Sex in the United States

Sex Trafficking in the United States

By: Rachel Valle

ECPAT USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) reports that average age of entry into child prostitution is young girls between 12 and 14 years of age, however some incidents have been reported for children as young as 9 years old. When people think about sex trafficking the first thing that comes to their minds is young women or girls from other countries being smuggled into the United States to bring profit to these traffickers by being forced to participate in sexual acts, many choose to believe that something so horrible is happening right in their own home country.1  Some of the facts I have read about this incident have really made me think on how often these things go on seen right in our own neighborhood but we choose to look at the terrors in other country in a bigger light. Some of these facts I am refering to include, human trafficking generates 9.5 billion dollars in the United States yearly. Also, almost 300,000 children are at the risk of being prostituted in the United States and coming from this fact if you think about all the facts and knowing how young these girls are who get put into this horrible situation, then the next fact should just break your heart because these girls are being dragged into these situations they are forced anywhere from 24-40 times a day with completely different guys.2 Only 85% of women are referred to as victims in sex trafficking incidents according to the NHTRC. When people address the subject of sex trafficking they often see this as things such as prostitution, strip clubs, or swingers and their minds are often immediately drawn to the idea that these girls have been put into these situations by choice and if they wanted to they could remove themselves from the situations. So, when do we as Americans start to look deeper into the situation and get to the core or the “pimps” that have put these ladies here by either sweet talking or force. When are we going to start supporting our fellow neighbors and look and that as someone who has been drawn into an awful situation completely out of choice and treating them like victims instead of “sluts”? These victims usually come from an horrible past of physical or mental abuse and have grown up knowing only this way of life and for those who try to run away such as the young kids they often find themselves put right back into it by being drawn into sex trafficking within the first 48 hours of leaving the home.2 These abusers and “pimps” make empty promises to these young kids by listening to their parents trouble and giving them things they want and promising them love and necessities and once they have these innocent preteens in their web, they turn them into the young “whores” we see on the street, who actually have no intention of being their. I believe that just as we pay attention to those in sex trafficking being brought into the US from other parts of the world, we should try twice as hard to prevent it for those around us.