Sex trafficking
Abstract
The study aims at proving that pimping is a form of sex trafficking. The article provides detailed information about practices undertaken by pimps that qualify it as a form of sex trafficking. The methods used by pimps to recruit victims are taken into consideration and whether they are humane practices. The financers of sex trafficking and those facilitating the vice are keenly observed, and their actions evaluated following pimps’ behaviours. The victims of sex trafficking are also studied and how they influence the pimps’ actions against them. It is a critical study as it focuses on pimps, people who are invisible in the sex trafficking business, yet they hold a lot of influence on the victims, clients and traffickers.
Introduction
Sex trafficking is the act of luring an adult or a minor into commercial sex by the use of coercion, force or fraud. Sex trafficking also involves harbouring, obtaining, recruiting and transportation of people. Sex trafficking thrives on the sexual exploitation of human beings for monetary gain. Minors engaged in commercial sex, where there might be no proof of force, fraud or coercion are recognized as victims of sex trafficking by law.
A pimp is anyone who controls sex workers, organizes clients for them and take a certain percentage off the prostitutes’ earnings as service charge. Sex trafficking is modern-day slavery, and everyone, including men, women, children and aged people, are at risk of being victims. Sex trafficking is a federal and international crime and is considered as forced labour. In America, sex trafficking is a booming industry, as there is a huge demand for sexual favours and pornography.
In this study, we take a look at how pimping has enabled sex trafficking to thrive over the years. It is a big menace in America as neglected children, young girls and vulnerable women in the society are common targets. Most of the victims are usually from less developed countries in Asia and Europe, who typically are lured with employment opportunities and marriage overseas. Most of the victims pay for their travel documents and costs while traffickers sponsor some of the victims. Pimps make sex trafficking a lucrative business as they offer shelters, food, clothing, clients and security to victims (Chapman-Schmidt, 2019). There are three types of pimps namely;
- The CEO pimp, one who treats prostitution as a business and keeps books and records of all the business dealings and is always about the earnings and the profits made.
- Romeo pimp, one who lure their victims by use of romance. They take advantage of their victims’ insecurities and then engage them sexually. Physical violence may later play a role as the victims are being transitioned into prostitution, but mostly mental manipulation is used.
- Gorilla pimp, flashy individuals who wear expensive clothing and jewellery. They ride around in luxurious cars and carry vast amounts of cash. They use force and violence to control their victims.
A pimp can either be an individual or a gang of networked criminals and can either be male or female. Victims of sex trafficking are sometimes used to lure other unware victims and are put in charge of the victims’ induction and training. There is no significant difference between traffickers and pimps as they all facilitate sex trafficking in one way or another and most contexts, and research pimps are referred to as traffickers.
Review of literature
Pimps and corrupt government officials
Poverty is solely blamed for sex trafficking, though it is one of the significant contributors, other factors such as the criminal syndicate involved and the corrupt official who allow trafficking to go unreported share the blame. The greed for money has made sex trafficking a lucrative business, and government officials are heavily bribed to ensure the safe passage of victims and protection of sex dens. Traffickers lure their victims with promises of a better life and a good-paying job overseas. Once the victims are taken overseas, they are taken to brothels and their travel documents confiscated by brothel owners (pimps). Pimps use debt to coerce their victims, and theses debts increase every day as the pimps meet victims’ personal needs such as food and shelter. Government officials are sometimes bribed to produce travel documents of victims quickly without questioning. In America, pimps have been treated leniently by authorities, and when caught, they are not punished severely per their crimes. Pimps are sometimes glorified and seen as being stylish. Pimps are solely responsible for creating demand as they provide the lodges and brothels where sex trafficking thrives. Pimps provide transportation of victims to and from their clients and beat up their victims to submission. Corrupt government officials have made it hard to combat sex trafficking as they accept bribes from pimps to safeguard their interests. Politicians are sometimes implicated in the sex trafficking syndicate due to its high business returns, they end up sponsoring the traffickers’ operations and facilitate the running of brothels and streets where prostitutes work. Dirty politicians are usually involved in the recruitment of police officers and border patrol officers into sex trafficking business for they are in charge of safety in areas where victims are harboured and control border entry points for victims respectively (“Sex Trafficking, Law Enforcement and Perpetrator Accountability”, 2015).
