Chapters 6, 7, and 8 Objectives:
- Understand the size and scope of prostitution
- Learn the scope of sex trafficking
- Learn who is vulnerable to prostitution
The Exploited
Who is at risk?
Who is at risk?
- Runaways
- Homeless youth
- Those living in poverty
The Pimps:
“A man who controls prostitutes and arranges clients for them, taking part of their earnings in return”
“A man who controls prostitutes and arranges clients for them, taking part of their earnings in return”
Where do they operate?
Gaining Control:
American Pop Culture
Lyrics in today’s music can be explicit, derogatory, and degrading towards women.
Women are seen as objects.
LISTEN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDApZhXTpH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJjf7wY5MQ
Lyrics in today’s music can be explicit, derogatory, and degrading towards women.
Women are seen as objects.
LISTEN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDApZhXTpH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJjf7wY5MQ
Reflection Questions:
We know there is a link between human trafficking and prostitution. To what extent do you think these songs and lyrics add to the issues surrounding sex trafficking and prostitution?
Do these lyrics describe the mindset of a potential human trafficker?
Does music have an impact on human trafficking?
We know there is a link between human trafficking and prostitution. To what extent do you think these songs and lyrics add to the issues surrounding sex trafficking and prostitution?
Do these lyrics describe the mindset of a potential human trafficker?
Does music have an impact on human trafficking?
A Glimpse into the World of Prostitution
WATCH:
Documentary TRICKED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDCpqRGxAz4
WATCH:
Documentary TRICKED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDCpqRGxAz4
Case Study: Grace
He introduced her to a woman whose sister lived in Germany. Grace was told that she would have to repay the travel costs by working for the woman’s sister, after which she could work as a babysitter or in a restaurant to send money back home. As she was unfamiliar with German currency, Grace didn’t have an understanding of the amount she would have to repay, but she decided to take the chance because she didn’t have better prospects for her life in her country and her family was pressuring her. As is typical in her community, she underwent a Juju (Voodoo) ritual where she swore never to betray the contact in Germany and that she would pay all the debts.
A “trolley-man” accompanied me and a bunch of other women being taken to various countries in Europe to a hotel to organize our travel documents. I was given the passport of an African woman from a different country and then transported with another woman to Germany. Once I arrived, I was told that my debt was 50,000 euro (around 67,000 USD) which I realized would take a very long time to repay. My family’s contact then told me that to pay the debt, I would be working as a prostitute in brothels (which are legalized in Germany). It was then that I realized that my family’s contact was a madam. I refused and called my parents to explain what was happening, but they told me to obey her and do whatever she told me to do. I didn’t have any papers and didn’t know my rights. She said that if I asked anyone for help, I would be deported, so I didn’t think I had any choice but to become a prostitute. In Nigeria, we respect Germany. I didn’t even think that they did this as a job in Germany; in Italy and Spain, we know there is prostitution. My mother begged me to do what they said. I cried every time a man slept with me, because I was brought up Christian. Back in Nigeria, the father of my son had raped me, and this reminded me of that over and over.
I worked day and night for months, doing everything they asked me, in order to get the money for my madam; and every day I cried. If I came home (I lived with my traffickers) without enough money, my madam would seriously reprimand and abuse me. And, after servicing clients, I would often have to wash dishes and take care of the children in the house. I worked for seven months and was told by my various employers that I had to have sex without condoms when asked.
Men demanded sex without condoms. At a well-known legal brothel, the owners told me directly that I had to have sex without condoms, otherwise I would be fired. The owners would ask the clients afterwards if they were happy, if I willingly serviced them without a condom. My madam wanted me to do it without a condom. She said that I was no better than the other girls, and I should do what the brothels wanted to earn more and pay her back. I wouldn’t be able to pay off the debt if I couldn’t work, so I did it. The women here are so desperate for money that they don’t care about AIDS—people here are ready to die. This is blood money, and it was killing me, too.
