EDITOR’S NOTE: A portion of the article submitted by our guest contributor was taken out due to a confidentiality breach with the Polaris Project.
As our car turned the corner of one of Washington D.C.’s busiest downtown streets I was immediately confronted with the reality of its nighttime traffic: sex.
Cars circled the block of a well-known sector of the city, a popular business area by day. But the purpose for these many cars occupying the curbs at night were for a much different business: prostitution.
I witnessed scantily clad women, deprived of inches of skirt, walking along the side of the road on a freezing East Coast December night while their pimps stood 10 paces behind them, warmly dressed and auctioning their sexual chastity to strangers. It was one of the last nights of my fellowship program with one of the largest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on the issue of domestic human trafficking, the Polaris Project.
I sat in a parked car, facing an Asian massage parlor, an active brothel, watching as men would self-consciously walk by the entrance again and again. Nervously they would decide if they were to engage in the purchase of illegal sex acts, most likely ignorant to their involvement in a federal offense – domestic sex trafficking. I sat silent and uneasy,
knowing what most people do not know, what exists behind closed doors.
These women rarely see the light of day or a cent of the money paid for their bodies. I briefly wondered if these men knew that pimp-controlled prostitution is modern-day slavery and that it is the predominant form of sex trafficking.
Prior to my fellowship, I myself was unfamiliar with the true definition of human trafficking and ignorant to its prevalence within the United States, particularly in the exploitation of the commercial sex industry.
So what exactly is human trafficking?
Many of us have been exposed to the issue, or at least the term; perhaps you’ve noted its recurrence in world news headlines, or maybe you’ve learned of it in a political science course.
But with many of our first impressions, myself included, we vastly underscore its prevalence, misconstrue its definition and naively presume its occupation outside of our borders in the land of the ‘free’.
Human trafficking is the second-largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. According to Free the Slaves, another prominent anti-trafficking NGO, “there are 27 million slaves in the world today.” The documentary “Call+Response” reports that in 2007 alone “slave traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.”
Human trafficking victims in the United States are estimated in the hundreds of thousands. This includes the estimates of “Over 200,000 children are at high risk for sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation every year” (University of Pennsylvania).
Additionally, the U.S. State Department estimates 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the country annually – which doesn’t even account for internal trafficking. However, statistics are still inadequate as the issue remains grossly unreported and unprosecuted.
It is important to identify a couple of common misconceptions about human trafficking: it does not require any forced movement across borders, or even the use of any physical abuse or restraint.
Today’s slave is not merely the naive image of an iron clad and shackled victim. In addition to psychological abuse, physical and sexual abuse continue to play a consistent role as a means of control.
Polaris Project, which has been fighting modern-day slavery since 2002, highlights some of the main forms of violence traffickers’ use on their Web site, which lists “brutal beatings, rape, lies and deception, threats of serious harm or familial harm and psychological abuse” among the common tactics of traffickers.
In recent years, trafficking cases emerging in the United States provide examples of the types of criminal networks and populations involved, including everthing from strip clubs, to restaruants to the agricultural industry.
Other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, in particular, thrives in the partially protected domain of illegal Internet activity through social networking sites such as Craigslist that are frequently used for the prostitution of minors.
Traffickers and trafficking victims have many faces; they come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, ages, races and genders. This heinous crime surpasses any one part of the country, existing in rural and urban communities alike. It is a diverse and prevalent issue, and it is rapidly growing.
I was fortunate enough to work with the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), a part of the Polaris project, during my fellowship.In responding to calls through NHTRC hotline, I predominantly interacted and assisted various social service providers.
The hotline was originally created to report tips of potential cases of human trafficking, and my involvements with these calls were typically more significant. My time on their team was the most meaningful experience I have participated in during my undergraduate career.
As that fateful night of witnessing human trafficking first hand came to a close, I was left with the vivid memories of both the issue and its slow but steady response.
I will never forget the depth and weight by which my heart sunk the very first time I watched a young woman approach a car curbside, acknowledging the probability of her situation and knowing the reality of the events to follow.
But as the night ended, the human trafficking task force of the the district police department intervened with flashes of blue light, scattering the many cars from circling the block around the prostitution hub, while transporting the arrested pimps that sat in their back seats.
I take heart in the hope that more traffickers will be put behind bars, as well as with the fact that each emergence of publicity on the issue will cause other members of the public to fight human trafficking and raise awareness of the issue.
Christy Pelton is a English senior, a modern day abolitionist and a Mustang Daily guest writer. Visit Polaris Project, www.polarisproject.org or call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center toll-free at 1-888-373-7888. to find out more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cal Poly Causes will be a new bi-weekly series written by students who want to share their service learning experiences. Please send submissions to mustangdailywire@gmail.com.