Parents and family members as pimps
Low-income families in East Europe, South America and Asia have found themselves in positions where they have to pimp their children to make a living. Research states that some victims of sex trafficking were convinced, forced, or coerced into prostitution by their family members. Most of these victims joined brothels willingly or approached pimps, victims are manipulated into believing that they are helping their families beat poverty—still, the truth of the matter they are being exploited sexually. The availability of the Internet has enabled a small percentage of parents to pimp out their kids for individual favours, in most cases for money. The Internet provides a sense of security due to the ease of communication and a lack of physical contact. Detectives in America have, on numerous occasions caught paedophiles by posing as kids’ parents willing to let them have sex with their children. Child pornography is observed as a multimillion industry in America; perpetrators have easily manoeuvred as they involve parents who are blinded by the amount of cash they receive from strangers for just posting their kids’ pictures online in objectifying dressing. A harmless chat online ends up into meetings where the parents leave their children at the hands of abusers and traffickers. Children who end up being abused due to their parents doing end up being psychologically tormented and may end up being sex offenders and traffickers in future. Apart from parents, other family members such as uncles and aunts talk to young adults of different work opportunities in another state or country only to traffic the children upon arrival to that other state or country. Family members may use murder threats to influence the young adult into performing sexual acts for monetary gains. A child’s age is the biggest clue to knowing if the parent is a pimp. On several occasion, we have heard of virginity auctions where parents sell their daughters virginity for a certain amount of money. Other parents offer their children up for sex to meet specific bills while other parents sell their kids pictures when half-naked on online sites for money (Raphael, 2020).
Child sex trafficking
pimps target children in homeless shelters, foster care and those who have been neglected by their parents with a promise of a safe place to sleep, love, food and clothing. The children, once trapped, are induced into prostitution by mental manipulation due to their psychological immaturity and naivetés. The availability of the Internet has made it possible for pimps to access worldwide market for child prostitution. Pimps some time use drugs and alcohol to alter the child thinking, making it very easy to manipulate the child into prostitution. Parents are also reported of inducing and abusing their children into prostitution for monetary favours (Cole & Sprang, 2015).
Female traffickers and pimps
Female traffickers and pimps are commonly referred to as happy, and this form of trafficking is known as happy trafficking. Females who have been victims of sex trafficking are sometimes coerced and or forced into luring other females into traffickers’ trap. Happy pose as a client of an agency firm and narrates to unsuspecting girls of how she got work overseas having registered to the agency firm. The unsuspecting girls join the group to benefit but end up being trafficked, beat up and abused. Apart from the recruitment of young girls, a happy is usually left in charge of training the trafficked girls and making sure they do not escape. In a more manipulative setting, a happy is given the mandate to talk the victims of trafficking into seeing the positives of their new work and its benefits. Happy are mostly manipulated into thinking that they will be freed once they recruit other women and children. Female traffickers are sometimes given money upon recruiting. The use of female pimps has been a common practice in the sex trafficking industry as they receive a lower prison sentence and are prone to sympathy as compared to male pimps (Laite, 2017).
The Internet’s role in sex trafficking
The availability of the Internet has made it very hard to apprehend sex trafficking offenders as they hide in plain sight and conduct their business online. They are registered members of dating sites, escorting sites and pornographic sites on the Internet. Pimps use these cites to meet and chat with potential clients who end up setting dates with victims of sex trafficking. The use of these internet sites is to avoid detection and capture the vast customer base that is usually online. Pimps enhance sex trafficking by providing girls, men and women for pornographic coverage; the same victims are pimped online as dates and escorts to people attending private parties. Child pornography is highly criticized and illegal, but at the same time, it pays handsomely to those who offer children up for pornographic coverage. Pimps have a vast appetite for new faces in their establishment as people tend to pay more for newly recruited girls and boys. With the massive demand for prostitutes and pornographic content on the Internet, the need for new faces keeps on increasing. The Internet has hugely financed trafficking as it has allowed unsupervised business transactions between pimps, traffickers and clients and enabled discrete financial transactions between two offenders in different parts of the globe (Reynolds, 2020).
