Worldwide, there are numerous children who are being unaccounted for in the growing statistics of child sex trafficking and sex exploitation. These children are lured, manipulated, and/or abuducted into sex slavery for "sex-for-profit" where they are abused physically, mentally, and emotionally. Many countries are entering this "industry" to gain revenue and simulate economy. It has been said this is a $7 billion a-year business; it's a phenomenon that affects all countries. International agencies and law enforcement are working on improving the fact each day. There's no question child labor has been a concern for centuries internationally and in the national community. Women, men, and children have been sold against their will from the earliest times.Dating back to 3000 BC- 300 AD can be the first noted history of slavery, forced prostitution, and sexual exploitation in Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Persian cultures. Women were seen as inferior to men and social class was a determinant to whether one was a victim of such slavery. During the Middle Ages, most religions saw sex exploitation as immoral, but the Roman Catholic Church tolerated it because it was a minor sin compared to rape or sodomy. Not until mid-1400's European slave trading began in Africa. African men were exploited for labor while women were exploited for labor and sexual services. They were easily movable. Most of these women and female children were helpless slaves taken from their families. They were seen as seducers to white males- servants for pleasure and profit. Along with African sex slavery was an outbreak of syphillis which brought new awareness to sex toursim. In 1885, worldwide attention began to focus on forced prostitution due to the raised age of sexual consent from 13 to 16 in Britain. The definition of "child consent" was a constant struggle during this time period. Whether or not a child was mature enough to seduce or consent to sex was problematic. Children were commodoties and sources of income; therefore they were pimped by their parents for sex labor. Men paid big fees to be with young girls and it became a common practice during the Victorian era. Sex tafficking then increased greatly across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Globalization and western tourism boomed making sex trafficking more prevalent and acceptable. Obviously there are masses of historical information about sex trafficking which range from country specifics, laws, inequality, and numerical statistics.
So what are the numerical statistics of sexually exploited children in the world? After researching international figures on child sex trafficking, I found outrageous records by UNICEF. There are an estimated 1 million children being sexually exploited in Asian alone; 800,000 in Thailand; 400,000 in India; and 60,000 in Philippines. Since mid-1970's, about 30 million women and girls have been sexually exploited in Southeast Asia. In other countries, 500,000 children have been exploited in Brazil; 200,000 in Canada; and up to 2 million in the United States. The difficult part about gathering such statistics is that it's hard to account for every abused child because countries have contrasting laws pertaining child prostitution and who is considered a minor. It's shocking that some countries allow child prostitution. These numbers are unbelievable and it clearly shows how much of an international problem this really is. The common trend worldwide is children have been, and are continuously taken advantage of for people's pleasure and benefit. Is there anything more government systems can do to put a stop to child sex trafficking or will it always be human nature to use and abuse those weaker than you? The history of this issue is huge in complexity, it can't be covered in one blog. Do research!
Some resources that were helpful: JSTOR and EBSCO databases from WSU Libraries.
