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the role of the media on child abuse
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Visualize a young girl about eleven years old, handcuffed to a bed in a brothel and forced to provide pleasure to many men in one night. Also, visualize this young girl living in horrible needy circumstances, after many deceitful promises of a better and healthier life. Now, imagine this girl is your own child, sister or relative. How does that feel? These are such unpleasant and horrid thoughts, but these actions are very common in the United States and throughout the world. Everyday, young girls are exploited and used to satisfy adult sexual desires without feeling guilty or ashamed. Child prostitution is a major public concern in the United States and it must stop.
One of the biggest factors that make a child more vulnerable to child prostitution than another is unavailability of food, shelter, clothing, and additional resources. “Police officers, academic researchers, and social workers agree that poverty makes teenagers much more vulnerable to sex traffickers” (Shen, 2013). An offender would not select an adolescent that belongs from a wealthy family, solely due to the fact that he or she is fully aware that the family of the child is capable of taking care of the child. In a wealthy family, complete attention is given to the child in the household. Because of that, the chances are the offender would get caught and be charged guilty of the heinous crime. Proper support from family and friends does prevail. Therefore, a child suffering from poverty or poor family background is more vulnerable to child prostitution, as he or she has no support system, or the resources like the wealthy and fortunate children.
Another major factor that makes a child more vulnerable to child prostitution is no or poor education. Many of these ...
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...une 2, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/india-education-state-private-school Leone, S. (2007). Returning the Girls Home: Reintegration And Resocialisation Of Abducted
And Ex-Girl Soldiers. Self-Reliance.
Restorative Justice and the Police. (2010). Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy
Association. Retrieved from http://www.arjaa.org/index.php?page_id=86
Right to Education: Situation around the world. (2010). Retrieved May 31, 2014, from http://www.humanium.org/en/world/right-to-education/ Shen, A. (2013, July 30). How we failed the 105 child prostitutes rescued by the FBI. Think
Progress. Retrieved May 31, 2014, from http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/07/30/2378611/child-sex-trafficking-social-safety-net/
Willis, B. M., & Levy, B. S. (2002). Child prostitution: Global health burden, research needs, and interventions. The Lancet.
Kotrla, K., & Wommack, B. A. (2011). Sex Trafficking of Minors in the U.S.: Implications for Policy, Prevention and Research. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 2 (Iss. 1), article 5.
The documentary, Very Young Girls, was heart-wrenching, informative, and very hard to relate to these young girls. These girls are daughters, sisters, friends, family, and some are already mothers. However, these young women are treated and seen as criminals, not as victims. Prostitution and human-trafficking happens everywhere and every day, including in the United States. People have this perspective that human trafficking only happens in foreign countries. There’s a negative stigma on prostitution because we, as a society, only pay attention to the sexual acts and services that these women provide. Young women’s dignity, adolescences, and respect is taken away from them. Yet, this was not their choice, but they do not have positive influences
According to Van Wormer & Bartollas (2014), sex trafficking, “encompasses the organized movement of people, usually women, between countries and within countries for sex work” (p. 289). Sex trafficking is also a very lucrative business, it is estimated to make $31. 6 billion annually. This amount is estimated from the 2.5 million people who a trafficked each year. The exact number of people who are victims of the sex industry cannot be predicted accurately for all over the world. In the United States alone there is about 14,500-17,500 people trafficked each year. Human trafficking it the third biggest organized crime after drug and arms trafficking (Hodge, 2014). Young men make up about 44% of people being trafficked, while women and girls
Sex trafficking accounts for more than 70 percent of all trafficking, or as many as 19 million people (Behnke 30). Which is a lot of people that have had to go through this traumatic experience at any age they were during that time and they don’t have no choice. There are a number of reasons why children and adolescents become prostitutes. In some cases, parents are in such extreme conditions of poverty that they see the sale of the child as the only way of ensuring its survival. (Hobbs). So most of the kids that are being forced into prostitution because they want their families to have a better life and make more money so they feel like it’s their only option. Sex trafficking and prostitution have always been a part of Thailand’s history, however, the Vietnam War contributed to an explosion of the issue between 1955 and 1975. With an influx of anxious, homesick, and bored soldiers into the country, spilling over from Vietnam, the demand for prostitution skyrocketed, resulting in the growth of the human trafficking industry which still remains today.
