Human Trafficking and Prostitution

The link between human trafficking and prostitution is undeniable.  An overwhelming majority of discussions on human trafficking are dominated by trafficking for sexual exploitation.  Despite overlapping components of trafficking and prostitution, “the human trafficking phenomenon is more complicated than prostitution” (Batsyukova 2007).  Human trafficking is undoubtedly a damaging issue because numbers indicate that at any given moment between 4 million and 27 million individuals are victims of forced labor or human trafficking (Alvarez 2012).  Prostitution refers to the act of having sexual intercourse for material compensation:  money, drugs, clothes, and jewelry. The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines human trafficking as: “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.  Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Batsyukova 2007) (Smith 2011).  The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children was passed in 2000 and is the first global effort addressing human trafficking (Smith 2011).

            At the core of prostitution and human trafficking is sexual exploitation.  In certain cases of prostitution, individuals willingly chose to prostitute themselves and voluntarily subject themselves to a life of sexual exploitation.  Other instances of prostitution may involve a runaway being forced to become a prostitute in order to survive on the streets and therefore is forcefully sexually exploited.   Similarly, in occurrences of human trafficking, trafficked individuals are forced by somebody else to sell their bodies for sexual purposes (Batsyukova 2007). 

            In addition to the differing nature of the sexual exploitation, a component that varies between individuals who chose prostitution; who are forced into prostitution; and those who are sexually exploited as a result of human trafficking, is whether or not they receive material compensation .Sex workers who willingly chose to work in the sex industry as escorts, street prostitutes, or in-door prostitutes are typically given payment for their services.  Additionally, these sex workers are usually able to quit their jobs whenever they desire to leave the industry.  On the other hand, individuals who are forced to become prostitutes, either by a controlling pimp on the streets or by human traffickers are not paid for their sexual encounters and are not able to leave freely (Batsyukova 2007).   The traffickers force the individuals to basically buy their freedom because they “require enslaved women to pay them back unbelievable prices for the transportation, visa, food and clothes.  Trafficked women are often kept in sex slavery as long as they may be used, and are forced to work even if they are sick.  Victims are subjected to multiple forms of violence and abuse” (Batsyukova 2007).  Victims of human trafficking are often times sold to other human traffickers and are forced to endure a continuous cycle of treacherous abuse at the hands of violent exploiters.  Escape from the cycle is rare and only occurs if the victim is rescued by authorities, freedom for the victim is purchased by a customer, or by some miracle the victim is able to escape.  Unfortunately the end of the cycle is more often than not the death of the battered victim (Batsyukova 2007).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Alvarez, M., & Alessi, E. J. (2012). Human Trafficking Is More Than Sex Trafficking and             Prostitution: Implications for Social Work. Affilia: Journal Of Women & Social Work,   27(2), 142-152. doi:10.1177/0886109912443763

Batsyukova, S. (2007). Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation. Gender         Issues, 24(2), 46-50. doi:10.1007/s12147-007-9001-0

Smith, H. (2011). Sex Trafficking: Trends, Challenges, and the Limitations of International          Law.Human Rights Review, 12(3), 271-286. doi:10.1007/s12142-010-0185-4

 

 

 

 

           

Easy Targets

            By committing the crime of prostitution, one is not only subjecting oneself to a degrading lifestyle, but more importantly continuously placing oneself in life-threatening situations for profits.  Female prostitutes have the highest homicide victimization rate amongst any sample of women studied. In the United States, from 1982 until 2000, 2.7% of female homicide victims were prostitutes. Homicide is not a foreign occurrence in the world of prostitution where prostitutes are most often killed by their clients, clients are primarily killed by prostitutes, and pimps are victimized by fellow pimps (Brewer 2006).

