Sex Trafficking Around The World: A Case Study
Introduction
Human trafficking is a transnational crime that remains as one of the most profitable crimes. Sex trafficking is a subtype of human trafficking that is being considered the modern day slavery of women (Orme & Ross-Sheriff, 2015). It is estimated that there are 4,500,000 humans worldwide who are being forced into sexual exploitation commercially in the world (ILO, 2012). There are women and girls all over the world that are being forced to partake in commercial sexual acts. Women are being targeted and pulled into this grim world due to the injustices that have placed them into a vulnerable position in society. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why women are the target of sex trafficking around the world, as well as, what …show more content…
is being done and what more can be done to stop this crime.
Women and Work
Sex trafficking relates to the “Women and Work” theme on a strong level. According to The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Blue Campaign”, the definition of human trafficking is “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act (U.S. Department of Homeland Security).” Women are working in terrible conditions and are being forced by males to work while making little to no profit from their hardships. Women are being forced to perform sexual acts because they are seen as a vulnerable population. The injustices that cause the women to be placed into these vulnerable positions are systemic, that is why this issue is so large and focuses on the degradation of an entire gender. With men being considered the dominant culture, they receive privileges while women struggle to receive a fraction of those same privileges all because of gender inequality. Women do not have equal access to education, job opportunity, or equal pay (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Women are seen in today’s society as weak and emotional while men are viewed as the strong and stable gender (Haker, 2015). In a study completed by Wendy M. Konstantopoulos et al., those who are stakeholders in the anti-trafficking scene from eight cities were interviewed on different aspects of sex trafficking (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). The major determinants for women and girls being part of sex trafficking included experienced childhood abuse, the objectification of women as sex tools in society, financial insecurity, and lack of education, and that is just a few of the determinants (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). That spotlights the fact that women are naturally placed in a more vulnerable position to become victims of this trade. Women who have less economic opportunities are bound to have less opportunities to fair wages. This causes women to have to leave their homes and search for a job that gives them a chance to live and provide for their family. Being away from home and looking for a job puts them in a position where men can swoop in and take control of the situation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). We are learning in the theme of women and work that so many women are placed into bad working conditions and treated negatively due to the present injustices in place in today’s society. Women involved in sex trafficking is one extreme example of these injustices that women are facing in the working world and it is on a large scale, global level.
Justice issues are a root cause of sexual exploitation of women. Amata Miller explains that there are three forms of justice while also considering Catholic social teaching (Miller, 2014). To start, sex trafficking falls under “commutative justice (Miller, 2014).” This is when a group acts against another group and, ideally, all people involved in a situation should be treated fairly. If not, the damage done should be repaired (Miller, 2014). Not just one group in sex trafficking is being treated unfairly, it is an entire gender. The women are treated horribly and are forced to not have a voice. The men certainly are not repairing the damage they are causing on these women. Under this realm of justice, it should be men’s moral right to repair the harm caused. “Distributive justice,” which means that goods and resources in a community should be distributed equally and it is everyone’s right to participate in the fairness of the distribution (Miller, 2014). This is the category that places women in the vulnerable situation. Because women do not have equal access to the good and services that men do, it puts them in a disadvantaged position (Miller, 2014). Without women having equal access to fair wages or equal job opportunities, they are forced to work for these men who can control them because they have no other choice (Soroptomist, 2012). The men give them somewhere to live and a small wage, but to some women, that is more than they could get by being on their own so they feel as though they have to other choice. Social justice is being violated for these women. As Amata Miller explains it, Social justice touches on the idea that everyone has a responsibility to put in the work that is needed to achieve common good for all in the community and do what is best for the community as a whole (2014). The women who are victims of this crime are being stripped of their social justice, they are not being included in that definition. A community is something that should allow a person to feel welcome and part of something bigger. The community that these women as sex workers face is felt in the sense of oppression. They are the lesser of their community. The community is putting in work but only for the benefit of the males and consumers, putting the best interest of the women last, if at all. The needs of the consumers are being met graciously, while little to no means are being met for the workers.
Oppression that is faced by these women is endless.
