Sex-trafficking, A Well Known Issue?

  

 

 by Anthony Rosado 
 
 Sex-trafficking is an issue that has rarely been a focus in the media and has seemed to go unnoticed or forgotten by the public. Sex-trafficking is sex slavery or forced sex slavery that is organized by those who enslaved people so that they can perform sexual activities on them, whether they are willing or unwilling. An example is a brothel. A brothel is where the owner gets paid by clients to have coitus with the people that the owner has. The slaves are the ones who aren’t given a choice in not having sex with these participants and usually get beaten severely by aggressive clients. Them not having a say in what happens to their own body is why everyone should pay attention to this with utmost concern.       

 It’s time for all us to take immediate awareness of what is happening all around the world, and to take action to stop this disgrace of humanity. It’s about time for us to lift the hand that forced those slaves to be silent for so long. What motivated me in learning about sex trafficking was that it barely seemed to be a topic that wasn’t well discussed as politics or terrorists which quite odd considering the fact that it’s so wide spread. In knowing more about it I chose to look in deeper on how much of the world is having troubles with it and if there are activities of this is going on in America. 

http://www.afesip.org/

In countries like Cambodia sex trafficking is nothing unheard of for it seemed to be like every day life said, a woman named Somaly Mam who wrote a book titled, “The Road of Lost Innocence.” I’ve been reading this book in class and it’s told by Somaly Mam herself on how she was sold into prostitution at young age of twelve by her grandfather. In the book she tells her experience in being a prostitute and how she had to deal with such great violence, abuse, and discrimination. In a part of her story she said that sex slaves that were originally virgins had massive abuse; some as young as five or six years old. The reason was that some Cambodians believed that having sex with a virgin would cure someone of AID’s. After Somaly escaped prostitution, did numerous respectable jobs, and gotten connections to help fund her organization AFESIP. 

http://www.forthesakeofone.org/Melissa-s-Story-.html

In how she became a prostitute, Somaly’s story is very similar to Lisa’s. In a New York Times article named Sex-Trafficking in America a girl named Lisa was introduced into sex slavery by influences by her father. Her father raped her and her sisters which was going on for at least 10 years; her father would also invite men to rape them in their own home. This had affected Lisa psychologically and this had a very harsh outcome in her future for she later on became a prostitute. 

www.aarongifford.com

Some people know what is happening to girls like Lisa but they choose not to if they’re getting some of the benefits that the client would provide if they got help. In another (N.Y. Times) article I read that, some New York city cab drivers are getting paid by clients who ask for prostitutes to be transported to where they were located. Luckily the city has caught sight of these distasteful cab drivers and planned to put a stop to this by enforcing laws and tracking every cab driver in their works. By doing this police are able to minimize searches and easily arrest them. With 4,000 minors being trafficked through New York City each year doing this is an absolute must. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/dateline/4039095#4039095

Before this, sex-trafficking was still a great issue so in 2003 an undercover team of investigators with a MSNBC producer searched for child prostitution in the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Their search has led them to an orphanage that was secretly a brothel and people as well as some local law enforcement go in. Officers who pay for sex get special treatment, if they don’t interfere with sex-trafficking operations that go about the city; corruption in law enforcement makes sex slave trade ever more difficult. These horrendous acts against humanity is something that cannot be hidden anymore when everyone has the power to stop this. No longer should a mother and father wait staring at the door where their child left and never returned because, we as humans beings know what our duties are. Let us become the shouts and cries of help for the ones suffering; who are forced to be mute.