Research: Journey into Sex Trafficking
At a basic human needs level, these factors include feeling unsafe (due to abuse and violence), having an unstable living situation that prompts a child to run away, or being without caring adult supervision. Childhood sexual victimization plays a significant role as an antecedent into sex trafficking (Hossain et al. 2010; Nadon et al. 1998; Williamson et al. 2012), sometimes doubling the odds of entering (McClanahan et al. 1999). The experience of rape (sexual victimization) reveals a relationship with entry into trafficking as well (Campbell et al. 2003). Most survivors (75 %) stated they felt their engagement in prostitution was related to the rape(s), with the hopes of regaining some control over their bodies by limiting access and exchanging sex for money (Campbell et al. 2003). Kramer and Berg (2003) found that the experience of at least one childhood risk factor (sexual abuse, physical abuse, parental drug abuse) significantly increased the rate for entry into prostitution relative to those experiencing no risks.
Additional risk factors that come with adverse situations include exposure to alcohol and drugs, proximity to violent and dangerous people, and difficulty focusing on and behaving in school. These factors make a child more susceptible to victimization (Kotrla 2010; Newby and McGuinness 2012; Sabella 2011; Williamson et al. 2012). Race and gender are also vulnerabilities, in that most victims of sex trafficking are female and are often marginalized persons (Kramer and Berg 2003; Rand 2009; US Department of State 2012). Reid’s (2012) Framework of Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control Applied to Vulnerability in Sex Trafficking provides a detailed and contextualized model for understanding the factors related to pathways. This framework considers specific types of victims and targeted prevention and intervention efforts.
Traffickers exploit these risk factors as they recruit children, adolescents, and adults (Sabella 2011). Their techniques include (a) grooming or “finesse pimping,” wherein a young girl is lured into a situation where she appears to be making her own decisions about her life; (b) “bait and switch,” wherein an attractive opportunity is presented in order to gain trust and hope only to later change the situation upon entry; and (c) “guerilla pimping,” wherein the trafficker recruits through the use of threat, physical violence, or other forms of coercion (Ohio Trafficking in Persons Report and Research and Analysis Sub-Committee 2010; Williamson and Prior 2009).
These techniques all involve a relationship of some sort, and thus, the relational aspects of trafficking play into these risk factors.
Works Cited
Campbell, R., Ahrens, C., Sefl, T., & Clark, M. L. (2003). The relationship between adult sexual assault and prostitution: an exploratory analysis. Violence and Victims, 18(3), 299–317.
Hossain, M., Zimmerman, C., Abas, M., Light, M., & Watts, C. (2010). The relationship of trauma to mental disorders among trafficked and sexually exploited girls and women. American Journal of Public Health, 100(12), 2442–2449.
Kotrla, K. (2010). Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States. Social Work, 55(2), 181–187.
Kramer, L. A., & Berg, E. C. (2003). A survival analysis of timing of entry into prostitution: the differential impact of race, educational level, and childhood/adolescent risk factors. Sociological Inquiry, 73(4), 511–528.
McClanahan, S. F., McClelland, G. M., Abram, K. M., & Teplin, L. A. (1999). Pathways into prostitution among female jail detainees and their implications for mental health services. Psychiatric Services, 50(12), 1606–1613.
Nadon, S.M., Koverola, C., & Schludermann, E. H. (1998). Antecedents to prostitution: childhood victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13(2), 206–221.
Newby, A., & McGuinness, T. M. (2012). Human trafficking: what psychiatric nurses should know to help children and adolescents. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 50(4), 21–24.
Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, Research and Analysis Sub-Committee (2010). Report on the prevalence of human trafficking in Ohio. Retrieved from www.centralohiorescueandrestore.org.
Rand, A. (2009). It can’t happen in my backyard: the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in the United States. Children and Youth Services, 31, 138–156.
Reid, J. A. (2012). Exploratory review of route-specific, gendered, and age-graded dynamics of exploitation: applying life course theory to victimization in sex trafficking in North America. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17, 257–271.
Sabella, D. (2011). The role of the nurse in combating human trafficking. American Journal of Nursing, 111(2), 28–37.
U.S. Department of State (2012). Trafficking in Persons Report, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca (lead author), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192587.pdf.
Williamson, C., & Prior, M. (2009). Domestic minor sex trafficking: a network of underground players in the Midwest. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 2(1), 46–61.
Williamson, C., Perdue, T., Belton, L., Burns, O. (2012). Domestic sex trafficking in Ohio: research and analysis Sub-committee, Ohio Human Trafficking Commission. Retrieved from https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Publications/Publications-for-Law-Enforcement/Human-Trafficking-Reports/2012-Domestic-Sex-Trafficking-in-Ohio-Report.