If most women and girls are brought into the sex trade unwillingly,
it seems impossible that so many should end up in forced prostitution – how
could 420,000-560,000 women come to be trafficked against their will?
Many girls that end up trapped in sexual slavery come from
rural peasant families. They may be searching for a job in a city so that they
can send money home to their families for several reasons: to cover a deficit
from a poor harvest; to pay for a sibling’s education; to buy expensive
medicines for a family member; or simply to make ends meet. In addition, these
girls are targeted because of their lack of education: they are more likely to
blindly trust someone that offers them a job, as well as do as they are told
without retaliation.
Often, girls hear of a job in a city working as a servant or
maid. Their friends may write to them to come join them, praising their job working
in a small shop or selling trinkets. Other girls find themselves entrusted to
the care of a close family member, who knows of a similar “job” – an optimistic
prospect for these girls. A United Nations report estimates that in 46% of
global sex trafficking cases, the recruiter was known – a family member, a
friend – to the victim.
Still other girls are kidnapped from their homes by brothel
owners to satisfy a client demand for virgins (customers will pay more money
for virgins, and in some parts of Africa ,
there is a widely accepted myth that sex with a virgin is a cure for HIV/AIDS).
When the girls arrive in the city, the exchange of their “caretaker”
for a stranger is accompanied by an exchange of money as they are sold to a
pimp or madam. Though the girls may be frightened (many are younger than twelve
or thirteen, and have no idea who has just bought them and for what reason),
they are lured into a false sense of security: they are assured that they will
see their family member shortly, and are bought food and new clothes – a luxury
for many of these girls. Before they know it, they are brought not to a wealthy
person’s home to wash floors, but rather to a brothel in a red-light district.
With an education, girls are in school – and less likely to
end up trafficked. This leaves an important question hanging, however: an
education is well and good, but how can the girls that leave to find “work” in
order to make ends meet even afford school tuition? Fortunately, programs like
Camfed help finance a girl’s education; others compensate girls for school
attendance. Sexual slavery is a serious issue, but one that can be solved
through education.
Janna
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