There is a pervasive misconception about sex trafficking and what it looks like in real life. The misconception is that “sex trafficking” predominantly describes a scenario where a woman is kidnapped and sold across the border into forced sex slavery. There are also misconceptions that every person who sells commercial sex has been sex trafficked. We’re here to set the record straight about what trafficking truly is, and what factors fuel it.
The truth is that sex trafficking has many more, and more common, scenarios that play out every day, everywhere, and it doesn’t only happen to young women. It can happen to anyone of any gender or age.
The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) states that sex trafficking occurs any time sex is sold or bought and is done so by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which a commercial sex act involves someone who is under 18 years old. Under this definition, there are different kinds of situations that are considered to be sex trafficking. Just a few examples are:
Luring individuals under the pretense of offering a model job, but then forcing or coercing them into acting in porn.
Coercing a porn performer to do on-camera sex acts without their expressed consent.
Bribing, blackmailing, or selling a person to perform a sex act live or online.
Consider that we are not here to police anyone’s sexual choices, while we do exist to shine a light on the realities of sexual exploitation and how the porn industry both normalizes and fuels it.
Buyers Equal Business
Another misconception about sex trafficking is that there isn’t anything the average person can do to help solve the problem. However, Dr. Michael Shively of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation knows this isn’t true. Dr. Shively, an expert in preventing and addressing trafficking issues, spoke with Fight the New Drug to help us understand how everyone can help reduce the demand for sex trafficking.
He says we need to understand that traffickers prey on the basic economic principle of supply and demand with commercial sex. So, when people want to buy sex, traffickers often take the opportunity to sell victims for that purpose. The motivation for sex traffickers is simple—money.
Education Reduces the Demand for Exploitation
There are plenty of reasons why buyers are interested in paying for sex. Some of those reasons are to soothe loneliness, fulfill a strong sex drive, get a thrill, or try something sexually new. A lot of buyers aren’t even aware of all the impacts of buying sex, and they often don’t know that there are trafficked individuals within the commercial sex industry. Oftentimes, they believe all people who are in the business choose to be. Unfortunately, this frequently is not the case. Not every person who sells sex is a trafficking victim. But there are many people who do sell sex due to force, fraud, or coercion.
Dr. Shively analyzed a one-day education class that individuals attended after getting arrested for buying sex. The results showed that the program is “effective in producing positive shifts in attitudes and gains in knowledge. More importantly, the program was found to have reduced [the tendency to reoffend].”
The Link Between Sex Trafficking and Porn
Porn sells the idea that people are always available for and eager to have sex. Not every porn consumer believes that buying sex is okay, but porn gives a deeply flawed education on sex, including the legitimacy of paying for it—even from exploited individuals.
Together, let’s decrease the demand for sex trafficking by increasing education on the harmful effects of porn and its connections to sexual exploitation.