Seven months after I started, police carried out a check on the brothel and they asked me if I was working there voluntarily. I was very scared and, remembering the oath I had sworn before leaving Nigeria, I said “yes.” They looked over my papers and, realizing they weren’t mine, arrested me and took me to the immigration detention centre. While there I became sick, vomiting, and was brought to a hospital. I found out then that I had AIDS. My madam managed to track me down after I left the hospital and told me that I had to continue being a prostitute to pay for the remaining debt, which she said was still more than half of the 50,000 euro. I refused and she started threatening me and my family back home, who begged me to comply. By then, I had become acquainted with SOLWODI [Solidarity With Women in Distress], and they helped me to get settled and exit prostitution. I refused to go back to my madam and eventually reported her and her accomplices to the police.
I am very mixed up now. Sometimes I have high hopes for the future and other times I feel very beaten down. I do not want to go back to Nigeria and I know I would be at risk there. I have a partner now who accepts me for who I am and the support of SOLWODI, which makes me happy. However, I wish people would tell parents that it is good to educate girls and get them proper job training, rather than sending them into prostitution. A child is a gift of God, whether it is a man or a woman.
Women are not slaves and traffickers should stop taking other people’s children. No one should be forced; buyers, pimps and traffickers are killing human beings and spreading sickness. They should prostitute themselves if they want money! Some people are paying 90,000-100,000 euro to buy people. Stopping the sex industry would be the best, it should not exist—that’s blood money!
When I was in the sex industry, I prayed that someone would take me away. If men would be charged, given severe punishments, it would stop.
Note this excerpt is taken directly from the Equality Now website. Grace’s story was recorded as part of Equality Now’s Survivor Stories Project (Equality Now, n.d.).
Source: Equality Now (n.d.) Trafficking Survivor Stories: Grace. Retrieved from https://www.equalitynow.org/campaigns/trafficking-survivor-stories/grace.
Case Study: The Challenge of Investigating Sex Trafficking Cases
Portions of a blog post written for the THORN website are presented below (Blumenthal, 2018). The writer is Matt Blumenthal, a sergeant with the San Diego County Sherriff’s Department and a supervisor at the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force. The focus of the post is to provide insight on what sex trafficking investigations entail and the challenges investigators face.
In San Diego, most of the cases that we investigate entail sex trafficking within the US borders, with over 90% of victims who are US born and US citizens. Over 99% of our victims are females. The youngest we have encountered was 13 years old and the oldest was well into her mid-60’s.
Kicking off an investigation
Investigations usually begin one of two ways, (1) proactive work or (2) reactive work.
We receive tips and leads from various sources and vigorously investigate everything we get our hands on. We network with other law enforcement agencies, NGOs, churches, schools, military, hospitals, and many other entities. The information they provide us is investigated and entered into our database. We routinely peruse websites known for prostitution and HT, looking for youthful looking pictures, known victims, and specific areas of the state/country known for higher percentages of HT. Any information uncovered through these various routes will start an investigation.
Our task force is a victim-centered task force. Therefore, the primary goal of all investigations is to recover the victim. The secondary goal is to arrest and prosecute the trafficker/pimp.
Challenges faced in investigations. We face several challenges when taking on human trafficking investigations — time, money, man power, along with countless search warrants for social media and technology (cell phones). The transient nature of the crime makes it difficult to track both the victims and suspects, as they seem to disappear and reappear quickly.
Historically, investigations were conducted on the street, because that was where trafficking and transactions were taking place. With the expansion of the internet, human trafficking surfaced on sites like Backpage and Craigslist and have morphed into sites like Facebook, Tinder, Tagged, and even Snapchat.
With shifts in technology, Spotlight has become our most effective tool in locating victims. The software has solved countless cases for us and located many victims.
What happens when a victim is recovered?
Victims of human trafficking are also, many times, victims of sexual abuse, molestation, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and many other forms of trauma. These victims have many obstacles that need to be dealt with before they can be readily accepting of the help we have to offer.
Most victims will not identify as a victim until they encounter law enforcement between 7-10 times. When they do not identify as a victim, they generally will not accept any assistance from us.
When victims are ready to accept assistance, we have NGOs on call 24/7 for our task force. They will come to our location and provide the victim with whatever their immediate needs are — clothing, food, housing, and even transportation home. We have flown and bussed many victims home to family across the country.
The NGOs, advocates, the DA’s Office, and our task force work with the victim to make her whole again. The main goal is getting her safe to start the healing process. We start building rapport and getting them to trust us.
