars</a> of <a href="https://unu.edu/experts/angharad-smith.html">modern slavery</a>, we <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/kevin.bales">seek to understand</a> how and why human beings are still bought, owned and sold in the 21st century, in hopes of shaping policies to eradicate these crimes. </p>
<p>Many of the answers trace back to causes like poverty, corruption and inequality. But they also stem from something less discussed: war.</p>
<p>In 2016, the United Nations Security Council <a href="http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/2331">named modern slavery</a> a serious concern in areas affected by armed conflict. But researchers still know little about the specifics of how slavery and war are intertwined. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">recently published research</a> analyzing data on armed conflicts around the world to better understand this relationship.</p>
<p>What we found was staggering: The vast majority of armed conflict between 1989 and 2016 used some kind of slavery.</p>
<h2>Coding conflict</h2>
<p>We used data from an established database about war, <a href="https://ucdp.uu.se/">the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)</a>, to look at how much, and in what ways, armed conflict intersects with different forms of contemporary slavery. </p>
<p>Our project was inspired by <a href="https://wappp.hks.harvard.edu/files/wappp/files/journal_of_peace_research-2014-cohen-418-28.pdf">two leading scholars</a> of sexual violence, <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/dara-kay-cohen">Dara Kay Cohen</a> and <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/polisci/people/faculty/ragnhild-nordaas.html">Ragnhild Nordås</a>. These political scientists used that database to produce <a href="http://www.sexualviolencedata.org/bibliography/papers-in-progress/">their own pioneering database</a> about how rape is used as a weapon of war.</p>
<p>The Uppsala database breaks each conflict into two sides. Side A represents a nation state, and Side B is typically one or more nonstate actors, such as rebel groups or insurgents.</p>
<p>Using that data, our research team examined instances of different forms of slavery, including sex trafficking and forced marriage, child soldiers, forced labor and general human trafficking. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">This analysis</a> included information from 171 different armed conflicts. Because the use of slavery changes over time, we broke multiyear conflicts into separate “conflict-years” to study them one year at a time, for a total of 1,113 separate cases.</p>
<p>Coding each case to determine what forms of slavery were used, if any, was a challenge. We compared information from a variety of sources, including human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, scholarly accounts, journalists’ reporting and documents from governmental and intergovernmental organizations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in dark clothes sits, looking forlorn, over a crevice with rubble in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478426/original/file-20220810-16-jwchpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Yazidi woman who was held captive by the Islamic State visits the mass grave where her husband is believed to be buried in Iraq.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YazidiSlaveTrade/994255e1eb3a4296afa1a3f3599d7192/photo?Query=yazidi&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=755&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alarming numbers</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649">recently published analysis</a>, we found that contemporary slavery is a regular feature of armed conflict. Among the 1,113 cases we analyzed, 87% contained child soldiers – meaning fighters age 15 and younger – 34% included sexual exploitation and forced marriage, about 24% included forced labor and almost 17% included human trafficking.</p>
<p><iframe id="mSfzB" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mSfzB/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>A global heat map of the frequency of these armed conflicts over time paints a sobering picture. Most conflicts involving enslavement take place in low-income countries, often referred to as the Global South.</p>
<p>About 12% of the conflicts involving some form of enslavement took place in India, where there are several conflicts between the government and nonstate actors. Teen militants are involved in conflicts such as <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/research/children-as-combatants-and-the-failure-of-state-and-society-the-case-of-the-kashmir-conflict-47514/">the insurgency in Kashmir</a> and the separatist movement <a href="http://www.humanrights.asia/news/alrc-news/human-rights-council/hrc6/AL-024-2007/">in Assam</a>. About 8% of cases took place in Myanmar, 5% in Ethiopia, 5% in the Philippines and about 3% in Afghanistan, Sudan, Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan, Uganda, Algeria and Iraq. </p>
<p>This evidence of enslavement predominately in the Global South may not be surprising, given how poverty and inequality <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0738894214559673">can fuel instability and conflict</a>. However, it helps us reflect upon how these countries’ historic, economic and geopolitical relationships to the Global North also fuel pressure and violence, a theme we hope slavery researchers can study in the future. </p>
<h2>Strategic enslavement</h2>
<p>Typically, when armed conflict involves slavery, it’s being used for tactical aims: building weapons, for example, or constructing roads and other infrastructure projects to fight a war. But sometimes, slavery is as part of an overarching strategy. In the Holocaust, the Nazis used “strategic slavery” in what they called “extermination through labor.” Today, as in the past, strategic slavery is normally part of a larger strategy of genocide.</p>
<p>We found that “strategic enslavement” took place in about 17% of cases. In other words, enslavement was one of the primary objectives of about 17% of the conflicts we examined, and often served the goal of genocide. One example is <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/resources/academic-publications/2020/establishment-and-regulation-of-slavery-by-the-islamic-state.pdf">the Islamic State’s enslavement</a> of the Yazidi minority in the 2014 massacre in Sinjar, Iraq. In addition to killing Yazidis, the Islamic State sought to enslave and impregnate women for systematic ethnic cleansing, attempting to eliminate the ethnic identity of the Yazidi through forced rape. </p>
<p>The connections between slavery and conflict are vicious but still not well understood. Our next steps include coding historic cases of slavery and conflict going back to World War II, such as <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/forced-labor">how Nazi Germany used forced labor</a> and how Imperial Japan’s military used <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/04/940819094/photos-there-still-is-no-comfort-for-the-comfort-women-of-the-philippines">sexual enslavement</a>. We have published a new data set, “<a href="https://www.csac.org.uk">Contemporary Slavery in Armed Conflict</a>,” and hope other researchers will also use it to help better understand and prevent future violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169904/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our research team received the following funding that assisted with our work:
UK Arts and Humanities Research Council – Antislavery Usable Past project (AH/ M004430/1 and AH/M004430/2).
UK Economic and Social Research Council – Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement” (ES/P001491/1) (Including funds from ESRC International Impact Prize).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angharad Smith is affiliated with United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Our research team received the following funding that assisted with our work: UK Arts and Humanities Research Council – Antislavery Usable Past project (AH/ M004430/1 and AH/M004430/2). UK Economic and Social Research Council – Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement” (ES/P001491/1) (Including funds from ESRC International Impact Prize).</span></em></p>Armed conflicts today involve slavery in many different forms, from forced marriage to child soldiers.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondAngharad Smith, Modern Slavery Programme Officer, Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), United Nations UniversityKevin Bales, Prof. of Contemporary Slavery, Research Director - The Rights Lab, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655122021-08-05T12:40:30Z2021-08-05T12:40:30ZWhat is a cult?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414690/original/file-20210804-19-trstz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5710%2C3815&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many religious groups often get labeled as cults.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/local-tourist-office-employees-prepared-to-place-a-sign-to-news-photo/528950560?adppopup=true">David Howells/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “cult” is used a lot nowadays.</p>
<p>Former President Donald Trump has been likened to a cult leader. Democratic California congresswoman <a href="https://speier.house.gov/">Jackie Speier</a> recently <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/08/01/jackie-speier-jim-jones-donald-trump-gop-cult-like-rs-vpx.cnn">compared Trump to Jim Jones</a>, the infamous leader of <a href="https://theconversation.com/before-the-tragedy-at-jonestown-the-people-of-peoples-temple-had-a-dream-103151">Peoples Temple</a>, an American religious group of which nearly 1,000 members died by mass murder-suicide in Guyana in 1978. A congressional staffer at the time, Speier was seriously wounded by temple members during an ambush that killed <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/jonestown-bio-leo-ryan/">Congressman Leo Ryan</a> of San Francisco.</p>
<p>Then there’s NXIVM, a “<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hollywood-followers-of-nxivm-a-women-branding-sex-cult">sex cult</a>” based in Albany, New York. Media reports and evidence at trial revealed that NXIVM’s female members recruited “slaves,” who were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.html">branded</a> with the initials of the group’s leader, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/the-dark-cult-with-billionaires-stars-and-sex-slavery-allegations/news-story/0c72130a835a6d708b7f0b98cf1f310e">Keith Raniere</a>. Raniere, also called the “Vanguard,” was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/nyregion/nxivm-cult-keith-raniere-sentenced.html">sentenced to 120 years</a> in prison for sex trafficking. </p>
<p>One of the defenses put forward by NXIVM’s lawyers has been that <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Law-Beat-Attorneys-for-ex-NXIVM-member-claim-16350259.php">media “hit-pieces” on the group led to an unfair trial</a>.</p>
<p>It’s certainly true that the word cult grabs our attention. But what exactly does it mean when we use words like cult or “cult leader”?</p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article-abstract/39/3/228/1618594?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Scholars</a> sometimes use the term “cult” to describe groups that have distinctive beliefs and high levels of commitment. The problem is the popular use of the word is often used to describe authoritarian groups that practice mind control or brainwashing. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/mathew-schmalz">As an academic</a> who teaches and writes about religion, I believe that the label “cult” gets in the way of understanding new religions and political movements.</p>
<h2>Early Christians and cult</h2>
<p>First, cult is a vague category. </p>
<p>Authoritarian leaders and structures can usually be found in groups that have a clear mission and identity. From the Catholic Church to the U.S. Marine Corps, many organizations rely on strict discipline and obedience. Using the word cult is an easy way to criticize a group, but a poor way to describe one.</p>
<p>Second, mind control or brainwashing theories have problems. </p>
<p>In popular understanding, the leaders of cults use mind control or brainwashing to remake the personalities of recruits by forcing them to do and believe things that they normally wouldn’t accept. </p>
<p>Brainwashing was associated with the <a href="https://familyfed.org/">Unification Church</a>, or “<a href="https://www.signaturebooks.com/books/p/the-unification-church">The Moonies</a>,” founded by South Korean <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/world/asia/rev-sun-myung-moon-founder-of-unification-church-dies-at-92.html">Rev. Sun Myung Moon</a>. The Moonies would isolate new recruits and shower them with attention, a process called “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1978/02/20/moon-church-love-bomb-fall-out/7c3b0eba-5e59-45e6-a5f8-812a2a5d1894/?utm_term=.850248272e01">love bombing</a>.” </p>
<p>But, as sociologist <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/sociology/people/eileen-barker">Eileen Barker</a> showed in <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/50886/">her research</a> on <a href="https://familyfed.org/">the Unification Church</a>, recruitment rates were still very low. If a sure mark of a cult is using love bombing, mind control or brainwashing, the results weren’t very impressive. </p>
<p>Third, the label “cult” is negative. </p>
<p>As British sociologist <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/wreru/aboutus/staff/jb/">James Beckford</a> has observed, cults are usually associated with <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcs/article-abstract/29/3/576/884746?redirectedFrom=PDF">beliefs and practices considered to be “unhealthy</a>.” But what is seen as healthy in one culture may be seen as unhealthy in another. </p>
<p>In fact, early Christianity could be called a cult because Christian beliefs and practices – such as not sacrificing for the emperor – were considered strange and dangerous in ancient Rome.</p>
<p>Fourth, the term “cult” does not engage with key parts of a group’s belief system.</p>
<p>For example, religion scholars <a href="https://jamestabor.com/">James Tabor</a> and <a href="https://www.conncoll.edu/directories/emeritus-faculty/eugene-gallagher/">Eugene Gallagher</a> <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520208995">argue</a> that the 1993 <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/waco-siege">Waco siege</a> ended in tragedy, in part, because the FBI ignored the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/04/20/178063471/two-decades-later-some-branch-davidians-still-believe">Bible-based beliefs of the Branch Davidians</a>, a <a href="http://www.sociologyguide.com/anthropology/millenarian-movements.php">millenarian</a> Christian sect. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.atf.gov/our-history/fallen-agents">Four agents</a> of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed trying to arrest “cult leader” <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/david-koresh-followers-describe-life-inside-apocalyptic-religious/story?id=52033937">David Koresh</a>. After a 51-day standoff, the FBI injected tear gas into the group’s compound. Seventy-five people, including children, lost their lives in the fire that followed. The cause of the fire remains disputed to this day – some argue that the tear gas ignited, and others claim that the Branch Davidians set the fire themselves.</p>
<p>It has been suggested, however, by <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Armageddon_in_Waco.html?id=O45DuPSh1kAC">some scholars</a> that if the FBI had taken the belief system of the Branch Davidians more seriously – instead of seeing members as brainwashed followers of a mad cult leader – deaths might have been avoided. </p>
<h2>Cult politics</h2>
<p>The term “cult” also gets in the way of understanding American politics. There are real differences between isolated religious groups that live together communally and political movements that attract millions of people. </p>
<p>Calling Trump a cult leader is rhetorically powerful. But that language can simplify how and why MAGA and other slogans appeal to many Americans. And Rep. Speier’s <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/rep-jackie-speier-compares-trump-jonestown-cult-leader-jim-jones-merchants-deceit-1615072">fully reported</a> comments about Donald Trump and Jim Jones did recognize that the issue was complex.</p>
<p>To be clear, religious and political movements can be dangerous and criminal beyond simply being strange. It’s also important to carefully examine the relationship between a leader and their followers. </p>
<p>Still, it is tempting to use words like cult or cult leader when talking about a group or a person we don’t like or can’t understand. The problem is that when people hear the word “cult,” discussion often ends before any study has begun.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-label-cult-gets-in-the-way-of-understanding-new-religions-94386">first published</a> on April 10, 2018.</em></p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165512/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz is a political independent. </span></em></p>A religion scholar explains why the label of ‘cult’ gets in the way of understanding new religions and political movements.Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588522021-07-29T23:13:43Z2021-07-29T23:13:43ZSex trafficking isn’t what you think: 4 myths debunked – and 1 real-world way to prevent sexual exploitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413825/original/file-20210729-15-1wvkjnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C7%2C5061%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A billboard in Mounds View, Minnesota, put up by the nonprofit National Human Trafficking Resource Center. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that sex trafficking is an urgent social problem is woven into American media stories, from reports of Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/politics/gaetz-probe-public-corruption-medical-marijuana/index.html">alleged trafficking of teenage girls</a> to debunked QAnon conspiracy theories about <a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-us-news-ap-top-news-conspiracy-media-9d54570ebba5e406667c38cb29522ec6">a sexual slavery ring run through online retailer Wayfair</a>.</p>
<p>The common perception of sex trafficking involves a young, passive woman captured by an aggressive trafficker. The woman is hidden and waiting to be rescued by law enforcement. She is probably white, because, as the legal scholar Jayashri Srikantiah writes, the “<a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/inlr28&div=23&id=&page=">iconic victim</a>” of trafficking usually is depicted this way. </p>
<p>This is essentially the plot of the “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/">Taken</a>” movies, in which teenage Americans are kidnapped abroad and sold into sexual slavery. Such concerns fuel <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/california-ikea-trafficking/">viral posts</a> and <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/tiktok-sex-trafficking-hoax-bloodbathandbeyond/">TikTok videos</a> about alleged but unproven trafficking in IKEA parking lots, malls and pizza shops. </p>
<p>This is not how sex trafficking usually occurs.</p>
<p>Since 2013, I have <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TVAdU9IAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researched</a> human trafficking in the midwestern U.S. In interviews with law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers, I found that even these frontline workers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/705237">inconsistently define and apply</a> the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request. </p>
<p>So here are the facts and the law.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Small crowd stands on a lawn, some holding signs like 'Free the Children'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411320/original/file-20210714-25-jllauk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators gather May 1, 2021, outside of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, to protest against pedophilia and sex trafficking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/demonstrators-gather-outside-of-the-ohio-statehouse-to-news-photo/1315672937?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What is sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-106publ386/pdf/PLAW-106publ386.pdf">Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000</a> provides the official legal definition for sex and labor trafficking in the United States. </p>
<p>It makes “trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age” a federal crime. </p>
<p>In short, to legally qualify as sex trafficking, a sex act involving an adult must include “force, fraud, and coercion.” This could look like someone – a family member, a romantic partner or a market facilitator colloquially described as a “pimp” or “madam” – physically abusing or threatening another adult into sex for money or resources.</p>
<p>With minors, any and all sexual exchanges – that is, trading sex for something of value like cash or food – are considered sex trafficking.</p>
<h2>How common is sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>Data on human trafficking is <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo23044232.html">notoriously messy</a> and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo23044232.html">difficult to measure</a>. Survivors may be hesitant to disclose their exploitation out of fear of deportation, if they are undocumented, or arrest. That leads to underreporting.</p>
<p>One way to approximate how many people are being trafficked in the United States is to consult federal grant reports, as suggested by anti-trafficking nonprofit <a href="https://freedomnetworkusa.org/press-kit/">Freedom Network USA</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the federal <a href="https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/human-trafficking/ovc-efforts">Office for Victims of Crime</a> served 9,854 total clients – some of whom identified as trafficked, others who showed “strong indicators of trafficking victimization” – between July 2019 and June 2020. The Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/otip/otip_one_pager_victim_assistance_fy19.pdf">Office on Trafficking in Persons</a> served 2,398 trafficking survivors during the 2019 fiscal year. </p>
<p>Data from the same office also shows that 25,597 “potential victims” of sex and labor trafficking were identified through calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.</p>
<p>Again, this data is incomplete – if survivors have not accessed these particular resources or called these specific hotlines, they are not represented here.</p>
<h2>What does sex trafficking look like?</h2>
<p>As with <a href="https://www.rainn.org/statistics/perpetrators-sexual-violence">other</a> <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-an-abusive-state">sexual</a> <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-48782-002">crimes</a>, like rape, sex trafficking survivors often experience violence at the hands of someone they know, not a complete stranger. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The 'Taken' movie poster" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411325/original/file-20210714-27-qttxoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Movies like ‘Taken’ – and its many sequels – present an unlikely sex-trafficking scenario in which an American teen abroad is snatched and sold into sexual slavery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ec/aa/cd/ecaacdd90753b8820b68bda76a55dd11.jpg">EuropaCorp</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A study from <a href="https://humantraffickinghotline.org/sites/default/files/Homelessness%2C%20Survival%20Sex%2C%20and%20Human%20Trafficking%20-%20Covenant%20House%20NY.pdf">Covenant House New York</a>, a nonprofit focused on homeless youth, found that 36% of the 22 trafficking survivors in their survey were trafficked by an immediate family member, like a parent. Only four reported “being kidnapped and held against his or her will.”</p>
<p>Often, trafficking victims are younger <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2020.1690116">transgender people</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-07-2019-0056">teens experiencing homelessness</a> who exchange sex with others to meet their basic needs: shelter, economic stability, food and health care. Trafficking frequently looks like vulnerable people struggling to survive in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746414000414">violent, exploitative world</a>.</p>
<p>“They are creating sexual solutions to nonsexual problems,” says San Francisco-based researcher <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/domestic-minor-sex-trafficking/9780231169219">Alexandra Lutnick</a>.</p>
<p>Under U.S. law, these youth are trafficking victims, because of their age. But they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2010.513109">reject the label</a>, <a href="https://theappeal.org/not-a-cardboard-cut-out-cyntoia-brown-and-the-framing-of-a-victim-aa61f80f9cbb/">preferring terms</a> like “survival sex work” or “prostitution” to describe their experiences. </p>
