Studies say yes. I was asked by a government official to research the link between Human Trafficking and porn in an effort to combat the sexually explicit books in our schools. Here’s what I found.
- Pornography is the “driving force” behind the international sex trafficking industry (MacKinnon, 2005).
- Women and children are often “rented” to create pornographic material.
- Human Trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world with over 27 million people currently enslaved (Rescue Her, 2015).
- According to Rescue Her in 2016, one in three runaways are picked up within 48 hours and lured into the sex industry.
- 70% of adult prostitutes are lured into the industry prior to turning 18 years old (Kotrla, 2010).
- The sexualization of our culture, particularly our youth, has caused teens to participate in sexual activity at a far younger age than ever before (Humphreys, 2017).
- This generation is experimenting with more deviant forms of sexuality and watching pornography beginning in late elementary school (Humphreys, 2017).
- That average age of entry into porn and prostitution is 12 years of age, with some being as young as 5 (US Department of State, 2017).
- Movies, television, clothing ads, and other forms of media (to include books containing sexually explicit material) contribute to the reason some victims fall into sex trafficking at a young age.
- Early sexualization leads to experimentation, which in turn leads to the child being an easy target for an adult looking to take advantage of their curiosity.
- Noel Bouche (2017) correlates the amount of “clicks” on pornographic sites with increases in the global sex trade.
- Local victims are recruited into the sex industry using a variety of tactics such as: debt bondage, violence, threats, promises of a better life, ads for “easy money”, and modeling job ads (Lutya, 2012; Polaris Project, 2015)
- Some victims are even being trafficked by family members.
- One specific example of a book containing child porn or pedophilia being found in schools is Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.
- The book includes graphic descriptions of sex acts between minors to include animated images of the minors performing pornographic acts.
- Schools in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Rhode Island have deemed the material “necessary reading material for children”.
- “The ongoing sexualization of young girls is perpetuating gender stereotypes and leading many girls to experience various health and mental health issues.” (Sarah Sheppard, 2022).
SOURCES
Bouche, N. (2009). Exploited: sex trafficking, porn culture, and the call to a lifestyle of justice. Purehope. Retrieved from http://www.sharonfieldsmccormick.com/uploads/2/7/5/2/27522727/exploited.pdf
Humphreys, K.D. (2017). Discerning generational shifts in child and adolescent susceptibility to sex trafficking (Doctoral Dissertation). Texas Tech University, Texas, United States
Kotrla, K. (2010). Domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States. Social work, 55(2), 181-87.
MacKinnon, C. A. (2005). Pornography as trafficking. Michigan Journal of International Law, 26(4), 993-1012.
Polaris Project. (2016). Human Trafficking. Washington, DC: Author
Rescue Her. (2015). The Truth of the Matter. Irving, TX: Author
Sager, C. (2012). An anomaly of the law: Insufficient state laws fail to protect minor victims of sex trafficking. New England Journal on Criminal & Civil Confinement, 38(359), 359-378.
US Department of State. (2008). Trafficking in Persons Report. Washington, DC: Author.
US Department of State. (2017). Trafficking in Persons Report. Washington, DC: Author.
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