Christy Vong
9th grade humanities
Ms.Portugal
12/21/18 Undercover Modern Day Sex Slavery
Do you know what sex trafficking is? Do you know that it happens quite often? But why haven’t we seen it happen if it happens quite often? Sex Trafficking is often under cover and many people don’t speak out about it. On a report on Human trafficking in the U.S. U.S. news said that human trafficking rose 35.7 percent in one year states,”Polaris which runs the hotline, reported 7,572 cases involving 6,340 females, 978 males and 70 listed as “gender minorities.” A total of 4,890 reported cases involved adults and 2,387 involved minors” (U.S news). Even Zahra Johnson a resident in Oakland and has lived in Oakland for 65 years and lives in a place where there are many women walking around, with lots of skin showing on cold nights says, “Well I don’t know much about sex trafficking”(Johnson). Most people confront sex trafficking with a questionable face and voice. Sex trafficking can happen when someone is being kiddnapped or forced into it and it’s like modern day sex slaves and in some cases it doesn’t matter. A lot of people don’t know what sex trafficking is and it’s important to know what it is because sex trafficking can happen by choice or not. Sex trafficking is very dangerous to the body mentally and physically, so to prevent it we need to know about it and realize how serious sex trafficking is so we can make a change.
Firstly, sex trafficking is very dangerous to the person being trafficked because it is harmful to their body mentally and physically. Women and men are forced into sex trafficking. In an interview with Jennifer Garcia who is a student in Oakland, states, “Well you don’t know if they are willing to do it, but most of them are forced into it. There’s two arguments to it and it’s that it should be outlawed or legal. And those two things are very difficult because if you make it legal, you make it possible for more people to be kidnapped and forced, but if you make it illegal you wouldn’t know if there are people being forced into it”(Garcia). This explains why sex trafficking is difficult to cope with. When sex traffickers are kidnapped and forced there’s a lot of violence and aggression on persuading the person that is being kidnapped to stay. Some use guns, held at the head, and the person’s will to live will determine the “option” they have to either be sex trafficked or die. This is dangerous because sex trafficking puts someone’s life at risk.
Secondly, sex trafficking comes with health problems, mentally and physically. There’s a website called “humantraffickingsearch.com” which is specifically focused on sex trafficking and it provides lots of information such as prevention, help, or any questions or concerns one might have. The website states “Individuals specifically trafficked for sex have described facing stigma and other negative responses during and after their trafficking experience especially from friends and family members“( humantraffickingsearch.com ). This shows how sex trafficking can scar someone mentally and physically and possibly break relationships. It can cause people to be in isolation and be in a state of depression because going through sex trafficking can cause trauma. To add on, knowing that a loved one feels a negative way about something one couldn’t control or get out of can cause lots of stress and tension. Moreover, it can cause loss or feeling like one can’t trust anyone. More people should know about these things because there are alot of mental issues around sex trafficking and it could possibly decrease stigma towards sex trafficking if people can understand it.
Moreover, there’s another website called “planUSA.org” and it’s a organization that strengthens health care systems, improving education, shares peoples stories, and just providing important information. In “planUSA.org” there is a short article called “Children’s Lives are Not For Sale” and it states, “Human trafficking is a $150 billion global industry. And every year, it steals the lives and stunts the potential of millions. Traffickers use force, fraud, blackmail, shaming, and coercion to lure and trap victims into physically harmful labor-including sexual exploitation”(planUSA.org). When it says, “harmful labor-including sexual exploitation” it means offering a child illicit activities and to sexually abuse the child. Sex trafficking makes billions of dollars in the U.S. and it’s by the worst way possible. Sex trafficking can be a big industry, it can be solo, or it can even be a tag-team. Kids aren’t supposed to be going through something that can potentially be traumatizing to them. This also connects with harming the body mentally and physically. Many people involved in sex trafficking can contract HIV or STDs and that is a health risk because this causes the immune system to not be able to fight off infections or diseases and that can lead to death. There is also stigma associated with this because it can lead to depression, loneliness, and can damage the brain and scar someone. That is why we need to realize and share about how serious sex trafficking is.
In conclusion, sex trafficking is very dangerous to the body mentally and physically, so to prevent it we need to know about it and realize how serious sex trafficking is so we can make a change. Sharing and knowing these things will increase empathy for people who do and can also reduce the stigma around sex trafficking. We could prevent it by sharing information with one another so they know what to do if they ever encounter these things. And by doing this people who got sex trafficked wouldn’t be as scared to tell their peers because their peers would know what it is, from info sharing, so they won’t feel alone in the situation. This will lead to more confidence and strength in voices and in numbers. This would probably decrease the rates of people getting sex trafficked because people would know what to do when they encounter something like getting sex trafficked and know that the community will help them out since the community knows about sex trafficking and there would probably even have future clinics or centers to cope with these situations.
Bibliography:
Johnson, Zahra. “Interviewing Zahra Johnson.” 12 Dec. 2018.
Zahra Johnson is a resident living in Oakland and has lived in Oakland for 65 years. She lives in a place where there are many women walking around, with lots of skin showing on cold nights.
Garcia, Jennifer. “Interviewing Jennifer Garcia.” 12 Dec. 2018.
Jennifer Garcia is a student in Oakland and knows a lot about sex trafficking, she was about to do a big presentation on sex trafficking.
“Home • Human Trafficking Search.” Human Trafficking Search, O.L. Pathy Family, 2015, humantraffickingsearch.org/.
This website provides a lot of information on sex trafficking and is against any type of trafficking. It tells you what you should know and how to prevent yourself from getting sex trafficked.
“Plan International USA.” Plan USA, Plan International USA, 2018, www.planusa.org/.
This website strives in creating change, getting youth voices heard, strengthens health care systems, improving education, shares peoples stories, and just providing important information therefore it is trustable because it would would encourage one’s voice to
Cone, Allen. “Report: Human Trafficking in U.S. Rose 35.7 Percent in One Year.” UPI, UPI, 5 Feb. 2017, www.upi.com/Report-Human-trafficking-in-US-rose-357-percent-in-one-year/5571486328579/. This source is trustworthy because its a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography. UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.
Dear, Christy
I am happy about the topic you choose because nobody decided to write about this and literally nobody talks about undercover modern day slavery. A part that I liked was how you stated in your blog, “A lot of people don’t know what sex trafficking is and it’s important to know what it is because sex trafficking can happen by choice or not”. I agree with this because there’s some people who think is a choice. But I really like how you decided to write about this topic.
Thank you so much for reading my blog Bryan 🙂 . It’s nice that you are happy about the topic I wrote about. I hope you learned something new about sex trafficking and how we can possibly prevent it or at least try to make the percentages of sex trafficked people go lower.
Dear Christy,
I am proud about your topic that you have chosen for your blog. I also liked how you named it Undercover Modern Day Sex Slavery because people who see this and reads it would think multiple things about it, and would want to click on it. I agree with you when you stated in your analysis that “A lot of people don’t know what sex trafficking is and it’s important to know what it is because sex trafficking can happen by choice or not. Sex trafficking is very dangerous to the body mentally and physically, so to prevent it we need to know about it and realize how serious sex trafficking is so we can make a change” I agree on this because I didn’t know what sex trafficking was until you told me about it and how serious it was. This shows that no one really talks about this serious issue or really knows about it so I like how your bring people’s attention by doing a blog about it.
Thank for reading my blog Kimbo 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed my blog. And sex trafficking is a big but small topic to write about. It’s a area of metal and physical damage to the body and brain and it’s important that we know about it.