<p>Trafficking victims engaged in survival sex <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12456">may well be arrested</a> rather than offered help like <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281967/control-and-protect">housing or health care</a>. If they cannot prove “force, fraud, or coercion,” or if they refuse to comply in a criminal investigation, they risk shifting from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243203257477">victim to criminal</a> in the eyes of law enforcement. That can mean prostitution charges, felony offenses or deportation.</p>
<p>Such punishments are most commonly used against <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243214524623">Black, Indigenous, queer, trans and undocumented sex-trafficking survivors</a>. Black youth are <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/uclalr62&div=40&id=&page=">disproportionately arrested</a> for prostitution offenses, for example, even though legally any underage commercial sex is sex trafficking.</p>
<h2>What is the difference between sex work and sex trafficking?</h2>
<p>Legally and in other meaningful ways, sex work and sex trafficking are different. </p>
<p>Sex work is <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-worker-rights-hysteria-surveillance-and-threats-to-fundamental-freedoms-120943">consenting adults engaging in transactional sex</a>. In almost all U.S. states, it is a <a href="https://www.nswp.org/sex-work-laws-map">criminal offense</a>, punishable with fines and even jail sentences. </p>
<p>Sex trafficking is nonconsensual, and it is generally treated as a more severe crime.</p>
<p>Most sex workers’ groups acknowledge that sex work is not inherently sex trafficking but that sex workers can face force, fraud and coercion <a href="https://www.hips.org/uploads/6/2/2/9/62290383/hips_statement_swrights.pdf">because they work in a criminalized, stigmatized profession</a>. Sex workers whose experiences meet the legal standards of trafficking may nonetheless fear disclosing that to police and risking arrest for prostitution.</p>
<p>Conversely, sex workers can be mistakenly labeled by police and advocates as “trafficked” and find themselves <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10612-020-09530-4">in the custody of law enforcement or social service agencies</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Street protest of people wearing face masks and holding signs demanding rights" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411322/original/file-20210714-21-16qkeku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers march against discrimination, the criminalization of their job and sexual violence in Queens, New York, Sept. 18, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sex-workers-and-supporters-are-are-seen-during-a-news-photo/1273570855?adppopup=true">Joana Toro /VIEWpress</a></span>
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<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Based on my research, reducing sex trafficking requires changes that might prevent it from occurring in the first place. That means rebuilding <a href="https://doi.org/10.5250/fronjwomestud.41.2.0057">a stronger, supportive U.S. social safety net</a> to buffer against poverty and housing insecurity. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>In the meantime, trafficking victims would benefit from efforts by frontline workers to combat the racism, sexism and transphobia that <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520281967/control-and-protect">stigmatizes and criminalizes</a> victims who don’t look as people expect – and are struggling to survive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 1624317. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Children are not routinely being snatched from pizza parlors and sold into sexual slavery. Sex trafficking more often looks like ‘vulnerable people struggling to survive’ through sex.Corinne Schwarz, Assistant Professor of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1532882021-05-10T05:19:48Z2021-05-10T05:19:48ZWant to save the children? How child sexual abuse and human trafficking really work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399649/original/file-20210510-19-1gvu7qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C961%2C6000%2C3026&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Sandor Szmutko/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions of kidnapped children are imprisoned in underground tunnels, being sexually abused and tortured by a shadowy global cabal of paedophiles. </p>
<p>That, at least, is some of the misinformation about child sex trafficking being spread on social media. You’ll also see such ideas being promoted at protests from Los Angeles to London, with hashtags such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/technology/save-the-children-qanon.html">#saveourchildren</a> and #endchildtrafficking emblazoned on shirts and placards.</p>
<p>The thought of a child being abused, exploited or trafficked for sex elicits a powerful emotional response. These lurid tales have proven to be a potent gateway for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-20/how-growing-conspiracy-movement-critical-to-us-election/12661592">mothers</a> (and others) to “go down the rabbithole”.</p>
<p>The tragedy is that misinformation is turning well-intentioned people into “digital soldiers” unwittingly working against genuine efforts to eliminate child sexual abuse and human trafficking. </p>
<p>Let’s try to untangle the misconceptions.</p>
<h2>The truth about child sexual abuse</h2>
<p>Statistics on child sexual abuse are never exact. Less than <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232602908_Disclosure_of_Child_Sexual_Abuse_What_Does_the_Research_Tell_Us_About_the_Ways_That_Children_Tell">40% of victims</a> report being abused when children. The average time before disclosure, according to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is about 20 years for women and 25 years for men. Some never disclose. </p>
<p>There are enough robust studies, however, to suggest about <a href="https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PREVALENCE-RATE-WHITE-PAPER-D2L.pdf">one in ten children</a> are sexually abused before age 18 – one in seven girls (14%) and one in 25 boys (4%).</p>
<p>Most typically the abuser is an adult known and trusted by the child and their parents. Then by a non-biological relative or in-law. In fewer than 15% of cases is the perpetrator a stranger.</p>
<p>A 2000 study for the <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf">US Bureau of Justice Statistics</a> found 7.5% of all known female victims under the age of 17, and 5% of male victims, were abused by a stranger. More recent data published in 2016 by the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/latest-release#experience-of-abuse-before-the-age-of-15">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a> found strangers accounted for 11.5% of sexual abuse of girls under the age of 16, and 15% of boys. </p>
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<p>The differences between these findings are most likely due to greater awareness reducing opportunities for abuse by “acquaintances” such as clergy, teachers and coaches. In the 2000 data, to illustrate, 69% of molested boys were abused by an acquaintance; in the 2016 data it was about 47%.</p>
<h2>Exaggerating stranger dangers</h2>
<p>Media coverage tends to distort understanding of child sexual abuse. It focuses on “<a href="https://www.nationalcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/child-sexual-abuse-myths-Attitudes-beliefs-and-individual-differences.pdf">stranger danger</a>” and amplifies the threat of children being molested at the park or shopping centre.</p>
<p>Even more intense coverage goes to the rarer cases where children are abducted or murdered. Think of the fascination with cases such as the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-52910472">Madeleine McCann</a>. But such cases are memorable because they are so rare. </p>
<p>The so-called “Pastel-Q” conspiracy theory, however, asserts millions of children a year are being kidnapped and trafficked for sex. </p>
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Read more:
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<img alt="A QAnon meme about missing children based on misrepresenting missing persons statistics." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399227/original/file-20210506-16-f4z8cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A QAnon meme about missing children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facebook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This claim rests on <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/03/17/58000-children-abducted-a-year-yet-another-fishy-statistic/">misrepresented</a> numbers from missing persons reports. In the case of the US, for example, the claim is that 800,000 children disappear each year. (A similar rate applied globally would mean about 19 million children disappear every year.)</p>
<p>In fact, the FBI’s data shows the number of people under the age of 17 reported missing in the US <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2020-ncic-missing-person-and-unidentified-person-statistics.pdf/viewmore">in 2020</a> was about 365,000. In most cases (based on several decades’ of data) these missing reports involve a child <a href="https://www.missingkids.org/footer/media/keyfacts">running away from home</a> or being taken by a custodial parent. Almost half are found <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-missing-children-idUSBRE83P14020120426">within three hours</a>, and more than 99% are found alive. Since 2010, in the US <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-more-global-covid-deaths-th-idUSKCN24I268">fewer than 350 people</a> a year under the age of 21 have been abducted by strangers. </p>
<h2>Sex trafficking in reality</h2>
<p>So no, there’s no evidence millions of children in wealthy nations are being kidnapped by paedophiles. </p>
<p>This is not to say child sex trafficking isn’t a serious concern. But it is a different problem to the Pastel-Q portrayal.</p>
<p>The United Nations’ <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/protocoltraffickinginpersons.aspx">Trafficking in Persons Protocol</a> defines human trafficking as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This means human trafficking doesn’t necessarily require moving a person from one place to another, in the way we think of weapons and drugs being trafficked. It’s not the same as people smuggling. Nor is it exactly the same as modern slavery, although there is broad crossover in definitions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trafficked-children-are-being-hidden-behind-a-focus-on-modern-slavery-87116">How trafficked children are being hidden behind a focus on modern slavery</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The crucial point of trafficking is the abuse of power to exploit another human being. It thrives in conditions of poverty, economic and gender inequality, corruption and instability. It requires systemic solutions, which the cartoonish constructions of Pastel-Q distract attention from.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A 'Save Our Children' protest outside the BBC's London headquarters. September 5 2020." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399435/original/file-20210507-17-1bqhr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ‘Save Our Children’ protest outside the BBC’s London headquarters. September 5 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham Hodson/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trafficking and modern slavery</h2>
<p>Accurately estimating the true scale of child sex trafficking is, like child sexual abuse, complicated. There is the <a href="https://polarisproject.org/recognizing-human-trafficking/">hidden nature</a> of these crimes, differences in policing and reporting between nations, and little uniformity in how statistics are compiled.</p>
<p>The United Nations’ <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html">Global Report on Trafficking in Persons</a> only reports on “detected” cases. There are no more than 25,000 cases each year. </p>
<p>But researchers have good reasons to believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. The most <a href="https://www.alliance87.org/global_estimates_of_modern_slavery-forced_labour_and_forced_marriage.pdf">commonly accepted estimates</a> of the true number of trafficking victims in the world is about 21 million. About 16 million have been trafficked for labour; about 3 million of these are aged under 18.</p>
<p>About 5 million are trafficked for sex – most typically by being coerced into sex work. More than 99% of sex-trafficking victims are women. More than 70% are in Asia, followed by Europe and Central Asia (14%), Africa (8%), the Americas (4%), and the Arab States (1%). About a million are aged under 18. </p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="fMMhL" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fMMhL/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<p>We must be cautious about these total estimates. Nonetheless there is sufficient research to be confident only a very small percentage of cases involve scenarios like that in the movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPJVJBm9TPA">Taken</a>, where Liam Neeson’s character uses his “very particular set of skills” to rescue his kidnapped 17-year-old American daughter from sex slavery. </p>
<p>More often, traffickers approach families living in poverty or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/#B3">socially and economically vulnerable</a> girls – such as runaways – offering false promises of affection, work and a better life. Instead the girls find themselves being pressured or coerced into sex work.</p>
<p>This was the case with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, whose intermediaries lured girls aged 14 to 18 with cash to perform massages, then nude massages, then sex.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jeffrey-epsteins-arrest-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-human-trafficking-is-the-worlds-fastest-growing-crime-120225">Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest is the tip of the iceberg: human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing crime</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How do we address this?</h2>
<p>Child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking are both serious global problems. We should all be concerned about them. </p>
<p>But they can’t be divorced from the broader conditions that allow many more millions of children and adults to be trafficked and exploited as modern slaves. </p>
<p>They require sophisticated, holistic and broad-based legal and policy responses.
They will not be tackled by misunderstanding their reality and complexity, and indulging in false narratives that divert attention from the real issues. </p>
<p>Which is why more than <a href="https://freedomneedstruth.medium.com/freedom-needs-truth-5224c632557b">130 anti-trafficking organisations</a> have said anybody who lends credibility to these false claims “actively harms the fight against human trafficking”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Baxter is a member of ACRATH; however, does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article.</span></em></p>Child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking are serious problems. Misinformation is harming efforts to combat them.Alexandra Baxter, PhD Candidate in Criminology/Law, researching human trafficking and modern slavery in Australia, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1591832021-05-06T11:49:35Z2021-05-06T11:49:35ZWhat this 100-year-old sex trafficking case tells us about modern exploitation and justice<p>In January 1910, a 16-year-old girl named Lydia Harvey boarded a steamship in Wellington, New Zealand, bound for Buenos Aires. She had been recruited by a pimp to work in Argentina’s booming sex trade. After a traumatic month in South America, she was brought to London where she was forced to solicit in the West End. It was here that Metropolitan police officers found her and used her as the star witness in a case against her traffickers. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/what-this-100-year-old-sex-trafficking-case-tells-us-about-modern-exploitation-and-justice-159183&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Lydia Harvey’s story probably sounds familiar to 21st-century ears, even if it is a little surprising to learn that sex trafficking — often thought of as a new problem – was considered a <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/sexual-surveillance-and-moral-quarantines-history-of-antitrafficking/">pressing social issue</a> a century ago. We’ve all read stories of women who were coerced and abused in the sex industry. They pepper our newspapers, televisions and films – and Lydia Harvey’s story is no different. She was abused, confined against her will and never saw a penny of the money she earned selling sex. </p>
<p>She was also held up by police and the media as an exemplary victim — a cautionary tale about the dangers poor young women faced when they dared to dream of a better, more exciting life. Who she really was — and her complex, human experiences — did not matter. She was just another girl who had disappeared. First, from her home and workplace and next, from the historical record. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman standing at Piccadilly Circus, London." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399039/original/file-20210505-17-1ox3gfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lydia Harvey was brought to London where she was forced to solicit in the West End.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/31/the-disappearance-of-lydia-harvey-by-julia-laite-review-a-sex-worker-in-edwardian-london">my recent book</a>, The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey, I pull at the threads of the archive and try to find Lydia Harvey in all her human complexity, as well as the lives of the others entangled in her case: her traffickers and their prosecutors, the journalist who told her story and the social worker who supported her in her journey home. In doing so, I question the simplistic narratives about trafficking and sexual labour in the past and in the present. </p>
<h2>Dreams of travel</h2>
<p>When Lydia Harvey decided to join a charming man and his wife on a steamship to Buenos Aires, she was young and naive. She dreamed of travelling, of adventure, of nice clothes, and did not fully understand what she was agreeing to. But she understood all too well the kind of work and life she was attempting to leave behind. </p>
<p>Harvey worked as a domestic servant, putting in over 70 hours a week for well below anything resembling a living wage. Living with her employers, she was constantly under their scrutiny and, without labour rights or protections, almost entirely at their mercy. </p>
<p>When she travelled from New Zealand to Buenos Aires, she left one highly exploitative industry for another. The key difference, it seemed, was that the media was obsessed with exploitation in the sex industry and ignored the widespread exploitation young working-class women faced in most other forms of work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Tower Bridge over the Thames river, London, photograph: circa. 1910." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399033/original/file-20210505-15-izjomy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tower Bridge over the Thames river, London, photograph: circa. 1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tower-bridge-over-thames-river-london-252141349">Everett Collection</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like girls and women today, whose complex lives are turned into <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/introduction-do-hidden-costs-outweigh-practical-benefits-of-huma/">awareness-raising anecdotes</a>, Harvey’s story was sold, twisted and oversimplified. She was held up as an “ideal victim” of trafficking, yet she was still criminalised and didn’t receive the justice and support she deserved. Once “rescued” from prostitution, she was coerced back into domestic service – a job she hated. The poverty that had pushed her into selling sex – and the dreams she had for a better life – did not go away, nor did her determination to fight for them. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, other young women whose backgrounds, past sexual experiences and ethnicity marked them as undeserving of sympathy, were criminalised and deported – all in the name of fighting the terrible traffic in women. </p>
<h2>Moralise and criminalise</h2>
<p>In many ways, things have changed very little in the 110 years since Lydia Harvey boarded that steamship. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-rethink-is-needed-on-how-to-handle-trafficked-and-migrant-children-23389">anti-trafficking movement</a>, born in the late 19th century, still focuses on migration restriction and criminalisation as the supposed solutions to the problems of exploited sexual labour. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trafficked-children-are-being-hidden-behind-a-focus-on-modern-slavery-87116">Trafficking</a> is a serious social problem, but one that is most often caused by poverty, criminalised migration and labour exploitation in legal industries. And yet we still <a href="https://theconversation.com/blamed-for-being-abused-an-uncomfortable-history-of-child-sexual-exploitation-82410">moralise, criminalise</a> and toughen border controls in the name of anti-trafficking – politically expedient and short-sighted “solutions” that do more harm than good.</p>
<p>Just as they did a hundred years ago, young women, caught in cycles of poverty and abuse, engage in sexual labour as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/rise-in-sugar-babies-mirrors-increase-in-student-sex-work-44377">survival strategy</a>. And despite the idealistic rhetoric of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/ideological-war-against-the-decriminalisation-of-sex-work-risks-sidelining-much-of-the-evidence-92883">abolishing</a>” prostitution, they are still offered few viable labour alternatives should they wish to leave sex work. Despite a century of attempts to ostensibly build a better world, Lydia Harvey would find our present-day all too familiar.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Laite does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A missing girl, a sensational trial, and the troubled history of anti-trafficking.Julia Laite, Reader In Modern History, Department Of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1287822019-12-16T05:24:02Z2019-12-16T05:24:02ZFacebook’s push for end-to-end encryption is good news for user privacy, as well as terrorists and paedophiles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307065/original/file-20191216-124004-1zmrcu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C80%2C4270%2C2910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facebook's initiative places the company in a complicated situation, as increased user privacy, while positive, could come with potential impunity for offenders. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SHUTTERSTOCK</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Facebook is <a href="https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2019/10/31/facebook-is-testing-end-to-end-encryption-for-secret-messenger-calls/">planning end-to-end encryption on all its messaging services</a> to increase privacy levels. </p>
<p>The tech giant started <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/25/18197222/facebook-messenger-instagram-end-to-end-encryption-feature-zuckerberg">experimenting</a> with this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/a-privacy-focused-vision-for-social-networking/10156700570096634/">earlier this year</a>. Soon, end-to-end encryption will be standard for every Facebook message. </p>
<p>But Australian, British and United States governments and <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/tech/facebook-wants-to-expand-encryption-across-all-its-platforms-but-lawmakers-are-wary-2376161.html">law makers</a> aren’t <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/encryption-can-t-put-tech-giants-beyond-the-reach-of-the-law-minister-says-20191211-p53ize.html">happy about it</a>. They fear it will make it impossible to recover criminal conversations from Facebook’s platforms, thus offering impunity to offenders. </p>
<p>For instance, this was a major concern following <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/khalid-masood-whatsapp-westminster-london-attack-parliament-message-isis-terror-network-contacts-a7649206.html">the 2017 London terror attacks</a>. Attackers used WhatsApp (Facebook’s end-to-end encrypted platform), and this frustrated police investigations.</p>
<p>But does Facebook’s initiative place the company between a political rock and an ethical hard place?</p>
<h2>What is end-to-end encryption?</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-to-end_encryption">End-to-end encryption</a> is a method of communicating more securely, compared to non-encrypted communications. </p>
<p>It involves using encryption (via cryptographic keys) that excludes third parties from accessing content shared between communicating users. </p>
<p>When the sender wants to communicate with the receiver, they share a unique <a href="https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/encryption">algorithmic key to decrypt</a> the message. No one else can access it, not even the service provider.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-and-crime-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-66397">Social media and crime: the good, the bad and the ugly</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The real incentive</h2>