Domestic sex trafficking
Domestic sex trafficking is the trafficking of American citizens for commercial sex within the borders of America. A pimp demonstrates his control and power over girls and women under him or her by forcing or coercing the women and girls into commercial sex. A pimp enforces submission and obedience by use of brute force, manipulation, blackmail, and psychological abuse. Young girls and boys are usually the target victims due to their youthful looks, virginity and easy manipulation. Young boy, girls and women are manipulated with the idea of making quick cash and living luxuriously only to be physically and sexually assaulted into prostitution without wages. Pimps often integrate their victims into commercial sex through a process they call grooming which involves:
- Beating up of the victim using objects.
- Raping or gang-raping the victim.
- Confinement in trunks of cars, empty rooms, closets.
- Victims are exposed to pornographic material to teach them how to have sex.
- Victims identification documents are confiscated.
- Transporting of victims to new locations where they know no one.
Victims usually are sent out at night with a monetary target to achieve of which they are not to return to their sleeping dens without attaining the set target. Failure to collect the expected amount of cash, victims are subjected to physical harm, and severe methods of torture are used to inflict pain. To control their girls and women, they sometimes deprive them of food and sleep (Tan, 2017).
The clients
Clients of commercial sex are found everywhere, and it can be anyone in society. They are the backbone of sex trafficking as they are the end buyer of victims. The money clients provide acts as quick cash for pimps who sit around abusing women, girls and boys for their submission. Clients finance the torture and victimization of victims. Due to the demand for sexual favours, women, girls and boys are kidnapped, manipulated and forced into commercial sex. As long as there is demand, supply will forever be available. The need for child pornography will always lead to sex trafficking of children. Pimps are not different from corrupt politicians stealing from the public for they are also after money. Some victims will be lured without force, yet some will be induced by intimidation and physical abuse, both methods of recruitment are categorized as sex trafficking. Pimps are after the clients’ money and will strive to make the client happy by providing what the client desires. Clients tend to believe that prostitutes are doing it willingly for the answer to their call (Meneses et al., 2018).
Conclusion
Pimping is another word for sex trafficking, as seen in this study. The physical, mental and emotional abuse that pimps subject their victims forms part of sex trafficking. Pimps beat up their victims; they manipulate and torture their victims into performing sexual acts for their gain. The actions of forcing or using someone into prostitution without their full approval deny them their fundamental rights and freedom, making the act criminal and punishable by law. Pimps are seen in this study as traffickers for they transport victims to different locations unknown to them and exploit them sexually for their benefit.
Methodology
To answer the question of how pimping is a form of sex trafficking, I use both the quantitative analysis and the interaction analysis. The quantitative analysis incorporates extensive research on data collection and recording for comment, I document the estimated and researched numbers of victims directly affected by trafficking in America. The number of countries where victims lived. Reporting on the number of pornographic sites and escort services sites in America is crucial to the study. The average age of victims and clients is another aspect of the research that would assist in this case study. The interaction analysis would involve detailed accounts of imprisoned pimps where they would answer carefully drafted question on sex trafficking to determine their role. Reformed and active prostitutes are to be interviewed on matters concerning their treatment by pimps to get a real insight into sex trafficking.
References
Tan, S. (2017). Review of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. Journal Of Human Trafficking, 4(3), 276-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2017.1373002
Raphael, J. (2020). Parents As Pimps: Survivor Accounts of Trafficking of Children in the United States. Dignity: A Journal On Sexual Exploitation And Violence, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2019.04.04.07
Laite, J. (2017). Traffickers and Pimps in the Era of White Slavery*. Past & Present, 237(1), 237-269. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtx058
Meneses, C., Uroz, J., & Rua, A. (2018). Can Clients Who Pay for Sexual Services Help Victims of Sex Trafficking?. Masculinities & Social Change, 7(2), 178. https://doi.org/10.17583/mcs.2018.3173
Reynolds, C. (2020). “Craigslist is Nothing More than an Internet Brothel”: Sex Work and Sex Trafficking in U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Craigslist Sex Forums. The Journal Of Sex Research, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2020.1786662
Cole, J., & Sprang, G. (2015). Sex trafficking of minors in metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural communities. Child Abuse & Neglect, 40, 113-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.07.015
Sex Trafficking, Law Enforcement and Perpetrator Accountability. (2015), (4). https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201217
Chapman-Schmidt, B. (2019). ‘Sex Trafficking’ as Epistemic Violence. Anti-Trafficking Review, (12), 172-187. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.2012191211