The value of a woman as a mother, wife, sister, daughter or aunt has been replaced for sexual please. Greed and perversion disguised as men chose to debase America’s women and children for their own selfish gain. Child sexual exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North America today. It is the nation’s least recognized epidemic. The overwhelming majority of children forced to sell their bodies on the street are girls. Young boys face hardship and abuse as well, but they often fend for themselves to survive. The girls, on the other hand, inevitably fall victim to pimps and organized trafficking networks. (Sher, pg. V)
...emished that children are more commonly used for prostitution against that their adult counterparts and the average age at which boys first become victims of prostitution is 11 to 13 years’ old.
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
Child prostitution in America is increasingly popular. It is necessary to change this situation, because it is immoral. Child prostitution is one of the most serious social problems in America.
Thousands of women are currently held captive in America today. In 2006, it is estimated that over 300 thousand children are held in the sex trafficking business. Particularly, girls under the age of eighteen are forced into the sex trafficking trade. Sex trafficking is known as modern- day slavery. An estimate of 30 to 46 percent of juveniles in the trade attempt suicide. “Potterat et al., 2004 reports that women involved in prostitution have mortality rates 200 times higher than the national average) and are 18 times more likely to be murdered than their non-trafficked counterparts”, Cecchet (2014). Many girls will become abducted from their homes, schools, neighborhoods, and local shopping centers. Some of these young
Many people are aware of the issue of minor sex trafficking in the United States, but people may not be aware of the extent of the problem or what it is that attracts these “pimps” to children in the sex trafficking business. Sex trafficking is a major issue both in the United States and in foreign countries, although many Americans do not realize that there are more U.S. citizens that make up the victim count of traffickers than foreign nationals, and of these victims, children are the most vulnerable (cite DMST). According to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000,
Home life is a popular factor because often young people are runaways, most of whom are picked up by a recruiter within 48 hours of them leaving their home. Most children run because of negative home lives. In one study, ninety percent of women in prostitution said they were physically or sexually abused in their homes as children (“Causes and Contributing Factors”). With new technologies in the world, the internet is a huge contributing factor in sex trafficking. Popular sites like Backpages.com and Craigslist.com allows girls and women to sell themselves and for pimps to operate freely. Pornography is not a direct cause of sex trafficking but some of the pornography helps to explain the mindset that would allow a person to feel okay about having sex with a minor or allow a grown man to justify owning a girl (“Causes and Contributing Factors”). One out of every five pornographic images on the internet are of an underage female, so often without direct knowledge a person views exposing images of underage girls.
In the article “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the United States,” Kimberly Kotrla discussed the disheartening facts of what’s going on in the United States under our noses. Today more and more people are finding out about this sad industry. In Alaska my brother goes out in the streets to help save these girls in sex trafficking. Knowing my brother is doing something to end this made me feel proud while reading this informative essay.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
Human trafficking is a worldwide problem. From California to Australia, it happens. “161 countries are reported to be affected by human trafficking by being either a source, transit, or destination count. Out of the 161 countries, 56% of those are in Asia and the Pacific, being the number one place it occurs” (UNGIFT). Trailing far behind with 10% is Latin America and the Caribbean” (UNGIFT). No matter the location or the state of the economy, human trafficking is always in progress. “People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries, affecting every continent and every type of economy” (UNGIFT). “The majority of trafficking victims are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old” (UNGIFT). Just because those are the most common ages, doesn't mean that it only happens to them. Children are also affected by human trafficking. “An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year” (UNGIFT). So many people think that it is just teens and adults that get stuck into the trafficking business, but it is also small children.
One reason why human trafficking is a serious crime that many people are unaware of is because it secretly takes place in the United States. Between 2007 and 2012, there were reports of 9,298 different cases of human trafficking (Polaris Project). An example of how unknown this topic is is that 41% of sex trafficking cases and 20% of labor trafficking cases were proven to have United States citizens as victims (Polaris Project). And this is only what we know so far. There are thousands of cases that we don’t know about. Many people also don’t know that men, women, and even children are also taken hostage by human traffickers. An example of this would be that out of those 9,298 cases that were reported, women were victims of sex trafficking in 85% of those cases. Men were victims of labor trafficking in 40% of those cases (Polaris Project). Approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States (U.S. Department of Justice). Children are even more under the radar than we know about. On average, one in three teenagers on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving their home (National Runaway Hotline). For example, two female friends who were minors ran away from home and were prom...