If they trust us, they will help other investigations by providing information on their trafficker.
Blumenthal, M. (April 2018). Inside human trafficking investigations [blog]. Thorn. Retrieved from
https://www.wearethorn.org/blog/what-human-trafficking-investigations-look-like/.
Case Study: Tonya's Story. When Tonya was just a teen, she was forced by a former boyfriend to be sex trafficked. To hear her tell her story for herself click here: https://www.ice.gov/features/human-trafficking-victim-shares-story
Ask Yourself:
Extra Resources:
https://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772
http://www.fondationscelles.org/en/
https://jakubmarian.com/prostitution-laws-in-europe/
He introduced her to a woman whose sister lived in Germany. Grace was told that she would have to repay the travel costs by working for the woman’s sister, after which she could work as a babysitter or in a restaurant to send money back home. As she was unfamiliar with German currency, Grace didn’t have an understanding of the amount she would have to repay, but she decided to take the chance because she didn’t have better prospects for her life in her country and her family was pressuring her. As is typical in her community, she underwent a Juju (Voodoo) ritual where she swore never to betray the contact in Germany and that she would pay all the debts.
A “trolley-man” accompanied me and a bunch of other women being taken to various countries in Europe to a hotel to organize our travel documents. I was given the passport of an African woman from a different country and then transported with another woman to Germany. Once I arrived, I was told that my debt was 50,000 euro (around 67,000 USD) which I realized would take a very long time to repay. My family’s contact then told me that to pay the debt, I would be working as a prostitute in brothels (which are legalized in Germany). It was then that I realized that my family’s contact was a madam. I refused and called my parents to explain what was happening, but they told me to obey her and do whatever she told me to do. I didn’t have any papers and didn’t know my rights. She said that if I asked anyone for help, I would be deported, so I didn’t think I had any choice but to become a prostitute. In Nigeria, we respect Germany. I didn’t even think that they did this as a job in Germany; in Italy and Spain, we know there is prostitution. My mother begged me to do what they said. I cried every time a man slept with me, because I was brought up Christian. Back in Nigeria, the father of my son had raped me, and this reminded me of that over and over.
I worked day and night for months, doing everything they asked me, in order to get the money for my madam; and every day I cried. If I came home (I lived with my traffickers) without enough money, my madam would seriously reprimand and abuse me. And, after servicing clients, I would often have to wash dishes and take care of the children in the house. I worked for seven months and was told by my various employers that I had to have sex without condoms when asked.
Men demanded sex without condoms. At a well-known legal brothel, the owners told me directly that I had to have sex without condoms, otherwise I would be fired. The owners would ask the clients afterwards if they were happy, if I willingly serviced them without a condom. My madam wanted me to do it without a condom. She said that I was no better than the other girls, and I should do what the brothels wanted to earn more and pay her back. I wouldn’t be able to pay off the debt if I couldn’t work, so I did it. The women here are so desperate for money that they don’t care about AIDS—people here are ready to die. This is blood money, and it was killing me, too.
Seven months after I started, police carried out a check on the brothel and they asked me if I was working there voluntarily. I was very scared and, remembering the oath I had sworn before leaving Nigeria, I said “yes.” They looked over my papers and, realizing they weren’t mine, arrested me and took me to the immigration detention centre. While there I became sick, vomiting, and was brought to a hospital. I found out then that I had AIDS. My madam managed to track me down after I left the hospital and told me that I had to continue being a prostitute to pay for the remaining debt, which she said was still more than half of the 50,000 euro. I refused and she started threatening me and my family back home, who begged me to comply. By then, I had become acquainted with SOLWODI [Solidarity With Women in Distress], and they helped me to get settled and exit prostitution. I refused to go back to my madam and eventually reported her and her accomplices to the police.
I am very mixed up now. Sometimes I have high hopes for the future and other times I feel very beaten down. I do not want to go back to Nigeria and I know I would be at risk there. I have a partner now who accepts me for who I am and the support of SOLWODI, which makes me happy. However, I wish people would tell parents that it is good to educate girls and get them proper job training, rather than sending them into prostitution. A child is a gift of God, whether it is a man or a woman.