The “Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Marion Young lays out different categories of oppression that applies heavily to the women who have fallen victim to sex trafficking (2014). Exploitation is when someone does the hard work but that person is not being compensated fairly for their work, but someone else is being compensated for it (Young, 2014). Women are the ones in sex trafficking who are going through all of the torture they call “work.” The men who control them are making the money from selling the women’s bodies to paying customers. According to the Human Trafficking Center, it is estimated that the people who sell the women’s work, make approximately $21,800 per person globally (2014). Powerlessness is the oppression category that explains the separation of power between groups (Miller, 2014). Some people have power and control and others do not. The people who are not in the group with power often feel as though they cannot speak out, get treated poorly because they feel they have no say in what should be done with them and cannot make their own decision (Young, 2014). The victims of sex trafficking have to experience this daily. If the women speak out or try to have a voice, they may be harmed or killed. They also feel that if they try to obtain power, they will lose the roof over their head and their only chance at surviving because it is provided by the traffickers (Soroptomist, 2012). Their survival is at the back of their minds each time they think of escaping. Many women are told that they are illegally placed in different countries, which causes them to believe that if they leave, they will be arrested (Soroptomist, 2012). The victims are also told that if they try to leave or fight back, their family will be killed forcing them to subdue (Soroptomist, 2012). Cultural imperialism takes the dominant identity group, which is typically males, and creates their beliefs and ways of life and make them
the norms of society. Anyone who does not identify with the dominant culture is considered an outsider and is seen as doing something wrong (Young, 2014). As stated previously, males are seen as the dominants in almost all cultures, which leaves women at the bottom. Some cultures put in place gender inequality, placing men as the ones in charge and women as the lesser. Also, in some cultures, women are strongly sexually objectified (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Women are meant to please men and that is their key duty as a woman in their culture. This causes women to be seen as a sex object, not a real person, which makes this crime seem like a norm (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Unfortunately, one of the strongest oppressions felt by these women is violence. Women forced into sexual exploitation are put at a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, mental health problems and abuse from their traffickers and clients (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Many of the victims do not seek health care while in their situations due to different factors. The stigma that surrounds sex work is a large concern for the victims. They do not want to be judged by the doctors for their situation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Victims also reported that they did not believe healthcare was within their income limits and that they were afraid of the repercussions they would face if they sought out healthcare such as deportation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). If the victims do not seek healthcare, their health concerns could compile and become worse. Women should have to opportunity to work and gather an income but they should not be forced into oppressive working conditions in order for that to happen.
It may seem simple to think about why these women do not just walk away from this crime. The oppression that they face places them in a hard position. The women often feel too powerless to have a voice to fight back. Other reasons that women cannot get out of this crime include that many of the women are transported illegally from their origins for this work. According to a global report established by the ILO, it is estimated that 74% of sexual exploitation victims work in a different country than their country of origin (ILO, 2012). If they were to escape for help, they would be detained as an illegal immigrant. The fear that these women face from their traffickers causes them to limit their reporting (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Many of the women fear that if the escape, their traffickers will come back for them or their families. Psychological disturbances brought on by their situations also is a deterrent. This crime is not a glamourous crime. Women feel that if they come forward they will be judged for their participation. They are embarrassed of their situations. (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). For these reasons along with others, this is an underreported crime.
Catholic and Feminist views
Catholic and feminist theories fight together to provide a world in where human’s basic rights are met, and in the world of sex trafficking, those are being stripped from the women. Violence against women is a fight that both Catholics and feminists strive to end. Pamela Fletcher describes the current societal views of sexual violence in one of her articles that talks about “rape culture (Fletcher, 2014).” Fletcher discusses sexual violence through the eyes of Catholic Social Teaching. She describes that sexual violence is a crime against human dignity and basic human rights, which respect of each, are core concepts in catholic social teaching (Fletcher, 2014). Sex work can be considered a sin in the Catholic religion, as it is done outside the confinements of marriage (Haker, 2015). Although, in the situation of sex work, the Catholic religion believes that the women are being forced into these sexual acts involuntarily, which makes it difficult to consider it a crime against the religion (Haker, 2015). Catholic practices also place a norm on women by the gender order that is present, males are considered the dominants and women are seen as passive and giving within this religion, which could cause them to be seen that way throughout the world (Haker, 2015). Feminist ethics works to prove that women do need to have autonomy and should be seen as equals to their male counterpart. Also, feminists tend to fight for the idea that many of these women choose to accept work, so it would in turn be voluntary. The big issue in feminist ethics is that if a woman exercises her right to consent to work, why would people fight to save them (Haker, 2015)? The side note is that these women do not know or understand what they are consenting to before it is too late (Soroptimist, 2012). They are coaxed into believing they are going to do other labor work, that they are in love, or will be receiving an education (Soroptimist, 2012). Those are what they are consenting to, not the misuse of their body for profit. Many of the facts I have found show that these women are often taken from their home countries and often do not understand the language that is being presented to them (Soroptimist, 2012). Catholocism and feminism can work together by agreeing on human dignity, which is being breached in sex trafficking (Haker, 2015). We must look at the underlying causes, not just one side of a situation. It is easy to confirm that the women did consent to work, but we need to look at what they actually consented to before judgments are made. We also need to realize that this is not just a crime to be seen in the criminal justice system, but it is a crime that strips away people’s most basic human rights and dignities.