<p>Facebook’s plan to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/10/06/is-facebooks-new-encryption-fight-hiding-a-ruthless-secret-agenda/#6ec67b3b5699">enact this change is paradoxical</a>, considering the company has a history of <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/jmjcila31&div=20&g_sent=1&casa_token=9vXpTPHtJw8AAAAA:B6FRTbg2DmAm5BkVzfidBoBgvSwEM6DcOepLuWUbEM-4ICx8U5kUPS7496BddNrArud0rRPh">harvesting user data</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/why-you-should-delete-facebook-messenger-2018-4?r=US&IR=T">selling it to third parties</a>. </p>
<p>Now, it supposedly wants to protect the privacy of the same users.</p>
<p>One possible reason Facebook is pushing for this development is because it will solve many of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/10/06/is-facebooks-new-encryption-fight-hiding-a-ruthless-secret-agenda/#6ec67b3b5699">its legal woes</a>. </p>
<p>With end-to-end encryption, the company will no longer have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_(computing)">backdoor</a> access to users’ messages. </p>
<p>Thus, it won’t be forced to comply with requests from law enforcement agencies to access data. And even if police were able to get hold of the data, they would still need the key required to read the messages. </p>
<p>Only users would have the ability to share the key (or messages) with law enforcement.</p>
<h2>Points in favour</h2>
<p>Implementing end-to-end encryption will positively impact Facebook users’ privacy, as their messages will be protected from eavesdropping. </p>
<p>This means Facebook, law enforcement agencies and hackers will find it harder to intercept any communication done through the platform. </p>
<p>And although end-to-end encryption is arguably not necessary for most everyday conversations, it does have <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/soups2016/way_2016_paper_vaziripour.pdf">advantages</a>, including: </p>
<p>1) protecting users’ personal and financial information, such as transactions on Facebook Marketplace </p>
<p>2) increasing trust and cooperation between users </p>
<p>3) preventing criminals eavesdropping on individuals to harvest their information, which can render them victim to <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/beware-of-these-11-facebook-scams-1947431">stalking, scamming and romance frauds</a></p>
<p>4) allowing those with sensitive medical, political or sexual information to be able to share it with others online</p>
<p>5) enabling journalists and intelligence agencies to communicate privately with sources.</p>
<h2>Not foolproof</h2>
<p>However, even though end-to-end encryption will increase users’ privacy in certain situations, it may still not be enough to make conversations completely safe.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/end-to-end-encryption-isnt-enough-security-for-real-people-82054">End-to-end encryption isn't enough security for 'real people'</a>
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<p>This is because the biggest threat to eavesdropping is the very act of using a device. </p>
<p>End-to-end encryption doesn’t <a href="https://medium.com/@BlackwaveLtd/end-to-end-encryption-is-not-secure-without-proper-authentication-67bfa3c8108">guarantee</a> the people we are talking to online are who they say they are. </p>
<p>Also, while cryptographic algorithms are hard to crack, third parties can still <a href="https://www.us-cert.gov/bsi/articles/knowledge/principles/securing-the-weakest-link">obtain the key to open the message</a>. For example, this can be done by using apps to <a href="https://recon.meddle.mobi/papers/panoptispy18pets.pdf">take screenshots</a> of a conversation, and sending them to third parties.</p>
<h2>A benefit for criminals</h2>
<p>When Facebook messages become end-to-end encrypted, it will be <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0150300#pone.0150300.ref009">harder to detect criminals</a>, including people who use the platform to commit <a href="http://milwaukeenns.org/2014/05/21/special-report-diploma-mill-scams-continue-to-plague-milwaukees-adult-students">scams</a> and launch <a href="https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2014/05/27/instant-messaging-trojan-spreads-through-the-uk/">malware</a>.</p>
<p>Others use Facebook <a href="https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait/kuwait-cracks-down-on-illegal-racket-on-selling-housemaids-using-app-1.1572855473783">for human</a> or sex trafficking, as well as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/jacksonville-man-sentenced-child-pornography-case">child grooming</a> and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/facebook-must-pick-a-side-in-fight-against-online-child-sex-abuse-dutton-20191004-p52xnw.html">exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Facebook Messenger can also help <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3005872">criminals organise themselves</a>, as well as plan and carry out crimes, including terror attacks and cyber-enabled fraud extortion hacks.</p>
<p>The unfortunate <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/ORRRSA-2">trade-off</a> in <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xpsA2Cq997wC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=increasing+privacy+surveillance+internet&ots=nSKCdoaLWu&sig=IIRuxqn5731sXp8A989Vyl9Ef00&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=increasing%20privacy%20surveillance%20internet&f=false">increasing user privacy</a> is reducing the capacity for surveillance and national security efforts. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-photos-on-social-media-lead-to-mistaken-identity-in-court-cases-63887">Can photos on social media lead to mistaken identity in court cases?</a>
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<p>End-to-end encryption on Facebook would also increase criminals’ feeling of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217305812">security</a>. </p>
<p>However, although tech companies can’t deny the risk of having their technologies exploited for illegal purposes – they also don’t have a <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/australias-tech-future/cyber-security/what-is-the-government-doing-in-cyber-security">complete duty to keep a particular country’s cyberspace safe</a>. </p>
<h2>What to do?</h2>
<p>A potential solution to the dilemma can be found in various <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3427019/the-snoopers-charter-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-investigatory-powers-act.html">critiques</a> of the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0066/17066.pdf">UK’s 2016 Investigatory Powers Act</a>. </p>
<p>It proposes that, on certain occasions, a communications service provider may be asked to remove encryption (where possible). </p>
<p>However, this power must come from an authority that <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/25714">can be held accountable</a> in court for its actions, and this should be used as a last resort. </p>
<p>In doing so, encryption will increase user privacy without allowing total privacy, which carries <a href="https://guardtime.com/blog/6-reasons-why-encryption-isnt-working">harmful consequences</a>. </p>
<p>So far, several governments have pushed back against Facebook’s encryption plans, fearing it will place <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/encryption-can-t-put-tech-giants-beyond-the-reach-of-the-law-minister-says-20191211-p53ize.html">the company and its users beyond their reach</a>, and make it more difficult to <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/61-ccblog/8822-encryption-a-godsend-to-all-who-seek-privacy-even-criminals">catch criminals</a>. </p>
<p>End-to-end encryption is perceived as a bulwark for surveillance by third parties and governments, despite <a href="https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/ethics-of-surveillance/tech_wiretapping.html">other ways of intercepting communications</a>.</p>
<p>Many also agree surveillance is not only <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/119_org_pirate_party_australia.pdf">invasive, but also prone to abuse</a> by governments and third parties. </p>
<p>Freedom from invasive surveillance also <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomOpinion/Pages/CallForSubmission.aspx">facilitates freedom of expression</a>, opinion and privacy, as observed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. </p>
<p>In a world where debate is polarised by social media, Facebook and similar platforms are caught amid the politics of security. </p>
<p>It’s hard to say how a perfect balance can be achieved in such a multifactorial dilemma. </p>
<p>Either way, the decision is a political one, and governments - as opposed to tech companies - should ultimately be responsible for such decisions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberto Musotto is affiliated with the Cyber Security Research Cooperative Centre (CSCRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David S. Wall receives funding from the EPSRC (CRiTiCal & EMPHASIS Projects)</span></em></p>Facebook is planning to put end-to-end encryption on all its messaging services soon. But governments aren’t happy about it, as it could make it harder to catch criminals.Roberto Musotto, Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Postdoctoral Fellow, Edith Cowan UniversityDavid S. Wall, Professor of Criminology, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234232019-09-24T11:27:25Z2019-09-24T11:27:25ZWhat the Jeffrey Epstein case reveals about female sex offenders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292869/original/file-20190917-19076-ysey61.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Female sex offenders may not receive as much public attention or scorn as male sex offenders.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-bondage-angle-abandoned-building-image-755567842?src=Rd8fzU6L-y10iLKU4Et9Xw-1-8">271 EAK MOTO/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-charges.html">indictment of Jeffrey Epstein</a> for sex trafficking highlights the importance of understanding sex offenses perpetrated by women.</p>
<p>Epstein allegedly did not act alone. In a variety of court filings, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell.html">some of his female associates</a>, most notably Ghislaine Maxwell, have been depicted as instrumental in his sexual encounters. None of them has been criminally charged.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F9_W6RwAAAAJ&hl=en">We</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=WOB8ogwAAAAJ">have</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=kl7AKH0AAAAJ">studied</a> women who have been convicted of sexual assault, abuse and human trafficking, as well as public attitudes toward sex offenders. Our research, and that of others, shows the similarities and differences between male and female sexual offenders.</p>
<h2>Are many sex offenders women?</h2>
<p>The majority of sex offenders are male. Research suggests that between 1% and 9% of those who offend sexually worldwide are women, <a href="https://www.csom.org/pubs/mythsfacts.pdf">depending on the source of data</a>. Most estimates settle on 5%.</p>
<p>In surveys of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854816658923">people who have been victims</a> of sexual abuse or assault, 3% of female victims and 21% of male victims report that the perpetrator was female. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6463078/">official data</a> of arrest and conviction rates may underrepresent the number of female sex offenders, as those who have been assaulted by a woman are less likely to <a href="https://medium.com/s/all-rise/debra-lafave-why-we-cant-see-women-as-sexual-predators-and-why-it-matters-7984bd98b184">report the abuse</a>. Female offenders are also less likely to be arrested and convicted. If they are convicted, they receive shorter sentences <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085111430214">than male offenders</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518772110">Women who commit sexual offenses</a> differ from men in many ways. Female offenders are more likely to offend in child care contexts, including being a babysitter or teacher. Women are more likely than men to be the parent or guardian of the victim. </p>
<p>The victims of female offenders are often younger than those of male offenders, and female offenders are equally likely to offend against female and male victims. In contrast, male offenders overwhelmingly offend against female victims, and more often in marriage or dating relationships. </p>
<p>However, the most striking difference is that female offenders are six times more likely than male offenders to have a co-offender. </p>
<h2>What is co-offending?</h2>
<p>When two or more people participate in the abuse of the same victim, they are co-offenders. </p>
<p>Women may be involved by recruiting and coaxing the victims into dangerous situations and helping to provide a sense of safety for the victims. They may coerce or manipulate the victim, or perpetrate sexually abusive behaviors in front of, or at the same time as, the male abuser. </p>
<p>Accusers in the Epstein cases allege that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell.html">his female co-offenders</a> engaged in all of these <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/08/23/jeffrey-epstein-estate-prosecution-maxwell-jail-suicide-inner-circle/2018552001/">forms of abuse</a>. </p>
<p>Women co-offend for many reasons. Some may abuse victims for reasons <a href="https://www.smart.gov/SOMAPI/sec1/ch3_typology.html">similar to male offenders</a> – for example, to gain power, to retaliate against someone, or due to sexual deviance. </p>
<p>However, many are coerced or forced by the male co-offender. Many are threatened or physically abused to force participation. Others participate in exchange for money or drugs. </p>
<p>Women who co-offend are different from those who offend alone in many ways. More have traumatic childhoods and strained relationships with parents due to parents being divorced, in prison or abusing drugs or alcohol. They are also more likely to be in a violent relationship with a husband or boyfriend, who is often the co-offender. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.33.1.53">Women who are coerced</a> to participate in sexual abuse are also more likely than women who are not coerced to have experienced physical, emotional or sexual abuse in childhood, as well as adult relationships that involved intimidation, stalking or sexual abuse. </p>
<h2>What should be done?</h2>
<p>In testimony and interviews, alleged victims of Epstein report that the presence of the women prior to and during the assaults <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/podcasts/the-daily/epstein-maxwell-farmer-sisters.html">made them feel that they were safe</a>. They <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein-roger-ailes-judy-laterza-serena-waterford-handmaids-tale/596236/">questioned their feelings</a> that what was happening was actually rape or sexual assault. They report ignoring red flags because, if another woman was there who acted as if the situation was normal, they must be wrong in feeling violated. They also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-epstein-accusers-suit-ghislaine-maxwell-massage-book-coach-girls-2019-8">reported threats</a> against them if they did not comply.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/podcasts/the-daily/epstein-maxwell-farmer-sisters.html">One accuser</a> described a situation in which she was allegedly assaulted with Maxwell nearby, stating, “I felt like she was aware of it. So again, there was this safety in that the door was open. And so I felt like she could have easily been aware of what he was doing and [was] fine with it.”</p>
<p>None of Epstein’s female associates has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-criminal-charges-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-conspiracy-2019-8">been indicted</a>. </p>
<p>Media accounts of female offenders, particularly teachers who abuse male students, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/truth-female-sex-offenders/">minimize the effect on the victims</a> and eroticize the offenders. Cases of adult women having sexual relationships with underage boys are commonly described as <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nejjkw/a-womans-touch-when-pedophiles-arent-men">“illicit romances</a>,” with no discussion of the potential of coercion, misuse of power or long-term harm.</p>
<p>In our experience, many sexual violence prevention programs, materials and public service announcements depict perpetrators as being universally male. This may make it difficult for potential victims to identify a woman’s behavior as coercive, manipulative or abusive. </p>
<p>We believe that introducing prevention programs that specifically address <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838006296747">women as potential perpetrators</a> may be effective in helping to prevent some abuses, such as those alleged in the Epstein cases.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Poco Kernsmith receives funding from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheryl Kubiak receives funding from local foundations, including Flinn, Michigan Health Endowment Fund, and Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, as well as federal and state grants.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin B. Comartin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Between 1% and 9% of sex offenders are female. Many are ‘co-offenders,’ recruiting and manipulating victims for others.Poco Kernsmith, Professor of Social Work, Wayne State UniversityErin B. Comartin, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Wayne State UniversitySheryl Kubiak, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218662019-08-29T13:11:48Z2019-08-29T13:11:48ZThese are the customers who support sex trafficking in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288961/original/file-20190821-170931-1pnf4r4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A law enforcement guide to human trafficking sits on a table at a drop-in center for victims of sex trafficking in Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Sex-Trafficking/a6da5b45a2f34e86a6a8895e24110bbf/315/0">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49377421">Jeffrey Epstein</a>, who died on Aug. 10, may be the current face of sex trafficking, buying and selling youth and adults for sex is a more common practice for everyday people in the U.S., mostly men.</p>
<p>Experts have a term for what Epstein is accused of doing: sex trafficking. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.state.gov/international-and-domestic-law/">Trafficking Victims Protection Act</a>, passed in 2000, defined a sex trafficking victim as any adult involved in a commercial sex act that was induced by force, fraud or coercion or in which the person induced has not yet reached the age of 18. </p>
<p>The federal government and advocates <a href="https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/key-legislation/">refer to human trafficking generally</a> as modern-day slavery.</p>
<p>I have spent the last 25 years studying sex trafficking. Because the idea of “freedom” is deeply rooted in the American dream, I believe that this population deserves more of the public’s attention.</p>
<h2>Who purchases sex?</h2>
<p>Human trafficking is a business with supply and demand: The supply is the victims, and the demand is the customers. </p>
<p>But who are the customers? </p>
<p>When it comes to youth, it’s a myth that the creepy pervert living under the bridge is buying our youth for sex. “John” is employed and living next door to you.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.urban.org/research/%20publication/estimating-size-and-structure-underground-commercial-sex-economy-eight-major-us-cities">most common procurers of sexual services</a> are employed men with enough disposable income to engage in these activities, which <a href="https://humantraffickinghotline.org/sites/default/files/Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy-%20Full%20Report%20-%20Urban%20Institute_0.pdf">typically cost</a> from US$15 to over $1,000. </p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="http://www.urban.org/research/publication/estimating-size-and-structure-underground-commercial-sex-economy-eight-major-us-cities">the Urban Institute, a D.C. think tank, studied the underground illegal commercial sex trade</a> across seven cities. They estimated that, in 2007, customers in these cities spent between $39.9 million and $290 million on sexual activities. In those cities, customers <a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/economy/article24765100.html">handed each trafficker</a> between $12,000 and $32,833 per week. </p>
<p><a href="https://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004119">One review of 21 studies</a> estimated that 15% to 20% of American men had purchased sex at least once. It’s difficult to ascertain the number of victims customers purchased for sex or how many knew they purchased sex trafficking victims.</p>
<p>Comparing <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/182859.pdf">men arrested for buying sex</a> with a nationally representative sample of men, one study found that men who purchased sex were more likely to be educated. They were also slightly more likely not to be married.</p>
<p>More specifically, my team conducted <a href="https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/getattachment/27542187-0e4d-4d48-9b47-8ecbe6ed21b2/2012-Domestic-Sex-Trafficking-in-Ohio-Report.aspx">a study of 115 women in Ohio</a> that had previously been child sex trafficking victims and 43 who were current adult sex trafficking victims. </p>
<p>We identified their customers as being male drug dealers, members of law enforcement, lawyers, construction workers, truckers, businessmen, social workers, pastors, city employees and more. </p>
<p>Purchasing sex online has also become big business. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2015.1107711">In a study across 15 metropolitan cities</a>, on average, 1 out of every 20 males over the age of 18 found a sex ad and engaged by texting or calling to arrange an encounter.</p>
<h2>Reframing sex traffickers and customers</h2>
<p>In movies like the blockbuster “Taken,” family man and retired CIA agent Liam Neeson reluctantly allows his daughter to take a trip out of the country, where she is ultimately trafficked into the sex trade. </p>
<p>The movie perpetuates the idea that the biggest risk for the trafficking of our daughters is in sending them abroad, like Neeson’s character did in the movie. </p>
<p>In reality, because of U.S. purchasing power and demand for sexual services, the risk is right here. Many <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Trafficking-in-Persons-Report.pdf">U.S. victims of sex trafficking</a> are trafficking right here in the U.S. </p>
<p><a href="https://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/SHI_National_Report_on_DMST_2009.pdf">American youth who are successfully trafficked</a> often <a href="https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/facts">come from a history of abuse or have run away from home</a>. </p>
<p>Since the passing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, the U.S. has made progress in fighting sex trafficking. Both the <a href="https://polarisproject.org/successes/127-anti-human-trafficking-laws-passed">federal government and states have passed laws</a> that shift the blame away from vulnerable youth and adults onto traffickers and customers and <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/human-trafficking-laws.aspx">attach stiff penalties</a> for sex trafficking crimes.</p>
<p>As part of that progress, the language surrounding these crimes has changed. Anti-trafficking advocates no longer call victims “juvenile prostitutes,” but <a href="https://www.ncjfcj.org/there-no-such-thing-child-prostitute">victims of commercial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking victims</a>. Social services organizations treat them like children in need of care, <a href="https://humantraffickingsearch.org/safe-harbor-does-your-state-arrest-minors-for-prostitution/">as dictated by safe harbor laws passed across states</a>. Anti-trafficking advocates and law enforcement no longer call the men that sell children “pimps,” but “traffickers.”</p>
<p>But I think that the public view on sex trafficking, particularly of youth, has yet to catch up. Many Americans still call men that purchase sex with youth “johns.” In reality, they are “child molesters” or “sexual predators.” </p>
<p>At the moment, the public has fixated its hatred of sex trafficking onto one man, Epstein, who purchased and used minors for sex. </p>
<p>In my view, focusing on Epstein is a disservice to the countless victims of sex trafficking. There are many more men in U.S. cities and towns whose victims are still waiting for justice.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121866/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celia Williamson has received funding from the Department of Justice, National Institutes of Health, and national and local foundations to conduct research on sex trafficking. She is a member of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars. We are researchers from around the world that seek to do collaborative human trafficking focused research.</span></em></p>Jeffrey Epstein may be the current face of sex trafficking, but buying and selling youth for sex is a common practice in the US.Celia Williamson, Executive Director of Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, University of ToledoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1214082019-08-13T11:16:24Z2019-08-13T11:16:24ZNew laws give victims more time to report rape or sexual assault – even Jeffrey Epstein’s<p>The #MeToo movement seems to be having a positive effect on sexual assault and rape victims’ willingness to report the crimes against them.</p>