            Violence is an overbearing theme present each day in the life of a prostitute. Whether the female sex worker is subjected to sexual and physical abuse from her pimp and clients, or lured into the illicit drug trade by companion prostitutes, she is constantly engrained in a violent society. Active and passive surveillance conducted in Canada, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrated that homicide is the leading cause of death in the prostitute population (Brewer 2006). Despite common assumptions, the death of prostitutes is not entirely at the hands of pimps and drug dealers. Recent homicide investigations have identified that 62-64% of prostitute homicides in Canada and the United Kingdom were committed by clients (Brewer 2006).   A study conducted in the red light area based in Mumbai India discovered that victimization of prostitutes is at the hands of a male who is first her client, then her intimate partner, and finally her coercive pimp (Karandikar 2010).   It is crucial that, regardless of bias and judgment that prostitutes are allowing themselves to become easy targets through their risky method of income, the homicide investigators take the time, effort, and resources to carry out focused investigations rather than simply jumping to conclusions that the pimps got angry.

            Focused investigations will not only ensure that justice is found for the deceased prostitute, but additionally  they are  beneficial in reducing the likelihood of future homicides. Serial perpetrators are quite common in the context of prostitute homicide. Serial perpetrators of prostitute homicide were responsible for over one-third of prostitute victims in the United States between the 1980s and 2000.   An overwhelming majority of the serial perpetrators who committed these heinous acts were clients. (Brewer 2006).  Serial perpetrators often discard of the bodies in distant cities making it difficult for police to track the murders and connect the victims to a single perpetrator. The data on prostitute homicide is  easily skewed by bodies that are never located, and by prostitutes severely decomposed at the point of discovery that it is impossible to identity the victim by the decayed remains. It is also not uncommon for victims to be identified but not recognized as prostitutes (Brewer 2006). Prostitutes may be appearing to be asking for trouble, and placing themselves in harm’s way, but nevertheless the prostitutes are human beings whose violent victimization is never justified.

            The violent victimization of prostitutes peaked in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  A likely cause of the increase in prostitute homicides during this time period was the upsurge in crack cocaine use by prostitutes and others residing in the United States (Brewer 2006).  Prostitutes become especially vulnerable while under the influence of crack cocaine because they indiscriminately solicit while high, and the propensity for violence increases through their increased desire and desperation for money and cocaine. Cocaine causes elevated aggression thus resulting in violence between clients and prostitutes if both parties are using the drug.  Cocaine use has also been linked to inhibited male sexual function.   Inhibited male sexual ability results in the male becoming angry and directing his aggression towards the prostitute because he believes it is her fault that he is unable to rise to the occasion (Brewer 2006). Drugs clearly play a vital role in the demise of prostitutes since they not only contribute to a female turning towards the life of prostitution in order to support her drug habit, but can also end her life of prostitution when a client under the influence of drugs loses his cool and snaps her neck.

            Fortunately, not all prostitutes who endure a beating at the hands of a violent client, pimp, or drug dealer are killed. Unfortunately, the battle does not end once they survive the assault. Victimization is linked to worse outcomes in future well-being, and increasingly risky sexual behavior (Vanwesenbeeck 1995). This is because  victimization results in reduced self-esteem. The destroyed self-image contributes to the victims  becoming less likely to protect themselves against HIV and STDS.  The survivors fear violent victimization if they insist that their clients use condoms (Vanwesenbeeck 1995). Prostitutes who survived a vicious attack may not be so lucky when battling a deadly sexually transmitted disease.  Once again they are victimized, only this time through a fatal disease rather than a beating, but both are perpetrated by violent men.

Works Cited

Brewer, D. D., Dudek, J. A., Potterat, J. J., Muth, S. Q., Roberts, J. M., & Woodhouse, D. E.       (2006). Extent, Trends, and Perpetrators of Prostitution-Related Homicide in the United    States. Journal Of Forensic Sciences (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 51(5), 1101-1108.   doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00206.x

Karandikar, S., & Próspero, M. (2010). From Client to Pimp: Male Violence Against Female Sex Workers. Journal Of Interpersonal Violence, 25(2), 257-273.

Vanwesenbeeck, I., & de Graaf, R. (1995). Professional HIV risk taking, levels of victimization, and well-being in female prostitutes. Archives Of Sexual Behavior, 24(5), 503.