Human trafficking is a transnational crime that remains as one of the most profitable crimes. Sex trafficking is a subtype of human trafficking that is being considered the modern day slavery of women (Orme & Ross-Sheriff, 2015). It is estimated that there are 4,500,000 humans worldwide who are being forced into sexual exploitation commercially in the world (ILO, 2012). There are women and girls all over the world that are being forced to partake in commercial sexual acts. Women are being targeted and pulled into this grim world due to the injustices that have placed them into a vulnerable position in society. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why women are the target of sex trafficking around the world, as well as, what …show more content…
is being done and what more can be done to stop this crime.
Women and Work
Sex trafficking relates to the “Women and Work” theme on a strong level. According to The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Blue Campaign”, the definition of human trafficking is “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act (U.S. Department of Homeland Security).” Women are working in terrible conditions and are being forced by males to work while making little to no profit from their hardships. Women are being forced to perform sexual acts because they are seen as a vulnerable population. The injustices that cause the women to be placed into these vulnerable positions are systemic, that is why this issue is so large and focuses on the degradation of an entire gender. With men being considered the dominant culture, they receive privileges while women struggle to receive a fraction of those same privileges all because of gender inequality. Women do not have equal access to education, job opportunity, or equal pay (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Women are seen in today’s society as weak and emotional while men are viewed as the strong and stable gender (Haker, 2015). In a study completed by Wendy M. Konstantopoulos et al., those who are stakeholders in the anti-trafficking scene from eight cities were interviewed on different aspects of sex trafficking (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). The major determinants for women and girls being part of sex trafficking included experienced childhood abuse, the objectification of women as sex tools in society, financial insecurity, and lack of education, and that is just a few of the determinants (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). That spotlights the fact that women are naturally placed in a more vulnerable position to become victims of this trade. Women who have less economic opportunities are bound to have less opportunities to fair wages. This causes women to have to leave their homes and search for a job that gives them a chance to live and provide for their family. Being away from home and looking for a job puts them in a position where men can swoop in and take control of the situation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). We are learning in the theme of women and work that so many women are placed into bad working conditions and treated negatively due to the present injustices in place in today’s society. Women involved in sex trafficking is one extreme example of these injustices that women are facing in the working world and it is on a large scale, global level.
Justice issues are a root cause of sexual exploitation of women. Amata Miller explains that there are three forms of justice while also considering Catholic social teaching (Miller, 2014). To start, sex trafficking falls under “commutative justice (Miller, 2014).” This is when a group acts against another group and, ideally, all people involved in a situation should be treated fairly. If not, the damage done should be repaired (Miller, 2014). Not just one group in sex trafficking is being treated unfairly, it is an entire gender. The women are treated horribly and are forced to not have a voice. The men certainly are not repairing the damage they are causing on these women. Under this realm of justice, it should be men’s moral right to repair the harm caused. “Distributive justice,” which means that goods and resources in a community should be distributed equally and it is everyone’s right to participate in the fairness of the distribution (Miller, 2014). This is the category that places women in the vulnerable situation. Because women do not have equal access to the good and services that men do, it puts them in a disadvantaged position (Miller, 2014). Without women having equal access to fair wages or equal job opportunities, they are forced to work for these men who can control them because they have no other choice (Soroptomist, 2012). The men give them somewhere to live and a small wage, but to some women, that is more than they could get by being on their own so they feel as though they have to other choice. Social justice is being violated for these women. As Amata Miller explains it, Social justice touches on the idea that everyone has a responsibility to put in the work that is needed to achieve common good for all in the community and do what is best for the community as a whole (2014). The women who are victims of this crime are being stripped of their social justice, they are not being included in that definition. A community is something that should allow a person to feel welcome and part of something bigger. The community that these women as sex workers face is felt in the sense of oppression. They are the lesser of their community. The community is putting in work but only for the benefit of the males and consumers, putting the best interest of the women last, if at all. The needs of the consumers are being met graciously, while little to no means are being met for the workers.
Oppression that is faced by these women is endless.