<p>In 2017, <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv17.pdf">40.4% of victims of rape or sexual assault in the U.S. reported the crime to police, up from 23.2% in 2016</a>.</p>
<p>New laws being passed around the country may increase these numbers even more by giving victims more time to seek justice in either criminal or civil court.</p>
<p>In 2019 alone, 20 states and the District of Columbia passed reforms, often despite <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/03/22/waiving-limitations-on-civil-abuse-suits-called-unfair-catastrophic/">opposition from the Catholic Church</a>, which has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-as-pope-visit-nears-us-sex-victims-say-church-remains-obstacle-to-justice-2015-9">facing sex abuse allegations for decades</a>.</p>
<p>A new law in New York state, the <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/02/14/child-victims-act-four-things-know-new-law-new-york/2868643002/">Child Victims Act</a> allows those who were victims of <a href="https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/03/22/suits-for-sexual-abuse-deadlines-and-statutes-of-limitations/">sexual assault as a minor</a> more time to report crimes – until age 28. The law also allows more time for victims to sue alleged perpetrators or negligent institutions – until age 55. Previously, the age limit for both types of cases was 23 with <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/02/14/child-victims-act-four-things-know-new-law-new-york/2868643002/">an exemption only for the most serious felonies</a>. </p>
<p>The law also opens up a one-year window for victims of any age to file civil law suits, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. This window opens on Aug. 14.</p>
<p>Some states have gone even further. Last month, my home state of <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/455024-illinois-eliminates-statue-of-limitations-for-sex-crimes">Illinois became the eighth state to completely eliminate statutes of limitation for sex crimes</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/jpalmer.cfm">As a scholar of gender-based violence</a> currently studying the <a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/news/palmer-fellowship.cfm">legal needs of survivors of sexual assault</a>, I believe that these reforms may help some victims find closure. </p>
<p>However, without examining why someone might wait decades to report a sexual assault, why sexual offenders are often not held accountable, and why so few <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/384174-there-is-no-excise-for-not-fully-funding-the-rape-prevention-and">resources are devoted to rape prevention</a>, I believe that increasing – but not eliminating – time limits will not help most victims heal or access justice.</p>
<h2>Barriers to reporting sexual assault</h2>
<p>There are many reasons victims <a href="https://ocrsm.umd.edu/files/Why-Is-Sexual-Assault-Under-Reported.pdf">choose not to report</a> an attack immediately, or ever. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19407882.2017.1367696?af=R&journalCode=uwhe20">recent study on sexual assault disclosure among college students</a>, my co-author Noelle St. Vil and I found that 72% of victims told someone about the sexual assault, but only 6% reported to law enforcement. Victims were more likely to report if they were injured or their attacker was a stranger. This type of sexual assault is also the most likely to result in a conviction, but it is <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4594">the least common type</a> of assault.</p>
<p>Recent events, like Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford’s testimony before the Senate in September 2018, meant that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/during-kavanaugh-ford-hearing-calls-sexual-assault-hotline-spiked-201-n914811">calls to sexual assault hotlines spiked over 200%</a>. Statutes of limitations meant that most of those callers <a href="https://www.revelist.com/feminism/statute-of-limitations-rape/4429/arkansas-six-years-for-firstdegree-offenses-three-years-for-second-third-and-fourth/4">likely had no legal recourse</a> open to them.</p>
<p>The new law in New York state addresses that for many victims. It will also likely mean that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-jeffrey-epstein-lawsuits/lawyers-say-epstein-victims-to-sue-financiers-estate-this-week-idUSKCN1V10LF">more civil law suits will be filed against the estate of Jeffrey Epstein</a> who died in federal jail Aug. 10 awaiting trial on criminal charges of sexually abusing and trafficking girls over the past two decades. </p>
<h2>‘Leaky pipeline’</h2>
<p>More victims may be reporting and suing, but many studies have shown that the criminal legal system is a “<a href="https://nyu.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.18574/nyu/9780814707937.001.0001/upso-9780814707937-chapter-004">leaky pipeline</a>” where impunity for sexual offenders is common.</p>
<p>According to a 2018 <a href="http://www.startribune.com/denied-justice-series-when-rape-is-reported-and-nothing-happens-minnesota-police-sexual-assault-investigations/487400761/">investigative report</a> that analyzed 1,300 sexual assault cases in Minnesota, 338 of these cases were sent to prosecutors by law enforcement. Charges were filed in 156 cases and only <a href="http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-rape-cases-rejected-by-the-prosecution-denied-justice-special-report-part-five/497700641/">91 of the original 1,300 resulted in a conviction</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.startribune.com/five-factors-that-can-determine-the-fate-of-a-sexual-assault-case/501637071/">Among assaults</a> that were reported more than two days after the incident, only 5% resulted in conviction. Rape cases without evidence from a sexual assault forensic exam resulted in conviction just 3% of the time. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287394/original/file-20190808-144888-1hnkewx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rape cases without forensic exam evidence result in conviction 3% of the time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Rape-Kits-Backlog/13fd06981c7e4e318f283eb34ddc53f9/2/0">AP/Pat Sullivan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Epstein’s 2019 criminal case, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/10/we-need-answers-lots-them-whats-known-whats-next-after-jeffrey-epsteins-death/">which won’t proceed because of his death</a>, there were more than <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2019/07/31/jeffrey-epstein-could-spend-year-in-jail-before-trial/#4806b4ec3a18">1 million pages of evidence</a> against him, including photos and victim testimonies.</p>
<p>It is more typical for cases to have little-to-no evidence, especially if it is years or decades after an attack.</p>
<h2>Civil vs. criminal options for victims</h2>
<p>In criminal court, the standard for conviction is to demonstrate that the abuse happened <a href="https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/lawsuits-and-the-court-process/evidentiary-standards-and-burdens-of-proof/">“beyond a reasonable doubt</a>.” That’s difficult to do when victims do not report promptly or when there is no DNA collected or evidence of injury.</p>
<p>In the criminal system, a <a href="https://www.womenslaw.org/laws/preparing-court-yourself/court-system-basics/overview-civil-vs-criminal-law">conviction means</a> the defendant serves time in prison or jail, is put on probation or must register as a sex offender. But once charges are filed, the case is not in the victim’s control.</p>
<p>New York’s Child Victims Act, and similar reforms in other states, opens the door for more victims to pursue civil law suits instead of reporting to police. In civil cases, it has to be established that it is <a href="https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/lawsuits-and-the-court-process/evidentiary-standards-and-burdens-of-proof/">“more likely than not”</a> that the abuse occurred. <a href="https://www.wcsap.org/sites/default/files/uploads/working_with_survivors/advocacy/survivors_guide_to_filing_civil_lawsuit_2004.pdf">Victims can file suits to seek</a> compensation for medical, legal or mental health costs or even gaps in employment due to depression or anxiety. </p>
<p>In 2002, California was the first state to offer a one-year window for victims to come forward in cases where the statue of limitations had run out. As a result, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-state-laws-open-door-to-decades-old-child-sex-abuse-cases/">nearly US$1 billion was paid in civil lawsuit settlements by churches and insurance companies</a>.</p>
<p>In many states, including New York, victims can also sue institutions like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/us/rape-victims-kits-police-departments.html">police departments</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/08/05/boy-scout-sex-abuse-claims-exclusive-lawsuit/1899606001/">the Boy Scouts of America</a> and even <a href="https://www.axios.com/catholic-priests-sexual-abuse-victims-sue-vatican-d092ccc0-731b-4e18-855e-4d9b1c3d0797.html">the Vatican</a>.</p>
<p>Attorneys representing some of Epstein’s victims intend to proceed with filing suits against his estate, and <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article233748362.html">it’s possible that his assets could be used for victim restitution</a>. </p>
<p>Civil suits can be <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/victims-sexual-assault-come-forward-justice_n_6294152">emotionally taxing for victims, costly and time-consuming</a>, but the civil process offers victims more control over the case, including the ability to withdraw it.</p>
<p>Civil legal attorneys can also help victims with concrete needs <a href="https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/6469-rights-and-remedies-meeting-the-civil-legal-needs">related to housing, employment, immigration issues or educational access</a>. </p>
<h2>The cost of sexual assault</h2>
<p>Some victims who take advantage of the Child Victims Act may be believed for the first time and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1440-1819.1998.0520s5S145.x">that may help them heal from their trauma</a>. But for many, statutes of limitation reforms are too late. </p>
<p>Every American rape <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.11.014">takes an estimated $122,461</a> out of the economy over a victim’s lifetime, with the losses related to criminal justice costs, health impairment and loss of productivity. Over the nation’s population, that adds up to $3.1 trillion. Serious investments in prevention could substantially reduce these costs, and <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article233748362.html">perhaps a foundation could use Epstein’s assets to do just that</a>. And one day, perhaps #MeToo will be #NotNeeded.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane E. Palmer's research on the civil legal needs of survivors of sexual assault is funded by a Victim Research-to-Practice Fellowship from the Center for Victim Research. </span></em></p>Part of a law that goes into effect in New York state on Aug. 14 allows victims more time sue in civil court. Epstein’s victims can still go after his estate.Jane E. Palmer, Professorial Lecturer, Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, American University School of Public AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1209432019-08-05T15:50:07Z2019-08-05T15:50:07ZSex worker rights: Hysteria, surveillance and threats to fundamental freedoms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286821/original/file-20190804-117910-7mvnsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C508%2C2048%2C1020&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sex worker rights -- fought for at this red umbrella protest in Vancouver -- are under threat by 'hospitality' programs which ask civilians working in hotels to 'report' on their guests. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Doerksen </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2:00 a.m. The phone rang, abruptly awakening me. It was the hotel night clerk calling to tell me that members of the Montréal Police Service were downstairs and wanting to search my room. When I asked why, I was told there was a report of a missing youth being held in the hotel. Knowing I couldn’t refuse without negative consequences, I reluctantly agreed. </p>
<p>This happened to one of us — Kerry Porth, sex worker rights activist, educator and scholar. Along with Genevieve Fuji Johnson — professor of political science at Simon Fraser University and co-author of this article — Kerry was in Montréal to attend the <a href="http://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/conference/icpp4-montreal-2019/10">International Conference of Public Policy</a>. Our paper on harm reduction in sex work was well received by a small but interested audience. Until this raid on Kerry’s room, never did it cross our minds that our work would attract the attention of the law. </p>
<p>In May 2019, the Montréal Police Service launched RADAR, an anti-trafficking program that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/spvm-radar-sexual-exploitation-1.5152323">enlists hotel staff and taxi drivers in identifying suspicious activity</a>. RADAR is similar to other initiatives implemented across North America. </p>
<p>For several years, industry associations such as the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association and the American Hotel and Lodging Association have been partnering anti-trafficking organizations like Polaris and ECPAT-USA along with police departments. These initiatives include providing hotel employees — from global hotel chains like the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and others — <a href="http://www.orhma.com/Portals/0/Insider/2015/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Housekeeping.pdf">with lists of trafficking indicators</a>. Indicators include guests having multiple computers and phones, large amounts of cash, and lots of alcohol, condoms, lube and lingerie. Other signs include: refusing cleaning services; leaving minors in the room; infrequently leaving the room; frequently using the “Do not Disturb” sign; <a href="http://www.orhma.com/Portals/0/Insider/2015/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Front%20Desk.pdf">wearing provocative clothing and shoes; taking a lot of toiletries; asking for more towels; staying for long periods with few possessions; and renting more than one room</a>. Wearing large hats and sunglasses is <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/594970e91b631b3571be12e2/t/5cd329e8a4222f20baf5378b/1557342696892/ECPAT-USA_AntiTraffickingHotelChecklist.pdf">also listed as an indicator</a>. Children’s items and <a href="https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/db/15489592738697.pdf">toys are also suspicious</a>. </p>
<p>A serious issue with these indicators is that, like claims linking an increase in trafficking to major sports events, <a href="http://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf">they are not based on evidence</a>. They <a href="https://swanvancouver.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SWAN-ADVOCACY-TOOLKIT.pdf">render suspicious entirely benign behaviour</a>, and they empower amateur agents of the state to report this behaviour to state authorities. The consequences of these programs are far-reaching.</p>
<h2>Programs impede safety and freedom</h2>
<p>These programs may make it more difficult for real victims of both sexual exploitation and sex trafficking to come forward, <a href="https://reason.com/2019/02/05/hotel-surveillance-state-sex-trafficking/">seek the help they want and receive that help</a>. Those who have power over them may find more ways of keeping them hidden from well-publicized efforts to detect them. Moreover, by funding these programs, valuable resources are diverted from addressing deeper causes of trafficking and, im/migrants who are either <a href="http://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf">exploited or trafficked</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.20121435">may fear incarceration or deportation</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C20%2C941%2C461&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/286820/original/file-20190804-117893-19jefjc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex worker rights – fought for at this red umbrella protest – are under threat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Doerksen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Captured by the excessively broad net of initiatives are consenting adults engaging in transactional sex. These programs <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.20121435">make sex workers reluctant to carry condoms</a>, more <a href="http://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201219126">mistrustful of law enforcement</a> and less likely to <a href="http://www.spoc.ca/ONS%20press%20release.pdf">“seek help from law enforcement even if they are experiencing violence, abuse, harassment or exploitation”</a>. These initiatives also threaten the rights and freedoms of citizens — perhaps especially those of us who are racialized. </p>
<p>Threats include those to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/airplane-mode/woman-delta-flight-says-she-was-mistaken-human-trafficking-victim-n824456">mobility rights, personal security rights and freedom of association</a>. As the raid on Kerry’s room suggests, these initiatives may also pose threats to academic freedom. </p>
<p>The incident has caused us to think more carefully about hiding from sight any research materials we may have with us when we travel. We believe it was those research materials — along with a stuffed animal, Sheepy, who accompanies Kerry on overnight trips away from home — may have been what triggered the report to the Montréal police.</p>
<h2>Gaining the trust of sex workers</h2>
<p>Ultimately, these programs threaten the very concept of citizenship. These anti-trafficking initiatives represent a shift from an ideal of citizenship in which members of a political community have a responsibility to be critical of the state and to keep a vigilant eye on its exercise of power. The ideal citizen underlying programs such as RADAR is one in which she becomes an agent of the state blindly implementing its agenda. </p>
<p>Human trafficking of any kind is a serious concern. However, concerns about sex trafficking often belie a powerful moralism that resists evidence and logic. This moralism feeds certain anti-trafficking campaigns that are more harmful than helpful, especially when those campaigns involve harnessing the surveillance powers of an archipelago of hotels, taxi companies, and airlines.</p>
<p>If we really want to combat sexual exploitation and trafficking — and we do — a critical first step is <a href="https://livingincommunity.ca/sex-work-101/">public education about the differences among sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sex work</a>. People engage in sex work for a wide range of reasons including, for some, a lack of other employment options. Sometimes sex workers will travel across jurisdictions to work. Sex work occurring indoors — in condos or hotel rooms — is <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13389/index.do">safer than that happening on the streets</a>. None of these facts necessarily reduce sex work to sex exploitation or trafficking. Anti-trafficking policies and programs need to be <a href="http://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201219126">directly informed by sex workers and their organizations</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.1.sect2-1701">The decriminalization of adult prostitution</a> is another crucial step to combat sexual exploitation and trafficking. Once decriminalized, prostitution can be governed by the same types of labour laws in other areas and sex workers can receive the same protections as workers in other areas. </p>
<p>Municipal governments, including police departments, need to work hard to gain the trust of sex workers and their advocacy and support organizations. These advocacy groups are among the best positioned to identify victims of either sexual exploitation or sex trafficking and to refer them to trusted programs that can enable them to exit the trade should they choose to do so. We believe that trafficking cannot be addressed without these steps, and certainly not by amateur agents of the state marking off trafficking indicator checklists.</p>
<p><em>Sex worker rights activist, educator and independent scholar Kerry Porth co-authored this article.</em> </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Genevieve Fuji Johnson receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a professor of Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University. Kerry Porth is a Sex Worker Rights Activist, Researcher, and Scholar. She works for Pivot Legal Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry Porth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Citizens-watch programs designed by police to aid anti-trafficking efforts threaten the rights and safety of sex workers.Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Professor, Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1202252019-07-12T04:02:16Z2019-07-12T04:02:16ZJeffrey Epstein’s arrest is the tip of the iceberg: human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing crime<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283802/original/file-20190712-173376-1avyq1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Child sex trafficking affects more than one million children worldwide, many of whom are left to suffer in silence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Natalia Ovsjannikova/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jeffrey Epstein, a powerfully connected American <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-who-is-he.html">financier</a>, is facing charges of sex trafficking, <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html">bringing</a> underage girls as young as 14 years old into homes in various locations across the US.</p>
<p>He reportedly had a network of more than <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-charged-lawyer-for-women-accusing-billionaire-sexual-abuse-estimates-excess-of-50-victims/">50 victims</a>, and evidence against him included hundreds of lewd <a href="https://time.com/5622053/jeffrey-epstein-molestation-charges-court/">photographs</a> of girls and young women. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/human-trafficking-and-slavery-still-happen-in-australia-this-comic-explains-how-112294">Human trafficking and slavery still happen in Australia. This comic explains how</a>
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<p>Accusations against high-profile people such as Epstein temporarily raise awareness of this significant human rights violation. But regardless of the outcome of this case, the ugly truth is this is just the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p>Child sex trafficking is a critical issue affecting more than <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf">one million children</a> worldwide, many of whom are left to suffer in silence.</p>
<p>Some consider human trafficking as the world’s <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2017/05/22/human-trafficking">fastest-growing crime</a>. Worldwide, about <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html">20%</a> of trafficking victims are children, with up to 100% in some regions. </p>
<p>Sex trafficking is the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html">most common</a> form of human trafficking. Globally, an estimated <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf">4.8 million</a> people are forced into sexual exploitation. </p>
<p>And this industry produces <a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/TraffickingbytheNumbers.pdf">$99 billion</a> in profits a year for traffickers. </p>
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<h2>Who is targeted?</h2>
<p>Most child trafficking <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/Trafficking_in_Persons_2012_web.pdf">victims are girls</a> and often between the ages of <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/135/3/566.full.pdf">12 to 16</a>. Although, when children under 12 are the victim, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063215616817">boys</a> have been found to outnumber girls in some samples.</p>
<p>While trafficking often implies “transporting” across borders, trafficking can very often be a <a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/TraffickingbytheNumbers.pdf">domestic matter</a> with little to no transportation. For example, one study found <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cshti0810.pdf">more than 80%</a> of sex trafficking incidents in the United States involved US citizens. </p>
<p>A child can become a victim of commercial sexual exploitation when they’re vulnerable, and some of the risk factors <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524838018821956?casa_token=42cGVl5lD2QAAAAA:ZHp98qgyn4T8KyJzi0CTkH6sTGa7xil0ZcW2Z3jqiy4ISsuQ2hGjbLDOpLb42t8ZXN-nxUsMNRaJoA">include</a>: substance abuse, poverty, exposure to family violence or criminality, running away or told to leave home, abuse and neglect (including sexual victimisation), involvement in delinquency, poor mental health, and involvement in child protective services. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-questions-answered-on-sex-trafficking-in-the-us-120098">4 questions answered on sex trafficking in the US</a>
