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Imagine walking to your car and a complete stranger comes from around you. He
instantly pulls you into the car, blindfolds you, ties you up, and drugs you. The next time you
wake up, you are in an isolated room with no recollection of how you got there. For many
teenagers around the world, this is the beginning of their life in sex slavery.
In the movie, Taken, a former spy relies on his old tactic skills to save his estranged
daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade industry. Taken has really shed light on the
global epidemic of sex trafficking. How does this horrific business really exist? The movie
exposes many powerful top executives and powerful world leaders involved in this sex industry.
Within the movie, it shows these individuals paying as much as $50,000 for a teenage girl.
Unfortunately, this is not just a movie, but a depiction of the reality of the epidemic that exists
today.
Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or
receipt of person, b means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of adolescents,
of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or
receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another
person, for the purpose of exploitation (Batsyukova, 2007, p. 47). There is no historical
evidence that dates to the origins of the sex industry. In the early 1990s, human trafficking was
relatively unknown (Farrell and Fahy, 2009, p. 4). Between 1990 and 1995, there were fewer
than 100 articles referencing human trafficking (4). It is very appalling to see how lucrative and
demanding sex trafficking is. On television, there have been investigations from news companies
that are attempting to crack down on the sex slave industry. Nevertheless, they have not been
very effective. Obviously, this is an issue that needs attention. Each year, there are thousands of
women, men, and children being forced into this industry against their will. Moreover, there is

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very minimal effort to end this epidemic due to the complexity of tracking aliens within
multicultural nations, particularly Asia Pacific (Schloenhardt, 2001, p.2.). This industry is being
promoted through commercial sex such as strip shows, go-go bars, pornographic magazines and
videos, phone sex lines, the internet, massage parlors, escort services and sex tours (Raymond
et. Al., 2001, p. 19). Human trafficking is a global epidemic that is another form of human
slavery. The sex slave industry is consuming and ending the lives of thousands of people
worldwide therefore making it necessary to eradicate the sex trade.
In an article posted by Kilian Moote on www.notforsalecampaign.org, the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime released a global report that they recently conducted on sex
trafficking. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in Central Asia and
Eastern Europe 60% of convicted traffickers are woman, and 79% of the victims were found to
be exploited sexually. In another article, Partnering Against Trafficking, by The Washington
Post, the United Nations estimates at least 12 million people worldwide are victims of
trafficking (Clinton, 2009, p.1). These numbers have grown and continue to.
These statistics only illustrates how demanding the sex slave industry is. There are a vast
amount of individuals globally exploited. These numbers are in the millions and the majority of
the victims are women. In order to find solutions to end this trade, it is necessary to understand
who is targeted.
In the article, The Fight to End Global Slavery, Benjamin Skinner, states that an anti
slavery group named Free the Slaves defines slavery as those forced to work, held through
fraud, under threat of violence (2009, p. 33). Majority of the adolescents that are found in the
sex trafficking industry are mainly from underdeveloped countries such as India, Asia, Africa,

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and Eastern Europe. The families of these adolescents also contribute to sex trafficking by selling
their own child in exchange for money. In The Washington Post, Hillary Clinton states I held
12-year-olds who had been trafficked and were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I shared the
tears of women who wondered whether theyd ever see their relatives again (3 of 3). Not only is
this epidemic flourishing in these underdeveloped countries but also with in the United States. In
the article, Teen Girls Stories of Sex Trafficking in U.S. a young girl from a middle class back
ground was abducted from her house. Debbie, a fifteen-year-old, was abducted by two men along
with her other friend who was threatened that she will be killed if she did not tie Debbie up
(ABC news, 2006, p.1) According to ABC News, the FBI estimates that well over 100,000
children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with
the average age being 11 (2006, p. 1). Moreover, many of these children are no longer just
runaways, or kids whove been abandoned. Many of them are from what would be considered
good families, who are lured or coerced by clever predators (ABC News, 2006, p. 1). FBI
Deputy Assistant Director, Chip Burrus states, these predators are particularly adept at reading
children, at reading kids and knowing what their vulnerabilities are (ABC News, 2006, p.1). It
is horrific to see how these adolescents are forced or even abducted into this trade. Mores so, it is
shocking to know that sex trafficking is happening within the United States. How do these
offenders even have the courage to take someone their complete rights and possess ownership
over him or her? But how are these women being controlled to stay in this industry?
In the article Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, Dr. Janice G. Raymond
and Dr. Donna M. Hughes (2001) investigated the methods of control that the women are
subjected to while in the sex industry that prohibits them from leaving. Through their
investigation they found multiple ways that women are controlled in the sex industry. One form

