Most people wouldn’t stop to think twice about the international commercial trade of many things they use on a daily basis. Various natural resources (sugar, wheat, oil, etc…) and manmade products (clothing, automobiles, software, etc…) are all internationally traded and used daily without a second thought by their consumers. However, what if one was told that a portion of these so-called “products” that is internationally traded daily was actually human beings? Every year millions of people are sold into slavery, every day thousands of people are sold, and every minute 2 children are sold into slavery. Altogether, there are currently 27 million people enslaved in the world (Human Trafficking Statistics). The majority of these slaves are involved in some form of sexual slavery. This form of sexual exploitation is called the sex trade.
The sex trade is one of the largest and fastest growing contemporary social issues and industries in the world. It is an industry which thrives on its annual 32 billion dollar profits and exploits the sexual capabilities of human beings. It is supremely lucrative for the ones running the business behind the scenes, yet incredibly demoralizing, dehumanizing, and impoverishing to the people who are actually used to make the profits.
The sex trade is defined in Modern Slavery as, “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act” (Bales, Trodd, and Williamson 192). Continuing to break this definition down, recruitment, harboring, and transportation are defined on Miriam Webster Online respectively as, “the process of adding new individuals to a population or subpopulation”, “to give shelter or refuge to”, and “public conveyance of passengers or goods especially as a commercial enterprise” (Miriam-Webster Online). Two things are to be noted here. Primarily, the words in the above definition collectively encompass any participation in any aspect of the commercial sexual exploitation of a person. Secondly, notice how the individual definitions of the words portray a product-type of business trade; the words seem odd in the context of dealing with actual human beings.
There are multiple sub-issues to be addressed concerning the sex trade, not the least being its history. The history of non-specific forms of slavery is about as ancient as humanity itself. According to Modern Slavery, “It was part of the Nile cultures from…the First Dynasty, around 7000 BC…” (Bales, Trodd, and Williamson 2). Considering human nature and creativity in promoting one’s own culture, slavery dating back to ancient times seems natural and expectable. This being said, the specific form of sexual enslavement dates back to the Sumerians and Babylonians (as far back as 4000 B.C.) (Economy Watch). It also was alive during the Middle Ages, but has really ignited in the previous 60 years due to globalization and western tourism. Globalization promotes slavery because it provides an easy and quick way for products to be delivered to various parts of the world, and provides networking among traffickers. Basically, where there has been demand for an item or product, man has greedily obliged the whims of his fellow humanity and supplied it. Sexual service is no exception. Man has always had a hunger for sex, so sex has nearly always been on the market…at the expense of those providing the service.
Another important aspect of the sex trade is how vast and widespread the issue is. According to Sex Trafficking: the Global Market in Women and Children, “Of the approximately 4 million people who are trafficked around the world each year, an estimated 1 million are trafficked into the sex industry, and the volume just keeps increasing” (Farr 3). This means that one fourth of all people trafficked in the world (this includes all aspects of nonsexual enslavement) are going to be sexually trafficked. So, it can be concluded that the vastness of the issue concerning the raw number of people involved, is indeed great. What about hope widespread the issue is? How many geographical regions and countries are involved? According to Human Trafficking Statistics, there are 161 countries currently identified as taking part in human trafficking. Also, according to Sex Trafficking: the Global Market in Women and Children, nearly every country and region is involved with the sex trade in some way, “…the industry is indeed global” (Farr 4). The following data give some examples which encompass both the vastness of this issue (number of people involved) and how widespread it is (number of countries/regions involved):
-200,000 Bangladeshi women were trafficked from prostitution into Pakistan over the last 10 years
-100,000-200,000 Thai women are prostituted in other countries
-75,000 Brazilian women in prostitution in the European Union countries
-50,000 women from the Dominican Republic are prostituted abroad
-35,000 former Soviet and Eastern and Central European women in prostitution in Italy
(Farr 4, 5).
These figures demonstrate the globosity of the sex trade, providing examples from India, The Middle East, Asia, South America, the Caribbean region and Europe. The sex industry has been internationally ignited and is increasing.