The “Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Marion Young lays out different categories of oppression that applies heavily to the women who have fallen victim to sex trafficking (2014). Exploitation is when someone does the hard work but that person is not being compensated fairly for their work, but someone else is being compensated for it (Young, 2014). Women are the ones in sex trafficking who are going through all of the torture they call “work.” The men who control them are making the money from selling the women’s bodies to paying customers. According to the Human Trafficking Center, it is estimated that the people who sell the women’s work, make approximately $21,800 per person globally (2014). Powerlessness is the oppression category that explains the separation of power between groups (Miller, 2014). Some people have power and control and others do not. The people who are not in the group with power often feel as though they cannot speak out, get treated poorly because they feel they have no say in what should be done with them and cannot make their own decision (Young, 2014). The victims of sex trafficking have to experience this daily. If the women speak out or try to have a voice, they may be harmed or killed. They also feel that if they try to obtain power, they will lose the roof over their head and their only chance at surviving because it is provided by the traffickers (Soroptomist, 2012). Their survival is at the back of their minds each time they think of escaping. Many women are told that they are illegally placed in different countries, which causes them to believe that if they leave, they will be arrested (Soroptomist, 2012). The victims are also told that if they try to leave or fight back, their family will be killed forcing them to subdue (Soroptomist, 2012). Cultural imperialism takes the dominant identity group, which is typically males, and creates their beliefs and ways of life and make them
the norms of society. Anyone who does not identify with the dominant culture is considered an outsider and is seen as doing something wrong (Young, 2014). As stated previously, males are seen as the dominants in almost all cultures, which leaves women at the bottom. Some cultures put in place gender inequality, placing men as the ones in charge and women as the lesser. Also, in some cultures, women are strongly sexually objectified (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Women are meant to please men and that is their key duty as a woman in their culture. This causes women to be seen as a sex object, not a real person, which makes this crime seem like a norm (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Unfortunately, one of the strongest oppressions felt by these women is violence. Women forced into sexual exploitation are put at a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, mental health problems and abuse from their traffickers and clients (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Many of the victims do not seek health care while in their situations due to different factors. The stigma that surrounds sex work is a large concern for the victims. They do not want to be judged by the doctors for their situation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Victims also reported that they did not believe healthcare was within their income limits and that they were afraid of the repercussions they would face if they sought out healthcare such as deportation (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). If the victims do not seek healthcare, their health concerns could compile and become worse. Women should have to opportunity to work and gather an income but they should not be forced into oppressive working conditions in order for that to happen.
It may seem simple to think about why these women do not just walk away from this crime. The oppression that they face places them in a hard position. The women often feel too powerless to have a voice to fight back. Other reasons that women cannot get out of this crime include that many of the women are transported illegally from their origins for this work. According to a global report established by the ILO, it is estimated that 74% of sexual exploitation victims work in a different country than their country of origin (ILO, 2012). If they were to escape for help, they would be detained as an illegal immigrant. The fear that these women face from their traffickers causes them to limit their reporting (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). Many of the women fear that if the escape, their traffickers will come back for them or their families. Psychological disturbances brought on by their situations also is a deterrent. This crime is not a glamourous crime. Women feel that if they come forward they will be judged for their participation. They are embarrassed of their situations. (Konstantopoulos et al., 2013). For these reasons along with others, this is an underreported crime.
Catholic and Feminist views
Catholic and feminist theories fight together to provide a world in where human’s basic rights are met, and in the world of sex trafficking, those are being stripped from the women. Violence against women is a fight that both Catholics and feminists strive to end. Pamela Fletcher describes the current societal views of sexual violence in one of her articles that talks about “rape culture (Fletcher, 2014).” Fletcher discusses sexual violence through the eyes of Catholic Social Teaching. She describes that sexual violence is a crime against human dignity and basic human rights, which respect of each, are core concepts in catholic social teaching (Fletcher, 2014). Sex work can be considered a sin in the Catholic religion, as it is done outside the confinements of marriage (Haker, 2015). Although, in the situation of sex work, the Catholic religion believes that the women are being forced into these sexual acts involuntarily, which makes it difficult to consider it a crime against the religion (Haker, 2015). Catholic practices also place a norm on women by the gender order that is present, males are considered the dominants and women are seen as passive and giving within this religion, which could cause them to be seen that way throughout the world (Haker, 2015). Feminist ethics works to prove that women do need to have autonomy and should be seen as equals to their male counterpart. Also, feminists tend to fight for the idea that many of these women choose to accept work, so it would in turn be voluntary. The big issue in feminist ethics is that if a woman exercises her right to consent to work, why would people fight to save them (Haker, 2015)? The side note is that these women do not know or understand what they are consenting to before it is too late (Soroptimist, 2012). They are coaxed into believing they are going to do other labor work, that they are in love, or will be receiving an education (Soroptimist, 2012). Those are what they are consenting to, not the misuse of their body for profit. Many of the facts I have found show that these women are often taken from their home countries and often do not understand the language that is being presented to them (Soroptimist, 2012). Catholocism and feminism can work together by agreeing on human dignity, which is being breached in sex trafficking (Haker, 2015). We must look at the underlying causes, not just one side of a situation. It is easy to confirm that the women did consent to work, but we need to look at what they actually consented to before judgments are made. We also need to realize that this is not just a crime to be seen in the criminal justice system, but it is a crime that strips away people’s most basic human rights and dignities.