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<p>While these are some common risk factors, it’s important to note that there is no <a href="https://oce.ovid.com/article/01263942-201504000-00002/HTML">definitive set</a> of risk factors – or single risk factor – that can determine whether a child will become a victim. </p>
<h2>How are victims recruited?</h2>
<p>Traffickers may recruit victims through “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/pdf/RIOG006001_0e22.pdf">guerrilla pimping</a>”. This involves aggression, threats and violence to engage and enslave the victim. </p>
<p>In other instances, recruitment through what appears to be kindness and compassion is shrouded in manipulation from food, money, shelter or drugs. This is referred to as “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/pdf/RIOG006001_0e22.pdf">finesse pimping</a>”. These exploited children, often victim to abuse and neglect in childhood, are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063214544334">promised shelter, love, and protection</a>. </p>
<p>And some children might fall victim to “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0886260516662306">survival sex</a>”, with no other option to attain food, money, shelter, or drugs. Such vulnerability places these children in high-risk situations where they may be manipulated and forced into exploitation.</p>
<p>Traffickers quite frequently use “recruiters” to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063214544334">identify</a> vulnerable youth. While these recruiters might be other adults, victims <em>themselves</em> can eventually become involved in the recruitment. “Friends” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15564886.2019.1595241?needAccess=true">may recruit peers</a> into the commercial sex trafficking population through their social networks. </p>
<p>In fact, some research has found <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10964-014-0191-y.pdf">almost half</a> were recruited by “friends” into the commercial exploitation industry as opposed to adults “preying” on susceptible youth. Recruitment to the industry by friends is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15564886.2019.1595241?needAccess=true">particularly dangerous</a>, as youth are less suspecting of their peers compared with adults. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-traffickings-tragic-paradox-when-victims-become-perpetrators-115706">Sex trafficking's tragic paradox: when victims become perpetrators</a>
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<p>In some instances, youth involved in sex trafficking will even be given <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13178-018-0353-x.pdf">financial incentives</a>, to introduce their friends to the exploitation population. Epstein allegedly used this tactic, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-09/jeffrey-epstein-charged-sex-trafficking-conspiracy-teenage-girls/11290606">paying his victims</a> to recruit other girls.</p>
<p>As a consequence, victims can suffer long-term physical, psychological, and even neurological <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23322705.2015.1133990?needAccess=true">trauma</a>, which can continue for their whole lives. </p>
<p>And the impacts of the trauma can also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23322705.2015.1133990?needAccess=true">affect others</a>, including families and wider society. </p>
<h2>Why can’t victims just leave?</h2>
<p>Once recruited, it’s difficult to leave. Experts have drawn parallels between the theoretic constructs of human trafficking to that of intimate partner violence, in terms of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379712008811">power and control</a>. </p>
<p>In particular, the victim may be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063214544334">isolated</a> as well as controlled emotionally and physically. The victim can easily become entangled through such controlling techniques or even through “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/">traumatic bonding</a>”. This is where the victim has appreciation towards the trafficker for being able to live, coupled with entrenched fear. </p>
<p>In some instances, a victim recruited through “finesse pimping” <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/">might feel</a> indebted and obliged to stay with the trafficker. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/study-shines-light-on-how-vulnerable-children-are-trafficked-in-nigeria-118527">Study shines light on how vulnerable children are trafficked in Nigeria</a>
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<p>Other tactics to maintain control can include food deprivation or forced drugs. And older victims <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063214544334">have reportedly</a> been threatened that if they don’t cooperate, or if they don’t earn a certain sum of money that day, the victim’s child will be sold.</p>
<p>The ability to maintain total control over the victim may also be <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/135/3/566.full.pdf">compounded</a> by their vulnerability to manipulation (for example, by virtue of age), and potentially complicated by substance use problems, learning disabilities, and poor mental health. </p>
<p>With sex traffickers being strategic in their recruitment and ability to entangle the victim physically and psychologically, it’s not difficult to see how victims become entrapped.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sex trafficking is the most common form of human trafficking. Globally, an estimated 4.8 million people are forced into sexual exploitation.Larissa Christensen, Lecturer in Criminology & Justice | Co-leader of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU), University of the Sunshine CoastNadine McKillop, Lecturer in Criminology & Justice | Co-leader of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU), University of the Sunshine CoastSusan Rayment-McHugh, Lecturer in Criminology and Justice & Co-Leader of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1200982019-07-09T15:50:31Z2019-07-09T15:50:31Z4 questions answered on sex trafficking in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283250/original/file-20190709-44457-1ux24jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hotels and motels along major highways are common spots for sex trafficking.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dirty-empty-dark-corridor-apartment-building-603070067">Ken Stocker/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/08/jeffrey-epstein-trump-bill-clinton-prince-andrew-case-spotlight-famous-friends">The revelations about billionaire Jeffrey Epstein</a>, who is accused of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/08/739464392/wealthy-financier-jeffrey-epstein-charged-with-sex-trafficking-of-minors">sex trafficking girls</a>, paint a grim picture of sex trafficking in the U.S. The buying and selling of human beings is strong in America more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War. </p>
<p>Sex trafficking, <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm">as the federal government defines it</a>, is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” by means of “force, fraud, or coercion.” This is a form of modern-day slavery. </p>
<p>Found in <a href="https://www.ovcttac.gov/taskforceguide/eguide/1-understanding-human-trafficking/11-forms-of-human-trafficking/">massage parlors, escort services, residential brothels and street prostitution</a>, some might be victims for weeks and <a href="https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking">others for years</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en">As someone who studies human trafficking</a>, I feel that it’s important for the public to understand how it manifests in the U.S. today. While there’s still a great deal that is unknown about sex trafficking, research studies and nonprofits have been able to gather telling data on this industry’s victims and perpetrators.</p>
<h2>1. Where does sex trafficking happen?</h2>
<p>Sex trafficking <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.07.008">tends to occur</a> in motels and impoverished neighborhoods along the interstate highway system as well as in major urban centers. Some of the busiest corridors of the interstate include I-5 in the West, I-95 in the East and I-80, stretching from coast to coast. </p>
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<span class="caption">Interstate highway map of the continental U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/interstate-map-continental-united-states-state-25866832">Stacey Lynn Payne/shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://polarisproject.org">The nonprofit Polaris</a> operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which takes tips on sex and labor trafficking. Although the Polaris data are not from a random-sample survey, they shed light on types of sex trafficking in the U.S. In 2017, Polaris received more than 6,000 hotline tips about sex trafficking across America. Among these data, the top venues for sex trafficking included illicit massage parlors, hotels and motels, and residential brothels.</p>
<p><iframe id="TTHRI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/TTHRI/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.natso.com/en_us/articles/articles/view/natso-briefs-house-homeland-security-committee-on-industry-efforts-to-combat-human-trafficking-industrys-fight-against-human-trafficking-multi-faceted">The National Association of Truck Stop Operators</a> has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign">Blue Campaign</a>. The National Association of Truck Stop Operators offers trainings to help truckers, truck stop owners and employees identify the signs of human trafficking, such as malnourishment, lack of eye contact and disorientation.</p>
<p>Hotel chains <a href="https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/marriott-ecpat-usa-partner-to-counter-human-trafficking-hotels">like Marriott</a> are training their employees as well. </p>
<h2>2. Who are the victims?</h2>
<p>Reliable data on the number of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fact-check-how-many-people-are-enslaved-in-the-world-today-107078">are hard to come by</a>.</p>
<p>In the U.S., studies show that most victims of sex trafficking are young women and girls. They are, <a href="http://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/2017NHTHStats%20%281%29.pdf">on average, 19 years old</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018821956">Risk factors</a> for sex trafficking include a history of child abuse, substance abuse, poverty, involvement in child protective services, involvement in juvenile detention and prior sexual exploitation. </p>
<p>Runaway and homeless youth are especially at risk for sex trafficking. A study conducted in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix found that <a href="https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-issues/human-trafficking-study">14% of homeless youth identified themselves as victims of sex trafficking</a>. Among these sex trafficking victims, 33% identified as LGBTQ. </p>
<p>A young person is more likely <a href="https://www.thorn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Survivor_Survey_r5.pdf">to meet her trafficker for the first time online</a> rather than in person, due to the rise of social media. </p>
<h2>3. Who are the traffickers and the johns?</h2>
<p>Men who purchase commercial sex come from all walks of life.</p>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11524-013-9809-8">One comparative study on men and their lifetime history of paying for sex</a> found that 4.9% of men in Tampa, Florida, said they had ever paid for sex. Among those men who paid for sex in Tampa, men aged 41 to 70 were most likely to pay for sex, making up about 13% of the total. </p>
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<p>Traffickers include <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250955.pdf">mom-and-pop operations, crime rings, gangs and cartels</a>. Sometimes, when a victim of sex trafficking has been groomed enough, she becomes “<a href="https://sharedhope.org/the-problem/trafficking-terms/">the bottom</a>,” helping her trafficker recruit other victims.</p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/what-slaveholders-think/9780231181822">modern-day slaveholders have a complicated mindset, condescending and paternalistic</a>, not necessarily one of pure evil. Slaveholders can think they are doing a favor to the enslaved, by taking care of them, giving them food and shelter, and even “protecting” them from a world in which they would otherwise be disposable. </p>
<h2>4. How much money does the commercial sex economy generate?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/understanding-organization-operation-and-victimization-process-labor-trafficking-united-states">A 2014 study of sex trafficking in seven major U.S. cities</a> found that revenues from underground commercial sex ranged from US$39.9 million in Denver to $290 million in Atlanta. </p>
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<p>Although many experts suspect that major sporting events, <a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226277.pdf">like the Super Bowl</a>, might encourage the demand for commercial sex, preliminary research suggests <a href="https://www.mccaininstitute.org/exploring-the-impact-of-the-super-bowl-on-sex-trafficking-2015/">the effect is negligible</a>. </p>
<p>The breadth of sex trafficking in the U.S. has prompted federal responses. The FBI has organized <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/operation-cross-country-xi">Operation Cross Country</a>, a collaboration of dozens of field offices and hundreds of local law enforcement organizations. In October 2017, Operation Cross Country XI conducted a nationwide sting leading to the freeing of 84 minors and the arrest of 120 traffickers. </p>
<p>With better data collection methods and a stronger national coordinated effort, the U.S. could eventually come closer to the day when modern slavery is no more. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-trafficking-in-the-us-4-questions-answered-112675">an article originally published on March 8, 2019</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monti Datta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While there’s still a great deal that is unknown about sex trafficking, research studies and nonprofits have been able to gather telling data on this industry’s victims and perpetrators.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1157062019-05-22T02:20:51Z2019-05-22T02:20:51ZSex trafficking’s tragic paradox: when victims become perpetrators<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275527/original/file-20190520-69169-1hytxv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The victim-offender overlap is disturbingly common in the human trafficking trade, with women once trafficked becoming traffickers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Born in rural Thailand, Watcharaporn Nantahkhum gave birth to her first child at the age of 17. Her father killed himself when she was young, to absolve the family of debt. Her mother later ran into debt, and arrangements were made for her to travel to Australia, to earn money to support her family. She knew she would be working in the sex industry but, at 37 years of age, she had been sold. </p>
<p>Details of the conditions she put up with in a Sydney brothel were later revealed in a Canberra court. They were severe. She was a virtual prisoner, not allowed to leave unsupervised. Being older than the other sex workers, she could not refuse clients, nor insist they use a condom. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/act/sex-slave-keepers-tragic-history-revealed-20120518-1ywih.html">know her story</a>, however, not because she was a victim of human trafficking. In 2012 she became the first person in the Australian Capital Territory to be convicted of possessing a slave. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fact-check-how-many-people-are-enslaved-in-the-world-today-107078">Fact check: How many people are enslaved in the world today?</a>
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<p>By 2007, just three years after being trafficked, she herself became a trafficker. Ultimately charged with six offences relating to two victims, she was sentenced to eight years, 10 months in prison (reduced on appeal to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/act/brothel-madams-slavery-sentence-slashed-on-appeal-20131025-2w5h1.html">six years, 10 months</a>).</p>
<p>Her trajectory is far from unique. Since 2004, 20 people have been convicted of human trafficking-related crimes in Australia. Of those, nine have been women, with six of them having a history of some form of sexual victimisation.</p>
<p>Does such a history aggravate or mitigate involvement in human trafficking? <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23322705.2019.1578579">My research</a> indicates some judges in Australia appear to take the former view – that someone who knows what it’s like to be exploited has no excuse to exploit others.</p>
<p>But I suggest that their history of victimisation is important. Because they were once themselves exploited as the trafficked victim, their offending behaviour needs to be understood within the context of their victimisation. </p>
<h2>Victims turned victimisers</h2>
<p>We tend to think human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation is perpetrated by men against women and girls. But the high proportion of women among those convicted of trafficking in Australia echoes an international trend. The <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2016_Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons.pdf">United Nations</a> notes women comprise a large share of convicted offenders compared with most other crimes. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275562/original/file-20190521-23832-1hwj9b2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Data compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows the proportion of those convicted for human trafficking who are women is higher than for all other categories of crime.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf">UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, 2009,</a></span>
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<p>In three of the Australian cases, the offenders (all from Thailand) came into the country in remarkably similar ways to their victims. They were were lured with promises of making large amounts of money. They incurred a debt for the trafficking arrangements, and were effectively held captive. </p>
<p>After they paid their debt, they stayed and continued to work in the sex industry. Then they made the transition from victim to offender, by profiting from other women being trafficked and prostituted.</p>
<p>The judges who sentenced these three women drew attention to what the offenders experienced as victims of sex trafficking and then helped perpetrate on others.</p>
<p>As Justice Richard Refshauge said <a href="https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/case-law-doc/traffickingpersonscrimetype/aus/2012/r_v_watcharaporn_nantahkhum_scc149_of_2010_html/AUS018-R_v_Watcharaporn_Nantahkhum_SCC149_of_2010.pdf">in sentencing Nantahkhum</a>: “This has both positive and negative elements to it as far as sentencing is concerned. She knew what it was like to be constrained in this way […] She should have known that this was not the way to conduct such a business.”</p>
<h2>A question of free choice</h2>
<p>The issue of victims who become victimisers is a complex one. Certainly many victims do not become offenders, but research points to earlier experiences of victimisation being strongly associated with later offending. This victim-offender overlap has been recognised in other areas, for example, intimate partner violence.</p>
<p>To what extent we judge and punish someone for their offences depends on the degree to which society believes it necessary to serve justice, signal abhorrence of certain behaviour and judges the offender responsible for their own actions.</p>
<p>In the three cases of trafficked women turning traffickers that I looked closely at, the sentencing judgements assume a choice freely exercised. All three had, after all, been released from their previous situations of exploitation. They were free to begin a life, away from away from the exploitation other people. Why didn’t they, apart from sheer greed?</p>
<p>But how free were these women really? </p>
<p>They had limited education – particularly in English, limited opportunities and limited experience – except of course, of sex work and the trafficking business.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-its-like-to-live-and-work-illegally-in-australia-81478">What it's like to live and work illegally in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Appearing to defend the offender is contentious. I do not suggest these women should be released of all culpability of their crimes. But these women were not always offenders. It’s possible, had they not been trafficked, they would not have become traffickers. Their victimisation does not excuse their offending, but nor does their offending erase that victimisation.</p>
<p>The structure of our criminal courts is not designed to grapple with a person being both a victim and an offender, or both innocent and guilty. Their function can thus obscure or overlook complexities, and contribute to a wider system failure. </p>
<p>We need to understand the events that led these women to exploit others to help break the cycle of exploitation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Baxter is affiliated with the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH), however they had no part in the research, or the subsequent paper. </span></em></p>Many trafficked victims are female. But what happens when the perpetrator is also female, and was once a victim herself?Alexandra Baxter, PhD Candidate in Criminology, researching human trafficking in Australia, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1124552019-03-12T10:46:03Z2019-03-12T10:46:03ZThere’s no way to stop human trafficking by treating it as an immigration enforcement problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261994/original/file-20190304-92301-ow69br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trump has signed a law aimed at curbing sex trafficking.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump/db563f4c76ad41acae6e4bef6b6ec68c/4/0">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26078163/patriots-owner-robert-kraft-officially-charged-first-degree-solicitation-prostitute">Robert Kraft</a>, the New England Patriots’ billionaire owner, recently made headlines when he was charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution. The women involved were undocumented Chinese immigrants who were human trafficking victims at the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/25/us/jupiter-florida-day-spa-living-conditions/index.html">Orchids of Asia</a> spa in <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/region-n-palm-beach-county/jupiter/how-detectives-gathered-evidence-inside-orchids-of-asia-day-spa">Jupiter, Florida</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://polarisproject.org/beyond-raid-reporting-massage-parlor-trafficking">Raids</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-human-trafficking-task-force-20190129-story.html">sting operations</a> like this one, which ensnared about 100 other far less prominent alleged perpetrators and a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/robert-kraft-is-just-one-of-many-rich-and-powerful-men-busted-in-florida-prostitution-ring">few other very rich men</a>, have become <a href="https://fightthenewdrug.org/277-arrested-in-florida-undercover-sex-trafficking-sting/">commonplace</a> across the <a href="https://human.globalincidentmap.com">U.S. and the world</a>. They highlight the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fbi-child-sex-trafficking-raid-bust-84-rescued-paedophilia-ncmec-a8010856.html">ongoing exploitation</a> faced by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trafficking-arrests/nearly-500-arrested-in-california-human-trafficking-raids-idUSKBN15G5J6">large numbers</a> of vulnerable people. </p>
<p>While conducting research about human trafficking in <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315602103">Thailand</a> and <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/spcs-faculty-publications/83/">Cambodia</a>, I’ve observed that grassroots nonprofits are often effective in addressing <a href="https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/handle/2104/8104">its root causes</a>.</p>
<h2>Good models</h2>
<p>While no one knows <a href="https://www.ctdatacollaborative.org">how big the problem is</a>, <a href="https://gcm.unu.edu/publications/articles/a-human-rights-approach-to-human-trafficking.html">human trafficking</a> is getting more attention today. This higher profile has given rise to what the criminology researchers <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cwoetNMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Sanja Milivojevic</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bxfd9XAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Sharon Pickering</a> call a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2013.12035985">global trafficking complex</a>,” which they describe as a “tangled web of agendas, priorities, policies and ideological underpinnings.”</p>