Now that the vastness of the sex trade has been explored, it is time to dive deeper into the issue and discover the cause of such a horrific industry. Considering the sex trade is a business, it is reliable to say that the cause of such an industry is simply raw demand. Whenever there is demand for a product or service in the world, man strives to provide it for his own fiscal gain. The sex trade is no exception, even though it is dealing with actual human beings.
According to Donna Hughs, there are four components to the demand in the sex industry: the men who purchase the sex acts, the exploiters who run the industry, states in destination countries, and culture that tolerates/promotes sexual exploitation (Prostitution). It is crucial to look further into these individual components of demand, and to address each one individually in order to further understand the concept of demand in this context:
-First, the consumers in the sex trade (the majority being men already with a sexual partner) compose the majority of the demand. These men are looking for sexual gratification which cannot be found in their current partner and also for sexual gratification outside the boundaries of commitment.
-Secondly, there is the issue of the exploiters who run the industry. According to Hughs, exploiters include, “traffickers, pimps, brothel owners, organized crime members, and corrupt officials” (Prostitution). The issue of who is responsible for the sex trade (mainly the traffickers) will be addressed more extensively later.
-Thirdly is the issue of the states in destination countries. Hugh’s says, “By tolerating or legalizing prostitution, the state, at least passively, is contributing to the demand for victims” (Prostitution). The sex trade is just now being recognized by various world governments as the great social tragedy it is, and has been for years. Because of this, governments are inevitably and inadvertently contributing to the demand for the sex trade.
-Finally, Hughs gives culture a large role in contributing to the demand in the sex industry. Culture plays this large role by portraying prostitution as “glamorous” in its various media of sorts (Prostitution). In addition to media in culture, academia also portrays prostitution in a positive light, giving it the title of “sex work”. The problem with this title, according to Hughs, is that it depicts prostitution as independent and liberated women’s work (Prostitution). All of the media in culture work together to strongly influence those who are exposed to it. It is therefore likely to increase the demand for sex (and inevitably the sex trade) if prostitution is glamorized and well advertised in the media of a particular culture.
Even though demand for sexual services is the ultimate and primary cause of the sex trade, there are many factors that come into play which do not necessarily cause the sex trade, but increase its viability. One such factor is the Internet. Considering the Internet greatly eases the difficulty of modern international trade, it should be no surprise that it is a large factor in the sex industry. It is now easier than ever to advertise services, women, and locations to any person even remotely interested who is simply surfing the web. Perhaps the largest and most complex factor which increases the viability of the sex trade is government and law. According to Kathryn Farr in Sex Trafficking, traffickers can get away with a lot because they are difficult to find out and convict, and most governments are unprepared to handle such cases-awareness of the issue is just now being raised (Farr 22). Also according to Farr, “Other law enforcement bodies see sex trafficking…as a low-priority problem”, as she goes on to explain the current governmental preoccupations with issues concerning drugs and arms (Farr 22).
Looking beyond the governments involved and the traffickers as factors which increase the industry’s viability, it is also important to consider factors which increase the likelihood of one becoming a victim of sex trafficking (and therefore also increase the viability of the industry). According to Donna Hughs, the most likely victims of sex trafficking are either girls who are poverty-stricken, uneducated, and naïve, or educated middle-class girls who have been sexually abused and therefore are unable to oppose sexual exploitation (Prostitution).
Poverty-stricken girls are likely to be victimized as either their families, or they themselves, turn to prostitution as a means by which to earn money. Families can either sell their daughters at one large sum to a trafficker or pimp, or continually reap the fiscal gain of their daughter by enslaving her themselves. Some girls and women turn to prostitution themselves as a means to produce money to live on (to either support themselves individually or to support their family). Many times, poverty-stricken girls have no choice; they have to choose either a nightmare of a life, or death itself. Uneducated girls are also at higher risks for becoming victims of sex-trafficking because prostitution can be seen as an easy “career” or “temporary job” either permanently, or as a time-filler while they wait for an education opportunity. What they do not realize, however, is that once they begin prostituting, it is very difficult to stop. It is difficult to quit prostituting either because the prostitute becomes addicted to drugs, is held against her will by her pimp, or becomes satisfied with that mode of money-making.
