Modern Slavery

Slavery. When hearing that word, what images come to mind? Most see loaded boats filled with kidnapped Africans, the brutality of greedy men, and the pain of the victims. Although some think slavery is an ill of the past, it is, in fact, still extremely present in the modern-day world, and the images associated with it are nearly identical. Human trafficking, or “the modern slavery,” is defined as the “organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited (as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor)” by the Merriam Webster Dictionary (np). At any given time, human trafficking affects 2.4 million people, 80% of whom are sexually exploited. This paper will highlight the tragic

With that being said, for the purposes of this paper, the“timeline” of human trafficking will begin in the mid 17th century when it began to rise in popularity. As previously stated, “historical” slavery is what the majority of picture with the word “slavery” but what is lesser known is the treatment of female African Americans during this time. African American female slaves were said to be viewed “through the sexually repressed European perspective… that viewed them as immoral and promiscuous,” (The Role of Women in Slave Communities np). White slave owners saw these women as people with high sex drives who wanted to have sex with them because their culture did not place the high value on modesty that the European culture did. Because of this assumption many women were bought to be mistresses of the slave owners. The forced sexual intercourse during these time periods due to the previously-stated misconception marked the beginning of sex trafficking within the United States. Unfortunately, as human trafficking became more common in America, the same happened across the world. In Asia, specifically Thailand, prostitution was legal, and with this came many

The horrific topic was overlooked during World War II when “comfort women” were used to fulfill soldiers' desires. More specifically:
The phrase “comfort women” is a controversial term that refers to approximately 200,000 women who were recruited as prostitutes by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The majority of the young women were forced into servitude and exploited as sex slaves throughout Asia, becoming victims of the largest case of human trafficking in the 20th century. (The History Of ‘Comfort Women’: A WWII Tragedy We Can’t Forget np)
This horrific happening is almost unheard of in the Western world. Camps were set up at military stations known as “comfort camps” where girls as young as eleven were, “kidnapped and forced into service where they faced rape, torture and extreme violence” (‘The History Of ‘Comfort Women’: A WWII Tragedy We Can’t Forget np) The majority of the girls in these camps were teenagers and raped by 10-100 soldiers a day. “Women were starved, beaten, tortured, and killed. By some estimates only 25 to 30 percent survived the ordeal.” (Comfort Women Japan np) To put that in perspective, only around 50,000 of the 200,000 recruited survived the already brutal war. However, the most disturbing part is that these young girls were forced by the government to be sex slaves of soldiers. This entire circumstance was deemed legal by the