<p>In turn, cases like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/30/sex-trafficking-activist-somaly-mam-quits">Somaly Mam</a>, a Cambodian woman who was praised by celebrities before resigning from her organization in scandal, show that some <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/06/10/hollywoods_dangerous_obsession_with_sex_trafficking/">exaggerate the scale of human trafficking</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-005-1035-7">misrepresent it</a> to the public for their own financial gain. Fighting human trafficking has become a <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.20121431">high-stakes endeavor across the world</a>, with a dozen countries spending more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.20121437">US$1.2 billion on anti-trafficking efforts between 2003 and 2012</a>. </p>
<p>But many <a href="http://www.globalmodernslavery.org">grassroots nonprofits</a> witness this exploitation firsthand with the people they serve directly and do make a difference.</p>
<p>One excellent nonprofit model is the <a href="https://www.macfound.org/fellows/981/">Coalition of Imokalee Workers</a>, a Florida human rights organization that fights for decent farm worker compensation. Its anti-trafficking and advocacy work has led to <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/09/audacious-philanthropy">effective and much-needed preventive measures</a>. Most notably, the group has collaboratively developed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ZbagCjyQqwo">Fair Food program</a> to ensure that <a href="https://ciw-online.org/fair-food-program/">corporations, farm owners and businesses</a> pay farm workers adequately and treat them more ethically.</p>
<p>Another exemplary model is the <a href="http://www.atcc.or.th">Anti Human Trafficking and Anti Child Abuse Center</a> in Thailand. The nonprofit aids children who have been sexually and physically abused and trafficked, many of whom are from Burma, Laos and Cambodia.</p>
<p>Realizing that the issue of child exploitation coincides with issues of poverty and vulnerability, the organization also helps law enforcement authorities <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/special-reports/1292363/online-task-force-closes-the-net-on-paedophiles">stage sting operations</a> to hold perpetrators accountable. They also participate in <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-teacher-sentenced-27-years-prison-child-sex-tourism-and-child-pornography-offenses?fbclid=IwAR3VIjAkUARqtBtrFzpnWJYjB8xGJuIjYB1nV2BcCBwOo6Vhp65wPMr3i8A">joint task forces</a> together with <a href="https://thethaiger.com/news/national/dutch-man-arrested-in-chon-buri-on-trafficking-and-overstay-charges-1">local</a>, <a href="https://www.chiangraitimes.com/thailands-anti-human-trafficking-task-force-tatip-takes-down-ugandan-prostitution-ring.html">national</a> and <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/report-from-thailand-part-4">international</a> leaders to address the root causes of trafficking.</p>
<h2>Immigration policies</h2>
<p>Here in the U.S., the Trump administration’s efforts to slow the pace of immigration are making conditions more <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1988-07-25/news/mn-4650_1_tijuana-dump">precarious for undocumented workers</a> and causing an uptick in <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/396781-trumps-harsh-immigration-policies-are-a-gift-for-human-traffickers">human trafficking</a>. <a href="https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/crackdown-immigration-puts-trafficking-victims-more-danger">As migrants lose rights and protections</a>, they tend to <a href="https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking-temporary-work-visas-data-analysis-2015-2017">become more vulnerable to exploitation</a>, not less.</p>
<p>This is not unique, however. Many other countries, including Thailand, are using <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-migrants-idUSKCN11Z0C3">trafficking as a rationale for more restrictive immigration policies</a>. Their leaders often try to achieve political ends by demonizing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01665.x">migrants forced to do work they do not wish to do</a>. </p>
<p>President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that one benefit of the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-president-trump-on-face-the-nation-february-3-2019">border wall</a> he wants built would be curbing <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-human-trafficking-southern-border/">human trafficking</a>. I do not believe that rationale for his harsh immigration policies adds up.</p>
<p>Like many experts, I see no <a href="https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking-myths-and-facts">statistical evidence supporting the claim</a> the wall will stop trafficking. Although other <a href="https://theconversation.com/youth-living-in-settlements-at-us-border-suffer-poverty-and-lack-of-health-care-103416">complex humanitarian crises</a> exist on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/americas-poorest-border-town-no-immigration-papers-no-american-dream">both sides of the border</a>, any <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01786.x">policy that punishes the people that it is intended to help</a> won’t resolve the issues that jeopardized them in the first place.</p>
<p>In addition, he has maligned immigrants, calling alleged undocumented gang members “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/16/trump-immigrants-animals-mexico-democrats-sanctuary-cities/617252002/">animals</a>” or “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/politics/trump-ms13-illegal-immigration-rhetoric/index.html">an infestation</a>.” This kind of disparaging of newcomers can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2016.1210964">increase human trafficking</a>, two psychologists have found.</p>
<p>To be sure, Trump has signed several important laws, including one that <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-fighting-eradicate-human-trafficking/">designates US$430 million to fight trafficking</a>. The White House continues, however, to pressure legislators to tie stronger border security to human trafficking, which distracts from the <a href="http://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2018/06/27/the-intersection-of-human-trafficking-and-immigration/">real issue of the exploitation of migrants</a>.</p>
<p>It is also troubling that Trump is a longtime friend of men accused and convicted of crimes involving human trafficking, including <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/04/jeffrey-epstein-trump-lawsuit-sex-trafficking-237983">Jeffrey Epstein</a> and Kraft. The <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article227186429.html">Miami Herald has unearthed selfies</a> of him posing with Li “Cindy” Yang, a political donor and the founder of the Florida spa chain embroiled in the prostitution bust. The photos were taken weeks earlier, at a Mar-a-Lago <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/433179-super-bowl-selfie-emerges-of-trump-with-founder-of-spa-where-new">Super Bowl viewing party</a>, and Yang no longer owns the spas and has not been charged.</p>
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<h2>Discourage exploitation</h2>
<p>The types of policies I think would help would <a href="https://polarisproject.org/current-federal-laws">discourage this exploitation</a> and <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/programs/human-trafficking-services.html">support survivors</a>, while at the same time not restricting migration in ways that make <a href="http://www.tipheroes.org/blog/immigrants-are-vulnerable-to-human-trafficking/">already vulnerable groups even more vulnerable</a>. </p>
<p>In Southeast Asia, I’ve seen that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/14/shrimp-sold-by-global-supermarkets-is-peeled-by-slave-labourers-in-thailand">laborers</a> and <a href="https://asiancorrespondent.com/2018/01/113-trafficking-victims-rescued-victoria-secret-brothel/">sex workers</a> from <a href="http://www.gvc-italia.org/labour_migration_and_human_trafficking_between_cambodia_and_thailand_the_way_forward.html">Cambodia</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/23/thailand-forced-labor-trafficking-persist-fishing-fleets">Burma</a> and <a href="https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/rescue-02282018165557.html">Laos</a> are more <a href="https://www.unodc.org/southeastasiaandpacific/en/2017/08/trafficking-in-persons-thailand-report-launch/story.html">easily exploited in Thailand</a>, not because of a weak border, but because those on the wrong side of it have <a href="https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50107257/bid-protect-migrant-workers-thailand/">no recourse if mistreated</a>. </p>
<p>I believe the same dynamic holds true here in North America and in all areas where the world’s estimated <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575479/lang--en/index.htm">40 million human trafficking victims</a> are being forced to work for little or no pay.</p>
<p>The new law <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/quick-reads/trump-signs-law-pump-430-million-anti-human-trafficking-efforts">calls for spending $430 million to fight trafficking</a>, and many major organizations like <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/reauthorization-anti-trafficking-legislation/32240">UNICEF</a>, <a href="https://www.ijm.org/news/ijm-applauds-house-passage-of-trafficking-victims-prevention-and-protection-act-of-2017">International Justice Mission</a> and <a href="https://www.worldvisionadvocacy.org/2019/01/08/trafficking-act-reauthorized-2018/">World Vision</a> support the law. Yet Trump immediately undercut its effectiveness by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/04/trump-claims-wall-is-needed-stop-human-trafficking-no-data-back-up-his-claim/?utm_term=.d1815deeb8a1">spouting anti-immigrant rhetoric</a>, saying, “This really is an invasion of our country by human traffickers.” In my view, his words undermined at least some of the potential positive impact of this new funding.</p>
<p>I recommend continuing collaborative efforts without sensationalizing with misinformed rhetoric. I also believe that Trump should focus anti-trafficking messages on the abuse of power and the exploitation of the vulnerable instead of taking advantage of trafficking to push for a border wall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Spires is affiliated with Love Without Boundaries, an international nonprofit serving disadvantaged children in China, Cambodia, India and Uganda. He has collaborated with Liberty Shared, an international nonprofit anti-trafficking and advocacy organization. </span></em></p>Governments should heed the expertise of the grassroots nonprofits that witness this scourge firsthand.Bob Spires, Assistant Professor of Education, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1126752019-03-08T11:43:44Z2019-03-08T11:43:44ZSex trafficking in the US: 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262543/original/file-20190306-100784-1bttt0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hotels and motels along major highways are common spots for sex trafficking.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dirty-empty-dark-corridor-apartment-building-603070067">Ken Stocker/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New England Patriots CEO Robert Kraft’s criminal charges <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/sports/robert-kraft.html">in a suspected sex trafficking case</a> in southern Florida draw new attention to this serious problem.</p>
<p>Sex trafficking, <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/tip/laws/61124.htm">as the federal government defines it</a>, is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” by means of “force, fraud, or coercion.” This is a form of modern-day slavery. Found in <a href="https://www.ovcttac.gov/taskforceguide/eguide/1-understanding-human-trafficking/11-forms-of-human-trafficking/">massage parlors, escort services, residential brothels and street prostitution</a>, some might be victims for weeks and <a href="https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking">others for years</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WuHCE3sAAAAJ&hl=en">As someone who studies human trafficking</a>, I feel that it’s important for the public to understand how it manifests in the U.S. today. While there’s still a great deal that is unknown about sex trafficking, research studies and nonprofits have been able to gather telling data on this industry’s victims and perpetrators.</p>
<h2>1. Where does sex trafficking happen?</h2>
<p>Sex trafficking <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.07.008">tends to occur</a> in motels and impoverished neighborhoods along the interstate highway system as well as in major urban centers. Some of the busiest corridors of the interstate include I-5 in the West, I-95 in the East and I-80, stretching from coast to coast. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262739/original/file-20190307-82681-2an1cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interstate highway map of the continental U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/interstate-map-continental-united-states-state-25866832">Stacey Lynn Payne/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://polarisproject.org">The nonprofit Polaris</a> operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which takes tips on sex and labor trafficking. Although the Polaris data are not from a random-sample survey, they shed light on types of sex trafficking in the U.S. In 2017, Polaris received more than 6,000 hotline tips about sex trafficking across America. Among these data, the top venues for sex trafficking included illicit massage parlors, hotels and motels, and residential brothels.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.natso.com/en_us/articles/articles/view/natso-briefs-house-homeland-security-committee-on-industry-efforts-to-combat-human-trafficking-industrys-fight-against-human-trafficking-multi-faceted">The National Association of Truck Stop Operators</a> has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign">Blue Campaign</a>. The National Association of Truck Stop Operators offers trainings to help truckers, truck stop owners and employees identify the signs of human trafficking, such as malnourishment, lack of eye contact and disorientation.</p>
<p>Hotel chains <a href="https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/marriott-ecpat-usa-partner-to-counter-human-trafficking-hotels">like Marriott</a> are training their employees as well. </p>
<h2>2. Who are the victims?</h2>
<p>Reliable data on the number of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fact-check-how-many-people-are-enslaved-in-the-world-today-107078">are hard to come by</a>.</p>
<p>In the U.S., studies show that most victims of sex trafficking are women and young girls. They are, <a href="http://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/2017NHTHStats%20%281%29.pdf">on average, 19 years old</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838018821956">Risk factors</a> for sex trafficking include a history of child abuse, substance abuse, poverty, involvement in child protective services, involvement in juvenile detention and prior sexual exploitation. </p>
<p>Runaway and homeless youth are especially at risk for sex trafficking. A study conducted in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix found that <a href="https://www.covenanthouse.org/homeless-issues/human-trafficking-study">14 percent of homeless youth identified themselves as victims of sex trafficking</a>. Among these sex trafficking victims, 33 percent identified as LGBTQ. </p>
<p>A young person is more likely <a href="https://www.thorn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Survivor_Survey_r5.pdf">to meet her trafficker for the first time online</a> rather than in person, due to the rise of social media. </p>
<h2>3. Who are the traffickers and the johns?</h2>
<p>Men who purchase commercial sex come from all walks of life.</p>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11524-013-9809-8">One comparative study on men and their lifetime history of paying for sex</a> found that 4.9 percent of men in Tampa, Florida, said they had ever paid for sex. Among those men who paid for sex in Tampa, men aged 41 to 70 were most likely to pay for sex, making up about 13 percent of the total. </p>
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<p>Traffickers include <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250955.pdf">mom-and-pop operations, crime rings, gangs and cartels</a>. Sometimes, when a victim of sex trafficking has been groomed enough, she becomes “<a href="https://sharedhope.org/the-problem/trafficking-terms/">the bottom</a>,” helping her trafficker recruit other victims.</p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/what-slaveholders-think/9780231181822">modern-day slave holders have a complicated mindset, condescending and paternalistic</a>, not necessarily one of pure evil. Slaveholders can think they are doing a favor to the enslaved, by taking care of them, giving them food and shelter, and even “protecting” them from a world in which they would otherwise be disposable. </p>
<h2>4. How much money does the commercial sex economy generate?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/understanding-organization-operation-and-victimization-process-labor-trafficking-united-states">A 2014 study of sex trafficking in seven major U.S. cities</a> found that revenues from underground commercial sex ranged from US$39.9 million in Denver to $290 million in Atlanta. </p>
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<p>Although many experts suspect that major sporting events, <a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226277.pdf">like the Super Bowl</a>, might encourage the demand for commercial sex, preliminary research suggests <a href="https://www.mccaininstitute.org/exploring-the-impact-of-the-super-bowl-on-sex-trafficking-2015/">the effect is negligible</a>. </p>
<p>The breadth of sex trafficking in the U.S. has prompted federal responses. The FBI has organized <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/operation-cross-country-xi">Operation Cross Country</a>, a collaboration of dozens of field offices and hundreds of local law enforcement organizations. In October 2017, Operation Cross Country XI conducted a nationwide sting leading to the freeing of 84 minors and the arrest of 120 traffickers. </p>
<p>A national discussion on sex trafficking is growing after Kraft’s arrest. With better data collection methods and a stronger national coordinated effort, I believe that the U.S. could eventually come closer to the day when modern slavery is no more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monti Datta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New England Patriots CEO Robert Kraft’s criminal charges in a suspected sex trafficking case draw new attention to this illicit underground economy.Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1045352018-12-17T11:41:06Z2018-12-17T11:41:06ZIndian bill to ‘protect’ trafficking victims will make sex workers less safe<p>Hoping to protect women from <a href="https://www.epw.in/rethinking-2018-trafficking-bill">sexual exploitation</a>, Indian lawmakers are pushing a bill that amends the criminal code to harden legal and financial penalties for sex trafficking. </p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-trafficking-of-persons-prevention-protection-and-rehabilitation-bill-2018-5277/">Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill</a>,” which passed the lower house of India’s parliament in July 2018 and may become law in 2019, seeks to make combat this lucrative, illicit trade. </p>
<p>Not everyone thinks harsh deterrence will work.</p>
<p>Days after it passed in the lower house of India’s Parliament in July, two United Nations experts said the bill leans too heavily <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/07/1015352">on the criminal justice system</a>. Without more of a “human-rights based and victim-centred approach,” the UN special rapporteurs on human trafficking and modern slavery warned, India “risks further harming already vulnerable individuals.” </p>
<h2>India’s sex trade</h2>
<p>According to the Indian government, <a href="https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/trafficking-persons-prevention-protection-and-rehabilitation-bill-2018">4,980 victims of sex trafficking were rescued</a> in the country in 2016. </p>
<p>Sex workers in India oppose the bill that’s ostensibly meant to protect them, saying it inaccurately <a href="https://www.epw.in/engage/article/raid-and-rescue-how-anti-trafficking-strategies-increase-sex-workers-vulnerability-to-exploitative-practices">conflates human trafficking with consensual sex work</a>.</p>
<p>In major Indian cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad and Sangli, sex workers are <a href="http://nnswindia.org/">well organized and politically engaged</a>. Yet no sex worker groups were consulted during the drafting of the legislation.</p>
<p>Community leaders <a href="https://www.epw.in/engage/article/raid-and-rescue-how-anti-trafficking-strategies-increase-sex-workers-vulnerability-to-exploitative-practices">argue</a> that the anti-trafficking legislation promotes a dangerous idea that everyone in the sex trade is either a victim or a criminal. </p>
<p>“If this bill becomes law, the police will harass us even more,” <a href="http://www.atimes.com/article/indias-new-sex-trafficking-bill-does-more-harm-than-good-say-experts/">said</a> Kajol Bose, secretary of the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, one of India’s largest sex worker organizations. “The number of raids will increase and the number of clients will decrease.” </p>
<p>I believe Indian lawmakers could improve their bill by looking to the strong systems already in place locally across India that prevent forced prostitution. </p>
<p>I conducted <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-PZU8sAAAAJ&hl=en">anthropological research</a> with Kolkata’s <a href="https://durbar.org/">Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee</a>, which has a membership of 65,000 people across the state of West Bengal.</p>
<p>The group is based in Sonagachi, Kolkata’s iconic red-light district, which is tucked behind a main artery in the northern part of the city. This bustling and congested labyrinth of narrow alleyways lined by houses, most of which operate as brothels, is home to some 10,000 sex workers. An estimated 20,000 male customers visit Sonagachi daily. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250332/original/file-20181212-110261-f1lgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers in Kolkata’s Sonagachi district wait for customers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-International-News-India-INDIA-/397dd200d8e4da11af9f0014c2589dfb/5/0">AP Photo/Bikas Das</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most Sonagachi brothels are managed by female brothel owners, or “malkins,” who keep half of their employees’ payment. </p>
<p>Most of the women I met working in Sonagachi came from poor, rural villages in India, Bangladesh or Nepal. </p>
<p>Driven by increasing hunger and poverty in formerly agricultural regions, many arrived in Kolkata planning to enter the sex trade because they figured it was the best way to feed themselves and their families. Some can even afford to send money back to their families.</p>
<h2>Keeping Kolkata’s red light district safe</h2>
<p>Other women in Sonogachi were brought there by a friend or husband, and began doing sex work because they felt they had little choice. </p>
<p>This is the kind of exploitation that the sex worker’s union wants to prevent. So, in 1997, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee founded the “<a href="https://durbar.org/html/anti_trafficking.html">self-regulatory board</a>” to combat trafficking in Sonagachi. </p>
<p>Every morning, between at 10 a.m., peer educators and outreach workers visit area brothels. Since the board is comprised mainly of local sex workers, newcomers to Sonagachi are easily identified.</p>
<p>Women new to the scene are taken for <a href="https://durbar.org/html/health_care.html">medical evaluation</a> to a local health center called the Abinaash Clinic. Durbar has run the clinic since it took over the government’s HIV/AIDS prevention program in 1997. The STD testing done there prevents the spread of disease in Sonagachi. </p>
<p>A bone ossification test, which gives an age range, helps identify minors. Underage sex workers are handed over to the Child Welfare Committee of Kolkata, a government agency. </p>
<p>Determining whether adult women newly arrived to Sonagachi have been trafficked requires a more extensive investigation. It can take days to get women to open up about how they arrived in Sonagachi and who brought them there.</p>
<p>Many of the women and girls approached by the Durbar are newcomers not just to sex work but to city living in general. They are usually confused by and even fearful of the group’s intervention. They seldom cooperate immediately.</p>
<p>It can take days of gentle questioning before the women start talking. During that process, newcomers to Sonagachi are housed at the nearby Short Stay Home, a residence run by the Durbar Committee.</p>
<p>Ultimately, those determined to have entered the sex trade willingly will be permitted to return to her brothel in Sonagachi. The women usually become members of Durbar and are given a photo ID card that confirms her status as a healthy and consensual sex worker – which usually helps them avoid arrest when police raids occur.</p>