Additionally, naïve girls are at higher risks for becoming victims of the sex trade because they are easily tricked into the trade by alluring and manipulative pimps who offer them false jobs (i.e. house-cleaning, etc…) which, after accepted, turn out to be prostitution. In fact, more than 80 percent of women who are sold into the sex trade believed they were going to be employed abroad at the time of acceptance (Who Are The Victims). The pimps will also offer girls or women shelter, food, or whatever their current need is in order to get them to come with them.
Girls who have been previously sexually abused are also at higher rates for becoming victims of the sex trade. This is in part because in some cultures the societies ostracize girls for having lost their virginity due to family and social prestige. This increases the likelihood that these girls will be victimized as they have nowhere else to turn except to prostitution (a place where they will be accepted) (Sexually Abused).
There was a recent study done on 372 homeless and runaway youth which revealed that 35% of such youth had been sexually victimized (Risk Factors). It can therefore be concluded that homeless and runaway youth are extremely likely victims of sexual exploitation as well.
Finally, according to United Nations, children of low-economic status families are at a higher risk for sexual exploitation because their families will use them as a means to provide money for the family (Sexually Abused).
Beyond the facts, statistics, and data concerning the horrific sex trade, it is critical to examine what the typical life of a victim looks like. This is important in order to realize how personal this industry is to each individual involved and victimized and give appropriate reason and incentive for ending such an industry. Important aspects of the victims’ lives to look at include their living conditions, what their actual work looks like, and what keeps them enslaved. Kathryn Farr describes the environment and working conditions of the victims as, “…[including] unsanitary and crowded living and working quarters, long working hours, work overloads, physical and social isolation, excessive controls, and physical and psychological abuse” (Sex Trafficking 33).
The living conditions of sex workers are filthy, cramped, and unsuitable for living. Farr quotes Donna Hughs on the standard living conditions of sexual slaves as, “rooms [which are] narrow, dark, unhygienic and foul smelling” (Farr 34). The brothel owners seek to make as much money as possible while spending as little as possible; because of this, the owners will house as many girls and women in the living quarters available as possible, and will not take the time, nor spend the money, to have them cleaned. This is what makes for the cramped and unhygienic living quarters.
Another thing to examine of the life of a sex slave is what their actual work looks like. The number of hours and men to be serviced expected from a sex slave is nearly unbelievable. In most cases, the pimps require as many hours of work as physically possible from their slaves. More specifically for example, in one case, Thai women trafficked in the U.S. had to work 20 hour days with hardly any days off (Farr 35). Oftentimes, the girls and women are required to do forms of non-sexual work outside of prostituting. One woman, Nuch, had to clean the house and snack bar before lunch, work in a field behind the bar during the afternoon, and then service men from dinner time to 3:00 a.m. (Farr 35, 36).
In addition to nearly impossible work hours, sex slaves’ work loads are almost impossible to maintain as well as they are expected to service as many men as possible per day. Farr also addresses this issue by explaining that, “Women trafficked into debt-bonded prostitution often service 20 or more customers a day” (Farr 36). Some examples of such intense workloads are as follows:
-in the prostitution ring run by a family by the name of Cadena, the women were forced to have sex with 25-30 men per night
-trafficked women from the NIS (a city in Serbia) and Eastern Europe in the Soho district of London were forced to have sex with 20-30 customers per day
-trafficked Ukrainian women in Brussels were forced to have sex with 20 men per day
(Farr 36).
20 hour days servicing up to 30 men comes out to these women having forced sex with up to two men per hour in some instances.
Finally, in order to see what keeps these girls and women enslaved in such a horrific industry, one must explore various control mechanisms used by pimps and brothel owners to keep the victims in place and obedient. According to Farr, forced dependence is the main mode of enslavement for these girls and women. Farr breaks down dependence into 5 subcategories: social isolation, deprivation of agency, place and space restrictions, violence, and threat of violence.