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of control is the lack of freedom. Many of the women are held captive and some are not free to
leave until they pay off accumulated debts (2001, p. 59). The women were also isolated from
the outside world and were always being monitored. On the other hand, the pimps of the sex
slaves where burdened with a debt that is extremely hard to pay off considering they had to turn
in over to their pimp (60). Eighty-six percent (N=19) of U.S. women and 53 percent (N=8) of
international women reported being physically abused by their pimps and traffickers while in the
sex industry (60). It is necessary to understand why these women are horrified to leave the
industry. Not only were the traffickers selling the women for sex but they were being sexually
assaulted by their own pimps and traffickers (63). The traffickers went as far as to force them to
consume alcohol and drugs within their system as a form of control (65). What would the
traffickers do if the women had an overdose? A womans chance who is trying to escape is really
slim if she is under the influence. Pornography was forced on many of the women in the sex
industry. This was used by the traffickers as a form of blackmail against the women. However, I
can understand the fear and embarrassment that the women endures within the sex industry.
Control is the major factor in which traffickers make extremely difficult and even
impossible to escape from the sex industry. The traffickers instill this fear and intimidation into
the women which allows them to have complete control over the women. What is being done to
end the sex slave trade? What are the solutions for these victims?
A solution that will be extremely effective is through enforcing strict government
legislation and chastisement. According to The Washington Post, the United States funds 140
anti-trafficking programs in nearly 70 countries, as well as 42 domestic task forces that bring
state and local authorities together with nongovernmental organizations to combat trafficking
(Clinton, 1). It is very alleviating to know that there are actions being done to end this terrific

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epidemic. Since 2000, more than half of all countries have enacted laws prohibiting all forms of
human trafficking (2) It is known that more than half of countries are addressing the issue but it
raises the question of how effective are these laws. According to Clinton, in Costa Rica, the
Rehab Foundation has helped thousands of trafficking survivors rebuild their lives (2). There
are measures being taken within the United States to end the sex slave industry. The Intelligence
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act in 2004 reinforced a Human Smuggling and Trafficking
Center to address clandestine travel, including terrorism, smuggling, and trafficking of persons
(Farrel and Fahy, 2009, p. 8). Between 2000 and 2006, a trend in the media to bring awareness to
human trafficking rose significantly (8). According to notforsalecampaign.org, in San Francisco,
a new legislation was passed to increase the amount of control and regulation that exists over
businesses with the massage parlor industry (1). The site www.notforsalecampaign.org is
designed to help re-abolish the sex slavery. Along with notforsalecampaign.org, education and
public awareness is a very effective approach to help end sex slavery. With campaigns using the
stories of victims, it will demonstrate the concrete evidence that this issue exists and will create
an emotional appeal. Any approach to this issue, will be a giant step towards helping these
victims as well as ending this industry.
Each year, there are teenagers being abducted into the sex slave industry. These victims
are being controlled by their traffickers with methods of embarrassment, drugs, and violence. It
is necessary to be the voice for all these victims. By taking action, one can seek for stricter
legislation against sex slavery as well harsher punishments for the traffickers. There are millions
of women out there waiting to be saved. It is time to end this horrific epidemic.

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Reference:

Batsyukova, S. (2007). Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation.

(24), 46-50.

Clinton, H. (2009). Partnering Against Trafficking,.The Washington Post. 1-3.

Farrel, A., Fahy, S. (2009). The problem of human trafficking in the U.S.: Public f
rames and policy responses. Journal of Criminal Justice, 37(6), 617-626.

Gomez, C., Hughles, D., Raymond, J. (2001). Sex Trafficking of Women in the
United . Coalition Against Trafficking Women.

Moote, K. (2009). New UN Report on Human Trafficking. The United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime. http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/news/2009/06/.

N.A. (2006). Teen Girls Stories of Sex Trafficking in U.S. ABC News. 1-6.
http://i.abcnews.com/print?id=159778.

Schloenhardt, A. (2001). Migrant trafficking and regional security. Forum for Applied
Research and Public Policy, 16(2), 83-88.

Skinner, E. (2009). The fight to End Global Slavery. World Policy Journal, 33-41.

Trowbridge, A. (2009). Not For Sale: End Human Trafficking and Slavery.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/news/2009/06/.