<p>If the self-regulatory board concludes that a new entrant is being coerced into sex work by a trafficker, the authorities are contacted. The woman is usually placed in “<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/beyondslavery/vibhuti-ramachandran/rescued-but-not-released-%E2%80%98protective-custody%E2%80%99-of-sex-workers-in-i">shelters</a>” – prison-like detention centers – while the government tries to get her back home. </p>
<h2>Anti-trafficking bills hurt more than they help</h2>
<p>In my assessment, the Sonagachi method is effective because it starts by recognizing that sex work is a job – one that must be done voluntarily, by consenting adults. </p>
<p>Based on that reality, it puts in place protections that keep trafficked women and children from abuse. The Durbar Committee works closely with local police, alerting them to the presence of minors and trafficked women.</p>
<p>Other red light districts in <a href="http://www.sangram.org/">India</a>, <a href="http://www.nswp.org/members/asia-and-the-pacific/empower-foundation">Thailand</a> and beyond have sex worker unions use <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/beyondslavery/wendelijn-vollbehr/improving-anti-trafficking-strategies-why-sex-workers-should-be-inv">similar preventive measures</a> to combat trafficking.</p>
<p>Several lawmakers I spoke with in Kolkata during my research dismissed the efforts of Durbar. They say trafficking is rampant in Sonagachi, and that the government must step in. </p>
<p>In my experience, most also see prostitution as a dangerous and immoral act – something that only victims of coercion would do. As a result, the Indian anti-trafficking bill they crafted outlaws the sex trade and punishes all who participate in it. </p>
<p>The proposed law, which includes social services for reintegrating trafficked women into society, may help some women. Organization like the Durbar Committee cannot identify and protect all victims of sexual exploitation in India.</p>
<p>Still, Indian lawmakers could learn something from the frontline community organizations already doing this work. Sex workers can be government partners in the fight against human trafficking – but only if they are not its targets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simanti Dasgupta receives funding from Research Council SEED Grants, University of Dayton.</span></em></p>If India really wants to stop sex trafficking, legislators might consider asking sex workers in Kolkata how they keep the Sonagachi red light district safe and exploitation-free.Simanti Dasgupta, Associate Professor, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/891292018-01-03T23:47:44Z2018-01-03T23:47:44ZEvangelical women are shaping public attitudes about sex work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200631/original/file-20180102-26163-13z1f4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C3%2C709%2C394&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anti-trafficking evangelical activists are often sensationalist and incite fear, prurient interest, and a sense of moral righteousness in their crusade against sex work. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(A21)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evangelical speaker and activist Christine Caine wants you to know: “<a href="http://christinecaine.com/content/key2free-is-today/gjenua?permcode=gjenua&site=true">Slavery still exists</a>.” Her organization A-21, which aims to abolish “injustice in the 21st century,” <a href="http://www.a21.org/content/human-trafficking/gnjb89">says human trafficking affects 27 million people each year and is a $150 billion criminal industry</a>. </p>
<p>Caine is on a mission to eradicate human trafficking. <a href="http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/16/abolishing-sex-slavery-by-helping-one-girl-at-a-time/">Stories of missing women and girls abducted in Europe and sold into the sex trade</a> ignited her outrage and motivated her and her husband Nick Caine, an evangelical pastor, to launch the organization a decade ago. A-21 now works with law enforcement in 11 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and provides safe houses where girls and women can be rehabilitated.</p>
<p>Caine is quick to tell her audiences the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=250&v=mHkBkWpj7Po">atrocities victims of trafficking have suffered </a>. Girls are <a href="http://www.a21.org/content/stories-a21/gng6kp">treated like livestock</a>. They are crammed into shipping containers, some drown at sea; they are moved forcibly across borders; locked in apartments and brothels; made to have abortions, or “they give birth and the babies are sold into pedophile rings.” These girls “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdsC0ait_OE">are raped twenty maybe thirty times every day</a>,” says Caine. </p>
<p>These are gripping stories. And Caine’s talks engage audiences with gruesome details, and then end on a high note. Every girl that is “saved” is given a new life. She is made free. This is a classic Protestant redemption story. </p>
<h2>Dominating the sex work debate</h2>
<p>While Caine speaks about human trafficking, in fact, sex trafficking is her primary target, and with it the sex industry. In this, Caine is not alone. She represents a powerful constituency of conservative Christians who have formed non-profits of their own, such as <a href="http://faastinternational.org/">FAAST</a>, <a href="https://wellspringliving.org/">Wellspring Living</a> and <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/issues/sexual-exploitation/">Concerned Women for America</a>, <a href="http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/issues_publications/sex-trafficking/">and made alliances with anti-prostitution, secular feminists</a>. </p>
<p>It is a surprising affiliation. In the U.S. in particular, secular feminists and conservative women have usually found themselves on opposite sides of social issues. For <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/divided-we-stand-9781632863140/">four decades they have been embattled over women’s rights and abortion, as historian Marjorie Spurill has noted.</a></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200639/original/file-20180102-26139-11v5vvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christine Caine is the founder of A21.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">A21</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet evangelical women and anti-trafficking feminists come together on this point: The sale of sex threatens a woman’s very humanity. And these groups dominate public discussion of sex work. They have, and continue to influence policy-making and legal enforcement of anti-sex-trafficking laws despite vehement criticisms by sex worker rights activists and their supporters. </p>
<p>The public debate about the sex trade finds sex workers unable to seek legal rights and protections on their own terms. Sex work, according to anthropologist Laura Maria Agustin, is very often an intelligible response made by women, men and trans-people to social, economic and political realities; <a href="https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/sex-at-the-margins/">it is strategic equation for many who engage in it</a>. Their attitudes about the work vary. They do not always “like” their job. They would not deny that it can be dangerous (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/15/will-nobody-listen-to-the-sex-workers-prostitution">though the dangers are magnified when their labour is criminalized</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200629/original/file-20180102-26163-1ga46x8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelical activists and groups like A21 have influenced policy making and legal enforcement of anti-sex trafficking laws.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/charlieblythe">(Twitter/@CharlieBlythe)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet for anti-trafficking campaigners, sex work is not work — it is exploitation. It is servitude. Even <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-prostitution-is-commercial-rape-says-gloria-steinem-1958154">rape and sex work become synonymous for anti-trafficking activists</a> because no women could ever <em>choose</em> it. The only solution, they say, is for women to leave the industry: to be saved or reformed. </p>
<p>Even “the most seemingly benign ‘rehabilitation’ programs for sex workers’” writes Melissa Gira Grant in <em><a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/1568-playing-the-whore">Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work</a></em>, “may be described as shelters, but the doors are locked, the phones are monitored, and guests are forbidden… This isn’t charity. This is control.” </p>
<h2>Criticisms of anti-trafficking campaigns</h2>
<p>Critics of these anti-trafficking campaigns have argued that the numbers of trafficked people put forward are inflated, or entirely unsubstantiated. They have asked <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/24/human-trafficking-report-obama">whether most coerced labour is actually made of up trafficked women and girls</a>, as the campaigns claim. </p>
<p>Sex-worker rights advocates and scholars have rejected the conflation of sex trafficking and prostitution that animates much anti-trafficking crusades, Christian and otherwise. For instance, Donna Hughes, an activist who helped to inform the Bush administration’s anti-trafficking legislation, asserted that most of what people see as prostitution is “<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/216604/new-abolitionist-movement-interview">actually trafficking because it involves force, fraud and coercion or underage girls</a>.” </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-29/why-cambodias-sex-workers-dont-need-be-saved">studies of sex workers even in sites of “sex tourism” (notably Cambodia) have not revealed large-scale sex-trafficking rings</a>. But what chance do such studies have in the face of the moral panic promoted by anti-traffickers? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200625/original/file-20180102-26157-d3h5we.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sex workers in Cambodia face criminalization, violence and discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2017/june/20170602_sexwork">(UNAIDS)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rhetoric of evangelical anti-trafficking activists, like Hughes and Caine, is sensationalist. Yet it works to incite fear, prurient interest, and a sense of moral righteousness. It is, explains scholar and sex worker rights advocate, Jo Doezma, evocative of the fabricated <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo20852135.html">“white slave panic” of the 19th century</a> that in its own day facilitated draconian measures against prostitutes and other working class women. </p>
<p>Why, we should ask, has it caught the moral imagination of evangelical communities and, particularly, evangelical women?</p>
<h2>Why anti-trafficking campaigns attract evangelical women</h2>
<p>One historic reason that drew evangelicals generally to the cause of anti-trafficking occurred during the Bush administration (2001-2009). Bush established the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, giving conservative Christian organizations new access to federal funds for their charitable work. <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/traffic/">Under Bush, however, anti-trafficking initiatives also became government policy</a>. <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/ivanka-trumps-trafficking-troubles">The Trump administration, too, may be investing in the issue</a>. </p>
<p>In the last two decades, the fight against human trafficking has become something of an evangelical mission. One now finds <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=tn_8hgIpj6s">fundraising walks </a>, <a href="http://faastinternational.org/take-action/pray-for-freedom">prayer weekends</a>, <a href="http://mission14.org/assets/resources/downloads/Week_1_Joseph.pdf">Bible studies</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15811074-the-white-umbrella">self-help books</a> and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0L7NH48BWE">praise songs</a> devoted to ending global slavery.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200578/original/file-20180102-26145-18or3h7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An A21 campaign poster: In the last two decades, the fight against human trafficking has become an evangelical mission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://A21.org">(A21)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Political factors alone did not draw evangelical women to anti-sex-trafficking crusades, however. So did the crusades’ rhetoric, which is grounded in values that resonate deeply with conservative Protestant sexual morality. </p>
<p>A traditional script of sexual and gender roles is foundational to anti-trafficking activism. Girls are rehabilitated so that they can occupy their true positions as women, that is, as married women and mothers. </p>
<p>This is ultimately what anti-trafficking activists mean by freedom, Yvonne Sherman argues in <em><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/other-dreams-of-freedom-9780199942190?cc=ca&lang=en&">Other Dreams of Freedom: Religion, Sex, and Human Trafficking</a></em>. This notion of freedom is entirely commensurate with conservative Protestant views of sexuality — initially articulated by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-23-3-4_84-85-285">16th century reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin, who championed marriage</a> and rejected celibacy and monasticism.</p>
<p>Following their teachings, conservative Protestants have argued that marriage alone is the appropriate sexual relationship, divinely ordained. It is the only one that ensures a proper relationship with God. As such, sexual relations outside of marriage are imagined as bondage. Here, then, we see how sex work can readily become sex slavery. </p>
<p>But there is more: Evangelical women can see themselves as uniquely suited to this particular cause because of its moral tenor. Conservative Protestant women have a long history of fashioning themselves as <a href="http://pluralism.org/religions/christianity/christianity-in-america/abolition-and-womens-rights/">guardians of the moral order</a>, more specifically <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1998202.Frances_Willard">of marriage and the family</a>, <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479866427/">a strategy they have employed to legitimate their political and social campaigns</a>, from suffrage and temperance to abortion and same-sex marriage debates.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200624/original/file-20180102-26157-19l4l4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A campaign poster from A21: Bush established the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, giving conservative Christian organizations new access to federal funds for their charitable work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://a21.org">(A21)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trafficked women are victims in need of saving, evangelical anti-trafficking activists proclaim. The labour that evangelicals undertake to do so is arduous. Caine warns: <a href="http://www.a21.org/content/human-trafficking/gnjb89">few will be rescued, only one per cent</a>. Her assertion, however, is not self-defeating. It compels her audience to action, by playing on an apocalyptic scenario that amplifies the testimonial power of one “saved” victim, and so, too, her heroic saviours. </p>
<p>Could it be that Christian anti-sex traffickers, like Caine, solicit large evangelical audiences and prop up a legal system that criminalizes sex work because they are better story tellers than their opponents? </p>
<p>Sex worker rights activists offer accounts of women, men and trans-people who migrate to new countries; who turn tricks on the street, acts as escorts, perform sex acts on camera, strip or whatever, to make ends meet; who fear police crackdowns and try to avoid deportation. </p>
<p>Christian anti-trafficking activists, instead, paint dramatic pictures of millions of innocent, vulnerable (even desirable?) victims: women and girls under threat of the voracious appetites of a cruel and dehumanizing sex trade, and they need you to rescue them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly Daniel-Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the past two decades, the fight against human sex trafficking has become an evangelical mission but sex-worker rights advocates have rejected the conflation of sex trafficking and prostitution.Carly Daniel-Hughes, Associate Professor; Religious and Cultural Studies; Gender and Sexuality; History of Christianity, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/834782017-10-17T14:51:48Z2017-10-17T14:51:48ZWhat happened when we showed a film about ‘lover boy’ sex trafficking to a group of teenagers<p>How does it feel to be trafficked for sex? Dehumanised, broken and invisible: that’s what people who’ve been through it have told me. And it’s what I wanted to convey when I began creating a digital project called <a href="https://vimeo.com/229111705">The Crossing</a> in 2015, in collaboration with the producer Colin Burrows and patron Emma Thompson. </p>
<p>The Crossing tells the story of a trafficked girl told from a first person point of view, a fictionalised account based on a composite of girls’ experiences drawn from case study research for the project. It has been adapted to be displayed on multiple types of platform, from a single screen to a film with surround sound, and an interactive version. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/229111705" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>The girl in the film hopes to make a better life for herself and ultimately make her family proud. Once trafficked, she is caught in a spiral of violence and abuse. Even when she escapes, she cannot go home because of the shame she feels she’s brought to her family. As one survivor described it during our research, it is like the “body being separated from the soul”. </p>
<p>The film gradually unfurls into an exploration of the trust created by some men’s use of the <a href="https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/methods-of-human-trafficking/">“lover boy”</a> technique. These men use a number of tactics to isolate a victim from their families and communities, often using romance and the promise of a better life – often abroad. Once their victim is isolated, the men use violence, blackmail and threaten the girl’s <a href="https://www.government.nl/topics/human-trafficking/romeo-pimps-loverboys">family</a>.</p>
<p>“Lover boys” exploit the hope, frustration and dreams of young people to fuel a <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_243201/lang--en/index.htm">multi-billion dollar</a> trafficking industry. The technique – also known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-boyfriend-model-of-abuse-is-not-restricted-to-grooming-gangs-82599">“boyfriend model”</a> – was highlighted by police after a recent child sex exploitation trial in Newcastle. </p>
<h2>‘Completely engulfed’</h2>
<p>Though created for a wide audience, we have begun showing The Crossing to under 18-year-olds – <a href="http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/2017-nrm-statistics/824-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-april-to-june-2017/file">those</a> most vulnerable to the “lover-boy” <a href="https://www.government.nl/topics/human-trafficking/romeo-pimps-loverboys">techniques</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016, we showed the multiscreen project via 13 interconnecting screens to a group of 20 teenagers in the <a href="https://www.anglia.ac.uk/arts-law-and-social-sciences/ruskin-gallery">Ruskin Digital Gallery</a> in <a href="https://www.anglia.ac.uk/arts-law-and-social-sciences/ruskin-gallery/the-crossing">Cambridge</a>. The group, aged 14 and 15, were asked if they could identify with any elements of this story. One girl said: “I feel like it would be tempting to follow the ‘lover boy’”, while another said she could understand “wanting more to do and risking things for a chance at something better.” </p>
<p>The visual images in the film represent narrative elements or fragments of the girl’s story – depicting her invisibility in a city where life carried on around her. It was filmed using slow motion techniques, drones and projections to create a sense of heightened reality that places the viewer within the girl’s body. The students were given bluetooth headphones to personalise their experience within the gallery – listening to a soundscape underpinned by the girl’s breathing. This created an intense and at times disturbing response from the teenagers. </p>
<p>“What struck me was the impact of the sound, putting somebody in the mind and body of someone who is trafficked,” one boy said. “I felt as if her heartbeat was mine. I felt completely engulfed,” said one girl, while another described it as feeling “very personal, like she was talking to me.” </p>
<h2>Beware of ‘lover boys’</h2>
<p>It can be very difficult to know the impact of films such as these, but some of the responses we got showed how it had it opened the mind of these teenagers mind to the dangers of trafficking and exploitation. “I didn’t think people went willingly,” one girl explained, “and I thought it was all people getting shoved into unmarked vans and sold off.” Another girl said: “The film made me feel extremely angry, frustrated, sad and disgusted. Also a small sense of relief that this issue is being recognised and there are people to help. But annoyed that it goes under the radar so easily.”</p>
<p>One of the most striking responses from these young people to the audiovisual experience came from a boy of 15:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The most powerful elements for me were the images of the girl with her clothes off. It made me uncomfortable as usually it would be attractive but given the circumstances, it was just wrong.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The film was <a href="http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/research/readwatchlisten/features/research-in-film-awards-2016-best-research-film-of-the-year/">shortlisted</a> for AHRC Best Research Film of the Year 2016, and an interactive version is now being developed to help show young people how and why it was made. We’re also working with local schools in Cambridge to deliver the project as part of their studies in the coming months.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83478/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shreepali Patel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Crossing tells the story of a girl who had been trafficked using the ‘lover boy’ technique.Shreepali Patel, Director, StoryLab Research Institute, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/816472017-07-28T12:32:19Z2017-07-28T12:32:19ZData science can help us fight human trafficking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180070/original/file-20170727-8518-15wdp2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ngwe Thein says he was forced to work on a fishing trawler with inadequate food and little or no pay.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Seafood-From-Slavery/54c028384c7743489db27e47603d8949/321/0">APTN, Esther Htusan/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>July 30 marks the United Nations’ <a href="http://www.un.org/en/events/humantrafficking/">World Day Against Trafficking in Persons</a>, a day focused on ending the criminal exploitation of children, women and men for forced labor or sex work.</p>
<p>Between 27 and 45.8 million individuals worldwide are trapped in some form of <a href="https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/271339.pdf">modern-day slavery</a>. The victims are forced into slavery as sex workers, beggars and child soldiers, or as domestic workers, factory workers and laborers in manufacturing, construction, mining, commercial fishing and other industries.</p>
<p>Human trafficking occurs in every country in the world, including the U.S. It’s a hugely profitable industry, generating an estimated US$150 billion annually in <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_243391.pdf">illegal profits</a> per year. In fact, it’s one of the largest sources of profit for global organized crime, second only to illicit drugs.</p>
<p>Analytics, the mathematical search for insights in data, could help law enforcement combat human trafficking. Human trafficking is essentially a supply chain in which the “supply” (human victims) moves through a network to meet “demand” (for cheap, vulnerable and illegal labor). Traffickers leave a data trail, however faint or broken, despite their efforts to operate off the grid and in the shadows. </p>
<p>There is an opportunity – albeit a challenging one – to use the bits of information we can get on the distribution of victims, traffickers, buyers and exploiters, and disrupt the supply chain wherever and however we can. In our latest study, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221716308992">we have detailed</a> how this might work.</p>
<h1>Finding people at risk</h1>
<p>In most countries, <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip/rls/reports/2012/207590.htm">resources to fight human trafficking</a> are woefully inadequate. Agencies strive to use them as effectively and efficiently as possible, and often find themselves fighting for scarce funding and support. A government, for example, may need to decide how best to fund or schedule labor inspectors to detect child labor in the manufacturing industry. An organization with limited resources may need insight into which prevention program to run, or what type of awareness campaign to implement.</p>