Women are not slaves and traffickers should stop taking other people’s children. No one should be forced; buyers, pimps and traffickers are killing human beings and spreading sickness. They should prostitute themselves if they want money! Some people are paying 90,000-100,000 euro to buy people. Stopping the sex industry would be the best, it should not exist—that’s blood money!
When I was in the sex industry, I prayed that someone would take me away. If men would be charged, given severe punishments, it would stop.
Note this excerpt is taken directly from the Equality Now website. Grace’s story was recorded as part of Equality Now’s Survivor Stories Project (Equality Now, n.d.).
Source: Equality Now (n.d.) Trafficking Survivor Stories: Grace. Retrieved from https://www.equalitynow.org/campaigns/trafficking-survivor-stories/grace.
Case Study: The Challenge of Investigating Sex Trafficking Cases
Portions of a blog post written for the THORN website are presented below (Blumenthal, 2018). The writer is Matt Blumenthal, a sergeant with the San Diego County Sherriff’s Department and a supervisor at the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force. The focus of the post is to provide insight on what sex trafficking investigations entail and the challenges investigators face.
In San Diego, most of the cases that we investigate entail sex trafficking within the US borders, with over 90% of victims who are US born and US citizens. Over 99% of our victims are females. The youngest we have encountered was 13 years old and the oldest was well into her mid-60’s.
Kicking off an investigation
Investigations usually begin one of two ways, (1) proactive work or (2) reactive work.
We receive tips and leads from various sources and vigorously investigate everything we get our hands on. We network with other law enforcement agencies, NGOs, churches, schools, military, hospitals, and many other entities. The information they provide us is investigated and entered into our database. We routinely peruse websites known for prostitution and HT, looking for youthful looking pictures, known victims, and specific areas of the state/country known for higher percentages of HT. Any information uncovered through these various routes will start an investigation.
Our task force is a victim-centered task force. Therefore, the primary goal of all investigations is to recover the victim. The secondary goal is to arrest and prosecute the trafficker/pimp.
Challenges faced in investigations. We face several challenges when taking on human trafficking investigations — time, money, man power, along with countless search warrants for social media and technology (cell phones). The transient nature of the crime makes it difficult to track both the victims and suspects, as they seem to disappear and reappear quickly.
Historically, investigations were conducted on the street, because that was where trafficking and transactions were taking place. With the expansion of the internet, human trafficking surfaced on sites like Backpage and Craigslist and have morphed into sites like Facebook, Tinder, Tagged, and even Snapchat.
With shifts in technology, Spotlight has become our most effective tool in locating victims. The software has solved countless cases for us and located many victims.
What happens when a victim is recovered?
Victims of human trafficking are also, many times, victims of sexual abuse, molestation, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and many other forms of trauma. These victims have many obstacles that need to be dealt with before they can be readily accepting of the help we have to offer.
Most victims will not identify as a victim until they encounter law enforcement between 7-10 times. When they do not identify as a victim, they generally will not accept any assistance from us.
When victims are ready to accept assistance, we have NGOs on call 24/7 for our task force. They will come to our location and provide the victim with whatever their immediate needs are — clothing, food, housing, and even transportation home. We have flown and bussed many victims home to family across the country.
The NGOs, advocates, the DA’s Office, and our task force work with the victim to make her whole again. The main goal is getting her safe to start the healing process. We start building rapport and getting them to trust us.
If they trust us, they will help other investigations by providing information on their trafficker.
Blumenthal, M. (April 2018). Inside human trafficking investigations [blog]. Thorn. Retrieved from
https://www.wearethorn.org/blog/what-human-trafficking-investigations-look-like/.
Case Study: Tonya's Story. When Tonya was just a teen, she was forced by a former boyfriend to be sex trafficked. To hear her tell her story for herself click here: https://www.ice.gov/features/human-trafficking-victim-shares-story
Ask Yourself:
- What is your view on prostitution? Is it criminal?
- Is prostitution equivalent to human trafficking?
- How are pimps and prositutes displayed in the media?
Extra Resources:
https://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000772
http://www.fondationscelles.org/en/
https://jakubmarian.com/prostitution-laws-in-europe/