Poverty, human disposability.

Child sex trafficking is a type of manufacturing. People are manufacturing a product or object, to be used, passed on, and eventually disposed of because it’s now “unusable.” But these products/objects are young, innocent human bodies’ not plastic, cheap toys. The issue of global child sex trafficking relates to course concepts because it’s a perfect example of dehumanization and disposability. All around the world, children are given up or sold to sex tourism because their parents do not want them or they cannot support them. A majority of this business occurs in developing or third world countries where incomes are below poverty level. These countries are weakly constructed with the lack of a strong government and few resources. There’s no education system, health care, and people are starving. Thousands are also slaving in sweatshops to make $3 a day or less. All these aspects contribute to the future of children and their role in their communities.

In class, we asked the question why women are treated the way they are in factories of developing countries. People said because they’re “obedient,” and “submissive.” Women workers become seen and used as waste in third world factories; they’re used up and thrown away. This relates to child sex trafficking because children are seen the exact same way. They’re easily bossed around. They’re passive beings with no voice. That’s why it’s so easy for the sex trafficking industry to flourish. Workers take advantage of the weak and vulnerable to create large profits for themselves. Hence, children who are victims of sex trafficking are seen as unimportant and unworthy. But, according to class discussion all of these statements or beliefs can be viewed as myths and are social constructions. Yet many of these “stereotypes,” are all due to a country’s economic conditions.

Overall, the poverty circumstances make it feasible for sex trafficking to occur. Globalization, opening of markets, ease of transportation/movement around the world has changed drastically in the last 50 years. This makes the ability to traffic humans much easier. The poverty conditions and lack of education allow and encourage trafficking because of the need for families to provide for themselves. Parents give up their children because they know they can’t support them. There’s a great lack of worldly knowledge. Children believe they’re really going to work somewhere or parents really believe they’re giving up/selling their child to a better life. Yet, they end up being fooled. Children probably wouldn’t be forced into trafficking if their country’s conditions weren’t so poor. There’s mismanagement and abuse of power by government diverting funds and resources from people instead of the betterment of their own country. Obviously I have mentioned this already but, living and working conditions; lack of development, education, government control, security; and corruption are all factors tied into poverty and globalization. And each factor contributes to the child sex trafficking industry, making it easier for children to be taken and transported until “unusable.”





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Victims

Children who are victims of sex trafficking usually come from struggling families. By struggling, I mean poor, jobless, or low-income families who cannot provide for their members and who are fighting for survival. There are also the instances when children are born into poverty, or are abandoned at birth. From day one, these children have no sense or choice of freedom and know nothing better than prostitution. On the other hand, children are lured into prostitution by what they think are going to be decent job offers. Most of the countries involved in heavy trafficking are extremely poor, third world, and have annual average incomes less than $300. This is why child exploitation is so common because it creates profit; children are sold for sex (usually by their parents or other family acquaintances) to meet economic means. They are manipulated and controlled by their “bosses” or “pimps.” If they try to escape or disobey, they are punished (beaten, neglected for days, threatened their families would be killed, etc.). In most cases, these victims are too poor they have no way out. Moreover, they have no voice. They are condensed to specific housing- usually small, squished, hidden brothels, with numerous other young children and are lied to about location. They are treated inhumanely and starved while the sex industry flourishes. Ages can range from five to 18 years old and a majority of victims are young girls. From stories I have read, most of these children were “taken” at early ages and escaped in their late teens.

Here, I have provided some brief profiles on some children who were once prostituted.

-One interview by Dateline NBC focused on a 14 year old female from Cambodia. She was lured into sex trafficking when a woman approached her walking home from school and asked her to work in a café. The café turned out to be a brothel and she had no money to get home. She was forced to have sex with older men, usually American. “She forced me, and I was scared. I did not want to be with those men, but being beaten was worse.” She tried running away but got caught and was constrained with no food or drink for three days and then sold to a different brothel. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4038249/

-Another 14 year old female from Nepal was drugged by her foster brother and sold to prostitution. She woke up far from home, owned by a man who also owned other young girls. “Girls in the brothel suffered terribly. Many of them are locked in dungeons in utter darkness, unable to tell if it is day or night, unable to talk to anyone at all, their only contact--the men that use them.” http://www.sharedhope.org/what/storiesofhope.aspofhope.asp

-In Italy, a 13 year old Albanian female dated a 21 year old man (never seen again) who locked her in their hotel room and a group of men entered beating and raping her. She was sold to prostitution twice until she was “unusable,” and was threatened that her mother and sister would be raped and killed if she didn’t obey. Police raided her brothel and she was deported back to Albania. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/c16482.htm

-A 12 year old female was sold into sex slavery by a family member in India. She was locked in a room where she was tortured if she didn’t serve the men 24 hours a day. She served 10 to 20 men a day for a few years until she escaped. When she returned to her family, they wanted nothing to do with a prostitute. http://www.sharedhope.org/what/storiesofhope.asp

These stories break my heart, but I think in each of these cases, the girls escape at some point by running away or by police raids. However, not every child is this lucky. Clearly there are many commonalities of sex trafficking within countries. Almost all of the victims are young, poor, female teenagers (race not an issue) who are manipulated into sex tourism then exploited and constrained to unhealthy, horrible, living conditions. When I looked for stories, I was surprised to find none about young boys--I may need to look further into this fact. But the idea that most of these children were once deemed “unusable” is repulsive; they were sexually exploited enough times they were no longer pleasurable or worthy.

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