Sex Trade

The sex trade, also known as sex-trafficking is not only a threat and an epidemic in nearby countries, but it has also been a constant hushed crime by the United States. Sex-trafficking has been disguised with the occasional rapes and prostitution convictions, however the University of Pennsylvania took this matter seriously enough to request a $400, 000 grant to research 17 different cities in America to attempt to get to the bottom of how one incident of sexual assault, abuse, rape, and possibly prostitution can lead to a large uncontrollable sex-trade.
Every city that was researched was high populated and consumed with high end job opportunities and vast amounts of money. Estes, who was in the lead of the research at the University of Penn concluded that there were two types of populations being exploited for sex. Sixty to seventy percent were white middle class working women, while the other almost forty percent were predominantly black runaways or “throw-aways” that ranged from the ages of 14-17 years old. Women have a wide range of reasons for why they sell their body for sex, including prior abuse, low self esteem, no income, homeless, and many others.

These were the top 3 reasons:
•The largest group, about 122,000, is made up of children who have run away from home and turned to prostitution or pornography to get money for food or drugs.
•The second-largest group, about 73,000, is made up of children who live at home and are used by family or friends in exchange for money, food, drugs or other benefits.
•The third-largest group, about 52,000, is made up of "throwaway" children who have been abandoned by parents or guardians and turned to the sex trade to survive.
Even though peace officers are aware of the common reasons for why girls/women sell their bodies for money or food they continue to arrest them. The people that should be arrested and convicted for their crimes are “the pimps, the johns” the ones that are responsible for exploiting these young women.

The University of Pennsylvania recommends:
•That a federal agency or task force be responsible for protecting children from exploitation.
•That law enforcement agencies focus more on arresting the exploiters — pimps, traffickers and customers — than the children.
•That penalties for sexual crimes against children be increased significantly.

The most important message that needs to be sent home that any act of abuse, assault, rape or prostitution can lead to this epidemic of sex trafficking, if it goes unnoticed. Society does not want there to be “pimps/employers” and his “employees” on every corner making money not only for themselves, but for their employers as well. Holding both parties responsible is the best solution, and allowing for a type of reform can help these women to make a change for their mistakes.



New York Times

Usatoday.com- Sex trade may lure 325,000 U.S. kids