<p>We can use data to identify populations most at-risk and target prevention campaigns to those populations. <a href="https://www.hhrjournal.org/2013/12/how-do-social-determinants-affect-human-trafficking-in-southeast-asia-and-what-can-we-do-about-it-a-systematic-review/">Risk factors</a> for being drawn into trafficking include poverty, unemployment, migration and escape from political conflict or war. Experiences with organized crime and natural disasters can also change to a person’s risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179853/original/file-20170726-27705-16gjz6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People opposed to child sex trafficking protest in Washington, D.C. in October 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Internet-Sex-Trafficking/9365beab16b1487ab0d5ddc8a5f7a82f/14/0">Rachel La Corte/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trafficking often begins with fraudulent recruitment methods, such as promises of employment or romance. Data can help identify specific economically depressed areas, where we can deploy <a href="http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/humtraffconf3/17/">awareness campaigns</a> and social service support. </p>
<p>In operations research, scientists apply mathematical methods to answer complex questions about patterns in data and predict future trends or behaviors. Analytical tools similar to those used in transportation, manufacturing and finance can help us decide where to best allocate resources and help locate shelters for victims. </p>
<h1>Victim identification and location</h1>
<p>Trafficking networks are dynamic. Traffickers are likely to frequently change distribution and transportation routes to avoid detection, leaving law enforcement and analysts with incomplete information as they attempt to identify and dismantle trafficking networks. </p>
<p>However, researchers can help by tracking subtle trends in data at various locations; at access points where we actually come in contact with victims, such as the emergency room; and in the activity of local law enforcement.</p>
<p>In the sex trade, for example, clues may be found in patterns of petty theft, by looking at transactional data from purchases at retail outlets. Victims sometimes steal essential supplies that traffickers may not provide for them such as feminine hygiene products, soap and toothpaste. Trends in the use of cash for transactions normally made with debit or credit cards – hotel bookings, for example – may also raise a red flag. </p>
<p>Traffickers advertise on social media and internet-based sites. Analytics could seek patterns in photos through facial recognition software, comparing images from missing person reports or trafficking ads. </p>
<p>Sex trafficking activity, in particular, leaves traces in the public areas of the internet, mostly in the form of advertisements and escort ads. Advertisers tend to use social networks and dating websites, while more proficient traffickers frequently alter their online presence to try to elude identification. </p>
<p>Machine learning – a type of artificial intelligence where computers teach themselves to do tasks, such as recognize images – can be used to detect online trafficking activity. Recent advances in <a href="https://statweb.stanford.edu/%7Ecandes/papers/MatrixCompletion.pdf">matrix completion</a>, a type of machine learning, could even help clean up falsified information or make predictions about missing data. </p>
<p>Traffickers are also known to take advantage of increased demand for commercial sexual exploitation during <a href="https://technologyandtrafficking.usc.edu/files/2011/09/HumanTrafficking_FINAL.pdf">major events</a>, including conventions and large sporting events. Analyses that look at both location and timing of online ads could help law enforcement detect and possibly interdict transportation of victims to the event. They could also suggest when and where policymakers should focus intervention efforts.</p>
<h1>Network disruption</h1>
<p>Interrupting the flow of people, money and other components of trafficking is critical to identifying trafficking networks, disrupting their infrastructure at the source and eliminating them. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, network interruption requires the cooperation of authorities and the public surrounding the network. In some countries, such as Nepal and Costa Rica, officials are threatened or bribed into ignoring or otherwise allowing human trafficking. There is often inadequate regulatory oversight of industries known to use trafficked laborers. Traffickers can easily fabricate or alter a victim’s identification documents, rendering them invisible to overburdened authorities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179855/original/file-20170726-2676-rqdcnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police detain an activist during a November 2016 protest against child trafficking in Kolkata, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Child-Trafficking-Protest/c4cd8aa87708482590597077889008a5/182/0">Bikas Das/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To help authorities identify trafficking operations to target, researchers could turn to network analysis, a mathematical way of representing real world systems and their interactions. For example, <a href="http://repository.cmu.edu/hsshonors/155/">network analysis</a> can be used to map out the dynamics of users and their connections embedded in social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. This can possibly identify at-risk persons or, alternatively, traffickers or customers. </p>
<p>Social network analysis could also help to determine which contacts have a critical influence over others. This may enable early identification of either a victim or trafficking transaction. </p>
<p>Human trafficking is a serious crime and an appalling violation of human rights. Almost every country is affected by human trafficking as a source of victims, a transit point, or a destination and location of abuse. These new mathematical tools show great potential both to interrupt the human trafficking cycle and to provide the information needed to help victims escape to safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>July 30 marks the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. How can computer scientists help combat this problem?Renata Konrad, Assistant Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic InstituteAndrew C. Trapp, Associate Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/640462016-09-21T00:01:54Z2016-09-21T00:01:54ZHow the American online sex trade continues to thrive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138333/original/image-20160919-11127-1fvqaew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From the depths of the dark web, the identities and location of pimps can be scrubbed. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-280469939/stock-photo-single-solitary-computer-hacker-works-in-the-dark-committing-crime.html?src=sZhk6uJa17AfVFbnDscEUQ-1-7">'Laptop' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/03/were_there_sex_shops_in_the_time_of_george_washington.html">America has always had an underground sex trade</a>, and for decades most pimps followed the same general script: they’d recruit sex workers on the street, in bars and in strip clubs. </p>
<p>But over the past 20 years, <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-120025">the internet has become the major marketplace for the sex trade</a>, with online advertisements and recruitment through social media sites greatly expanding the reach and enhancing the elusiveness of pimps. </p>
<p>Given the level of deception inherent to the underground sex industry, its size can be difficult to fully assess. <a href="http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/413047-Estimating-the-Size-and-Structure-of-the-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy-in-Eight-Major-US-Cities.PDF">A 2007 Urban Institute investigation</a> in eight large American cities, for example, estimated its worth at US$39.9 million to $290 million.</p>
<p>In response, government and law enforcement officials are trying to fight back.</p>
<p>In August, as part of its investigation of online sex trafficking, the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/backpage-com-defies-sex-trafficking-subpoena-despite-senate-contempt-vote/">Senate subpoenaed the CEO of Backpage.com</a>, a website commonly known for online solicitation of sex workers. This happened after <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/794173/ill-sheriff-asks-high-court-to-review-sex-ad-case">law enforcement</a> <a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150817/NEWS07/150819867/cook-county-sheriff-targets-website-in-trafficking-fight">officials</a> demanded that Backpage and Craigslist terminate personal ad sections that facilitate the illicit sex market. Meanwhile, <a href="http://time.com/4022124/prostitution-nationwide-sting/">sting operations routinely take place</a>, increasing the odds that the activities of pimps and their customers will be exposed. </p>
<p>Despite successful government stings, pimps nevertheless continue to adapt, operate and thrive.</p>
<p>As social scientists, we wanted to learn how they’re pulling it off; we hoped to build on studies about how various criminals perceive and respond to the threat of arrest. </p>
<p>So we went to the source: the pimps themselves. </p>
<h2>Getting pimps to talk</h2>
<p>To recruit interviewees, we placed the following advertisement in the survey, escort and massage sections of Backpage: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Research team seeks to interview men 18 years or older about their experiences as managers in the erotica industry. Confidential in-person interviews last approximately one hour. Convenient (Chicago/Atlanta) location. Will pay $60 for completed interviews. For more information to see if you qualify, call … or email.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pimps who were interested either called our prepaid mobile phone or the email account attached to the project; they were then screened to see if they qualified. In Chicago, three interviewed pimps were paid $20 for each of the two additional pimps that they referred to us. A 25-year veteran sex worker referred three pimps.</p>
<p>Pimps had several reasons for agreeing to the interviews. Some wanted their story in an academic book, while others believed the advertisement was actually a sex worker seeking a manager. Some simply thought the pay was worth an hour of their time. </p>
<p>We ended up interviewing 71 pimps: 29 of them from April to June 2013 in a private university conference room in Atlanta and the rest from April 2013 to June 2014 in a Chicago public tea shop. Most lasted for about an hour and took the form of a casual conversation. </p>
<p>The findings from these interviews – described in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639625.2015.1060810">two</a> <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2016.1187694">studies</a> published earlier this year – highlighted the various ways that pimps were able to subvert the law using language and technology. </p>
<p>Of those we interviewed, 67 percent used the internet to solicit clients, and all but six of these pimps continued to use Backpage or Craigslist even though they knew law enforcement was targeting these outlets. </p>
<p>Yet most continued to operate unabated. The secret, we discovered, was in the approach. </p>
<h2>Avoiding detection</h2>
<p>Ten years ago, <a href="http://cad.sagepub.com/content/60/2/261.full.pdf+html">a study</a> described how sex clients would often use code words to avoid being targeted by stings. </p>
<p>After each sting, however, widespread media coverage often exposed the ways in which sex workers solicited clients – including the slang. It’s now generally known that “roses” is used to indicate the amount of money charged. For example, an ad might state 80 roses for BBBJ, which means $80 for a blow job without a condom.</p>
<p>Many of the pimps followed the media coverage and discovered which code words the police had learned. To continue using these words, they realized, was obviously unwise. Most stopped using the known code words. A few pimps in the Chicago sample switched to hiding their advertising of underage girls with common, objectifying code words – “doll,” “sweet girl” – that are still often chauvinistically used to describe adult women in the United States. (Most pimps, however, didn’t use minors as sex workers to avoid the long prison sentence, if caught.)</p>
<p>In addition, the pimps didn’t exclusively use the sites most frequently targeted by law enforcement. Many would diversify their ad placements, using sites on the deep web – sites that can mask original IP addresses and don’t appear on standard search engines. Others advertised on specialty dating or pornography websites that catered to gay men or heterosexual adults. </p>
<p>Sites like Backpage also have a number of different sections; the primary place for ads selling sex are in the “adult” sections. Not surprisingly, these are the ones the police are most likely to monitor. So some pimps told us how they would move ads on Backpage from sections that the police trolled to other sections such as “services” or “dating” that received less scrutiny. Meanwhile, those still posting on Craigslist told us how they used the “casual encounters” section when the “adult services” section was removed. </p>
<p>Pimps also tended to use a number of additional strategies to avoid detection like avoiding references to location, using fake pictures of sex workers and minimizing written communication through text or emails. Technology like Google Voice, prepaid mobile phones and software that wipes data from hard drives were also used to hide their identities.</p>
<h2>Hiding in plain sight</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418825.2012.660977">Other</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1996.tb01213.x/full">social</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1993.tb01131.x/abstract">scientists</a> have found that drug traffickers and other criminals use strategies of “hiding in plain sight” and “trustworthy connections” to avoid detection.</p>
<p>The pimps we interviewed were no different. Many learned how to avoid getting arrested by simply bribing officials in the system. In fact, one-third of the pimps interviewed in Chicago said they had paid either a lawyer or police officer for information about how to lower their chances of detection and conviction. </p>
<p>Pimps were more likely to say they have an inside legal expert if they earned over $100,000 or managed at least nine sex workers. Some of these inside legal experts were corrupt police officers who could pass along information about undercover operations that were being planned. Other pimps kept lawyers on retainers and were confident that the lawyer could successfully help them avoid having an arrest turn into a conviction. Some of these lawyers <a href="https://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/avoiding-an-online-prostitution-sting">would even advise their clients on how to tell whether an encounter is an undercover sting</a>.</p>
<p>Another strategy involved crafting a veneer of legitimacy. Pimps often claimed to run massage parlors or modeling agencies, using photos with props from these professions to show they were running an actual business. </p>
<p>Finally, pimps used a number of tools to verify that clients and potential sex workers were trustworthy – and not undercover police officers. Clients needed to register on verification websites.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, rating systems for both sex workers and clients were used to minimize violent or confrontational situations that might attract police attention. There are many websites that <a href="https://www.theeroticreview.com/reviews/escortReviews.asp">review escorts</a> and <a href="http://www.nationalblacklist.com/">clients</a>, using both descriptive terms and rating scales. For example, a sex worker might give a client a low rating if the client tried to avoid paying or was too aggressive; likewise, a client might give a sex worker a low rating if the sex worker acted like she didn’t want to be there. </p>
<p>As players in the service economy, pimps have learned to embrace the online marketplace and seem to be staying one step ahead of the law. Adapting to evolving technology and paying attention to the news is crucial. </p>
<p>But when that doesn’t work, there’s still old-fashioned bribery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two criminologists wanted to learn the tricks of the trade so they went to the source, interviewing over 70 pimps.Loretta Stalans, Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Loyola University ChicagoMary Finn, Director of the School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/497002016-01-22T11:02:32Z2016-01-22T11:02:32ZThe hidden harms of the US foster-care system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107811/original/image-20160111-6964-42ykm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children in the U.S. foster care system can languish for years</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/sad-child-boy-kid-crying-tears-219721/">Pixaby</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Firestorms regarding child-protective systems have become sadly commonplace, occurring recently in <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/10/28/office-child-advocate-release-bella-bond-report-today/0POG0K0OPTeYmIinwhtUFM/story.html">Massachusetts</a>, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/failedtodeath">Colorado</a> and <a href="http://media.miamiherald.com/static/media/projects/2014/innocents-lost/">Florida</a>. Elected officials and the general public often don’t pay much attention to child protection systems until a child dies in a family known to the state agency charged with protecting children at risk. </p>
<p>Having worked – in both the programmatic and policy arenas – to improve the US child protective system for more than 25 years, I am sadly familiar with the pattern. When such tragedies occur, political leaders express <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/22/us/baby-doe-bella-bond-massachusetts-children-services-questions">outrage.</a> The media shines a glaring light on the various systemic holes through which yet another vulnerable child has fallen.</p>
<p>Some may express outrage that the child wasn’t removed from the dangerous home sooner and placed in foster care – the intended social safety net for children who are unable to live with their birth parents. However, such a sentiment ignores the fact that foster care harbors its own threats to the safety and well-being of vulnerable children.</p>
<h2>Children languish for years in foster care</h2>
<p>In 2014, <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport22.pdf">415,000 children</a> in the United States spent time in the foster care system. This system works best when used to provide nurturing, short-term care to vulnerable children until a family crisis can be resolved and they can return safely home, or until a child can be placed with a permanent adoptive family.</p>
<p>For many children, however, foster care is anything but short term. The average length of time children spend in foster care is just over a year and a half. About 30 percent remain in temporary care for more than two years. <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport22.pdf">In 2014,</a> 64,300 children had been stuck in the foster care system for more than 3 years, 28,000 of them for 5 years or more. </p>
<p>Languishing in foster care harms children’s wellbeing in a number of ways. The longer a child remains in temporary care, the more likely he or she will experience multiple placement changes and the disrupted relationships caused by such changes. Unfortunately, more than 40 percent of children placed in foster care are moved to a different foster home or care facility – such as shelter or group home – at least once during their first six months in state custody. More than <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cwo08_11.pdf#page=7">one third</a> of children who remain in foster care for one to two years experience three or more changes of placement, as do two thirds of those remaining in the system for two years or longer. </p>
<p>Studies suggest that as many as 70 percent of placement changes have nothing to do with improving the wellbeing of the children moved. An investigation by Sigrid James in the <a href="http://www.ocfcpacourts.us/assets/files/list-772/file-997.pdf">Social Service Review</a> found that the majority of changes are made to implement policy and system mandates, such as when child welfare workers fail to place siblings in the same foster home from the start, and are later forced to move the children into a single foster home to comply with federal mandates. Placement moves also commonly occur when children are initially placed in a short-term foster home or shelter, and must be moved to a long-term foster home.</p>
<p>In addition to such policy compliance moves, children are also commonly removed from foster homes because the foster parents were found to be unprepared to meet their needs. </p>
<p>A system with more appropriate foster homes and care facilities to meet the diverse and complex needs of the children in their custody could minimize these placement changes.</p>
<h2>The consequences of multiple moves</h2>
<p>Disruptions make it difficult for children to form the kind of stable attachments that undergird healthy social and emotional development. This is an especially grave concern for children ages five and under - by far the largest group of children in foster care - given the critical role that strong and stable early life attachments play in healthy human development.</p>
<p>For children of all ages, multiple changes in placements often lead to severe, long-term behavior and <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/113/5/1336">emotional problems.</a> Frequent moves also contribute to other mental health problems and poor educational achievement, as children are shuttled from school to school. Moreover, each change in foster placement <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11075702">decreases the likelihood</a> that a child will return home or be adopted. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107813/original/image-20160111-6964-1w5sf6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children are often bounced from one foster-care home to the next.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/sad-child-boy-kid-crying-tears-217252/">Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bleak futures for those aging out</h2>
<p>This means that too many children get stuck in the system, having neither their biological family nor a permanent adoptive family. In 2014 alone, more than 22,000 young people, ages <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport22.pdf">18-20</a> were discharged from foster care and sent to live on their own. Nearly as many were released with only a legal guardian to provide them with supervision.</p>
<p>What happens to youths raised in our chaotic and dysfunctional foster care system? The outlook for most is grim, given their histories of broken relationships and unstable educational experiences. They are <a href="http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov/library/2011/housing-experiences-former-foster-youth-how-do-they-fare-comparison-other-youth">far more likely </a>to become teen parents, be chronically unemployed, and spend their lives in poverty <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227413827_The_risk_of_teenage_pregnancy_among_transitioning_foster_youth_Implications_for_extending_state_care_beyond_age_18">than other young people</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, recent studies have shown that young adults exiting the foster care system are prime targets for predators running <a href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/human-trafficking-and-within-united-states-review-literature">sex-trafficking</a> rings. In a study of youths <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/27/local/la-me-1128-sex-trafficking-20121128">held for prostitution</a> in California, for example, most had come from foster care.</p>
<h2>A lack of political will</h2>
<p>The problem is complex but not without ready solutions. Providing child protective agencies with sufficient funding to recruit, train, and support more high quality foster families would be a good place to start. Children are far less likely to be moved around when placed with foster families who are well prepared to meet their often challenging needs. More aggressive recruitment of adoptive families would help as well. So would hiring more social workers to ensure that children are placed in the most appropriate settings and to expeditiously move children out of foster care and safely return them to their parents or place them with adoptive families.</p>
<p>Like other urgently needed repairs to the child welfare system, these measures require more funding to a system that typically takes a hit whenever state and federal budgets are squeezed. Changing this requires political will; the kind we only see, unfortunately, during a firestorm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lenette Azzi-Lessing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When a child dies from neglect or maltreatment from parents, outraged observers demand at-risk kids be placed in foster care. But the US foster care system can pose risks for children, too.Lenette Azzi-Lessing, Associate Professor of Social Work, Wheelock CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.