Sex Trafficking Isn’t What You Think: Four Myths Debunked—and One Real-World Way to Prevent Sexual Exploitation
Author: Corinne Schwarz.
Source: Volume 23, Number 02, February/March 2022 , pp.31-31(1)
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Abstract:
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 alleged trafficking of teenage girls to debunked QAnon conspiracy theories about a sexual slavery ring run through online retailer Wayfair. The common perception of sex trafficking involves a young, passive woman, usually white, captured by an aggressive trafficker. The woman is hidden and waiting to be rescued by law enforcement. This article, written by a gender studies professor who has researched human trafficking in the U.S. Midwest, corrects the widely held and false ideas about sex trafficking, and explains the problems true characteristics, dimensions, victims and perpetrators, and prosecution.Keywords: Sex Trafficking; Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act; Survival Sex Work
Affiliations:
1: Oklahoma State University.