Sex Trafficking on College Campuses
Caelee Johnson
Christina Lam
Trini Bui
Elisabeth Bean
Sex Trafficking on College Campuses
Human sex trafficking is an inhumane and illegal practice that continues to threaten our civil liberties everyday. According to the International Labour Organization, at least 20.9 million people are bought and sold internationally into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor and bonded labor. This form of modern slavery is currently one of the most lucrative industries in the world, profiting an estimated 99 billion dollars. Sex trafficking is a local issue that can hit home for many individuals, three of the ten worst child sex trafficking areas are in California-San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. According to California Against Slavery, traffickers are drawn to California because of its large immigrant population and global economy. A popular trafficking site where people are easily abducted are college campuses. Criminals have found different creative ways in attempt to recruit new victims, including posing as a church group and inviting unexpecting teens to “bible study”. Many schools took initiative to start safety support programs that educate students to be more cautious and aware of these issues. Sex trafficking is a social epidemic that exploits vulnerable people into committing vile acts against their will and is fueled by demand. Society needs to collectively hold buyers of commercial sex accountable for their illegal actions and provide the appropriate legal safeguards for the victims.
Every year, around 300,000 Americans are being lured into commercial sex exchange. According to a 2016 UNODC TIP Report, women and girls make up 96% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation. College campuses are where human trafficking happens the most, one of the main human trafficking events that has occured, was at Vanderbilt College. In the Article “Women Approached on Commons in What Some Fear Is A Human Trafficking Scheme” written by Claire Barnett, the report claims that a women and her male partner had overheard in passing, girls conversations involving “the holy mother” while also attempting to exchange contact information with the recruiters in hope to lure them away from the campus. The holy mother is a blanketed term for a fake bible study group. Traffickers would come to campuses dressed in fancy clothes to make them seem legitimate, so when they approach an individual, nothing would seem suspicious. Students have also reported that when trying to walk away from the conversation, the traffickers would try to hold them back and come off very aggressive. .
Learning the indicators of sex trafficking can help identify a potential trafficking victim, and these indicators can be much simpler than one may think. Education is a huge start to ending this epidemic, the more knowledge one has about what child sex trafficking is, the better prepared and equipped one is to stop it. Educating oneself about sex trafficking can start by reading books and articles, watching videos, or listening to experts. Recognizing signs and red flags can also be a huge step in saving a life, when an individual is able to recognize what a victim looks like, it gives a better opportunity to provide help. Just a few signs of a sex trafficking victim can be, signs of physical abuse, such as burn marks, bruises or cuts, unexplained absences from class, less appropriately dressed than before, and sexualized behavior.
Raising awareness and taking action is another huge aspect to ending sex trafficking and that is exactly what the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is doing. The TVPA was authorized in 2000 and was the first federal law to address sex trafficking in the United States. The TVPA focuses on the prevention and protection for trafficking survivors. However, according to The Texas Tribune, it has recently been exposed how the state’s decade-long crusade against sex trafficking has done little to help victims, especially children and students, in fact, lawmakers are focusing on criminals more than sex-trafficking victims. This is a prominent, ongoing issue in the world and it will continue to be an uphill battle in order to prevent this epidemic from occurring within every state. Taking the necessary steps and understanding underlying causes, will prevent it from being impossible to overcome. For the future, society can use their efforts to also help other countries struggling with this issue of sex trafficking and completely demolish it worldwide, making every individual feel safer in their own cities and towns.
Works Cited
Jesionka, Natalie. “What’s Being Done to Stop Human Trafficking?” Free Career Advice, The Muse,
Feb. 2013, www.themuse.com/advice/whats-being-done-to-stop-human-trafficking.
Director, Claire Barnett Multimedia. “Claire Barnett, Multimedia Director.” Vanderbilt Hustler, 30 Jan. 2018, vanderbilthustler.com/featured/women-approached-on-commons-in-what-some-fear-is-a-human-trafficking-scheme.html.
“Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet.” Equality Now, 14 Aug. 2017,
www.equalitynow.org/sex-trafficking-fact-sheet.
“10 Human Trafficking Organizations Fighting for Freedom.” College Magazine, 28 Sept. 2017,
www.collegemagazine.com/10-human-trafficking-organizations-fighting-for-freedom/.