http://jw3mh2cm6n.search.serialssolutions.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/ProQ%3Aabiglobal&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Gender+Issues&rft.atitle=Women+are+Victims%2C+Men+Make+Choices%3A+The+Invisibility+of+Men+and+Boys+in+the+Global+Sex+Trade&rft.au=Dennis%2C+Jeffery+P&rft.aulast=Dennis&rft.aufirst=Jeffery&rft.date=2008-03-01&rft.volume=25&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=11&rft.isbn=&rft.btitle=&rft.title=Gender+Issues&rft.issn=1098092X&rft_id=info:doi/
Sex trafficking across the world is a multi billion dollar a year industry. When we think of all of the victims who a being trafficked with think of women. When we want to look, or research about this epidemic, we read about the how this is effecting women. There is an disproportionate amount of information out there about men and women as victims of sex trafficking. However there is not a real disproportionate difference in the amount of men and women who are actually trafficked. The article titled “Women are Victims, Men Make Choices: The Invisibility of Men and Boys in the Global Sex Trade” by Jeffery P. Dennis starts out by addressing that exact issue. He remarks by saying, “84% of the articles in the sample discussed only female sex workers, 10% only male, and 6% both”(Dennis pg. 18). He realizes and wants to bring to light that for change to happen regarding the sex trafficking of boys people have to become aware that it is actually taking place.
Dennis offers reasons for why this might be so. One of them is that it is assumed that the male sex workers is violence free because we only ever hear about male to female violence. Another issue that he has with research done on male sex trafficking research, aside from it being female dominate is that when males are mentioned they are said to be gay or sought after by gay predators. He notes that “gay men actually comprise 5–10% of the male population, hardly a ‘‘negligible proportion’’ to begin with, but the demand for male sex workers is by no means contained within gay communities” (Dennis pg. 13). He reasons that because gay is termed and defined very differently in other countries. Meaning that a man sexuality is based off of the type of role he plays during sex. If we were to open up how we look at men who are being trafficked the it would be more likely to find more men if we stepped outside of the gay community.
Women are seen at the absolute victims in trafficking, that they are being taken and sold into what is being called one of the new forms of slavery and that they have no choice about the matter. Whereas men do have a say in the matter and are choosing to do this. He argues that the word choice that articles use vastly plays to how we are seeing these men. He talks about the term “sex worker” and how there is an implication of choice and want to do so. He explains that “(sex worker) portrays the use of the term ‘‘prostitute,’’ implying coercion and degradation, and ‘‘sex worker,’’ implying active choice of a work situation” (Dennis pg. 19). Until we change how we look at, research for and talk about the men who are being trafficked then we will not have a solution to this problem. the first step is acknowledging that there is one.