Social isolation is one technique used to keep victims of sexual exploitation in chains (metaphorically and literally). In most cases, the victims are shipped to foreign countries where they do not know anyone, let alone how to speak the native language. Social isolation creates dependence by not allowing the victims to have connections with the surrounding community, and therefore no place to stay should they try to escape. The slaves can then only rely on their traffickers for basic needs such as shelter, food, and water.
Another dependence-creating technique is place and space restrictions. Packing the girls and women into tightly confined areas allows for easily keeping track of them and being able to quickly see if even one of them “goes missing”-most likely runs away. The girls and women are forbidden to leave the confines of the brothels oftentimes at all, and if not, only under the heavy supervision of a brothel guard or manager.
Perhaps the most effective technique in creating dependence and keeping the girls and women under control is violence and the threat of violence. Girls and women are beaten and raped when they first arrive in order to “break them in”, and are continually done so to as cases of disobedience or attempted running away arise. After having been subjected to beatings and rapes, simply the threat of such treatment will oftentimes “put them in their place”. Most survivors of sex trafficking and prostitution report that they have been physically and sexually abused (Farr 39).
Finally, another technique which creates dependence is deprivation of agency. Agency is defined on Dictionary.com as, “an organization, company, or bureau that provides some service for another” (Dictionary.com). This goes along with social isolation. In being isolated from the surrounding community, the victims not only have no access to random citizens which could help them, but also have no access to organizations which could rescue them. Pimps and brothel owners are incredibly skilled at keeping their “property” hidden from people, especially government officials and associated organizations.
After having a “behind the scenes” look at the modern-day sex industry, and having seen the horrors it causes the individuals used to create the business, it is encouraging to take a look at some of the things being done, and things which need to be done in the world stop and prevent such a horrendous trade.
Some important factors to consider when looking at ending the sex industry are the roles of governments, non-profit organizations, community-based freedom, industries and consumers, the media, and individuals. It is also important to note that there is a large gap between what needs to be done and what is already being done to end the sex trade.
Governments of countries involved in the sex industry need to create anti-slavery organizations. An example of how this need is already being met can be found in Brazil’s government. In 2003, the president of Brazil created a commission to end slavery; because of this, laws concerning slavery were strengthened and more money was doled out to anti-slavery groups. Later in 2003, nearly 5000 people were rescued from slavery by SMIG (Special Mobile Inspection Groups); by 2005, 7000 more had been saved (Bales, et. al 149). Additionally, each government needs to create a national plan to end slavery within its borders, and those plans need to include at least three key elements: education, law enforcement, and rehabilitation (Bales, et. al 150).
In addition to governmental law, regulations, and organizations, it is also critical to look at the role of non-profit organizations and community-based freedom in ending the sex trade. Non-profit organizations are obviously crucial to ending the sex trade because they work apart from the government, do not require governmental funding, and greatly aid the victims they target. In Modern Slavery, community-based freedom is explained as, “…when a whole community drives out the slave-takers and slaveholders…” (Bales, et. al 153).
It is also important to consider industries’ and consumers’ roles in abolishing sexual slavery. Industries can do their part to end sex slavery by examining their supply chains and refusing to purchase products from the ones which use slaves to produce their goods. In the same manner, consumers can do their part by looking into the products they buy and making sure the companies they purchase from do not use slavery as a means of production.
Last, but certainly not least, is the role of the individual. Bales, Trodd, and Williamson in Modern Slavery state that, “We can all watch for signs of slavery in our communities” (Bales, et. al 159). If each person watches for candidates of slavery in our spheres of daily life, people are much more likely to spot slaves and be able to provide aid for them.
It is important to note that the actions mentioned above only scratch the surface of the ones that need to be taken and which are being taken to end the sex trade.
After examining such facts and statistics, it is apparent that the sex trade is one of the largest and fastest growing social issues of today. Another critical thing to be noted is that the issue reaches far beyond data, numbers, facts, and figures and reaches deeply into the lives of millions of individuals worldwide.
Not many people think twice about purchasing many products which have been internationally traded and which are necessary for survival, or even leisure. However, many do not consider that some of these “products” which are internationally traded on a daily basis…are actually human beings like themselves.
Works Cited
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