C. White on December 7, 2015
Parker and Skrmetti reveals that between 2008 and 2010, almost all (83%) of confirmed cases of sex trafficking were American citizens, although people generally thin of foreign women instead (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1017).
Sex traffickers target victims who they know are easy to manipulate and would remain as prostitutes whether or not they receive physical abuse (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1019). First, sex traffic victims under the age of 18 are easy prey for exploitation because they are emotionally immature and lacking in discernment to comprehend their naivety and obvious schemes of predator people. Adult victims of sex trafficking may remain in the business because their recruitment most likely occurred when they were under the age of 18. Eighty percent of domestic sex traffic victims are were willing prostitutes before the age of 18. Police officers arrested 1,400 prostitutes under the age of 18 and 14% of them were ages 14 or younger. Second, 70% of domestic sex traffic victims have history of child sexual abuse. They age to have low self-esteem and desperation for love and attention, because the sexual abuse occurred between the ages of 3 and 14 years. Parker and Skrmetti reveals that family members were the sex traffickers of one-quarter (25%) of child sex trafficking victims. Third, most domestic sex traffic victims came from homes plagued with verbal, emotional, and physical abuse, and abandonment and neglect. Consequently, the presence and attention from sex traffickers fill the empty void, and the sex traffickers become desirable and wanted by the victims (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1021).
Domestic sex trafficking victims generally suffer from mental health illnesses and they use illegal drugs to “self-medicate and dull the pain from their past” problems with sexual, physical, and emotion abuse. Many of them become runaways, who “are exposed to predatory criminals” and practice “survival sex” in exchange for room, shelter, money, illegal drugs, or food. Thus, they eventually fall prey to sex trafficers (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1022) in the form of madams and pimps (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1023). The tools to lure the girls are simple compliments and if they avoid eye contact as if they have broken spirits, or they state that they are not worthy to receive the compliment, the madams and pimps know they are vulnerable enough to become sex slaves. It becomes immediately obvious that the girls are starving for love, attention, and affection. So the madams and pimps would continuously flatter and groom the girls, while the girls quickly identify the madams and pimps as loving, trustworthy, dependable caretakers. One this becomes noticeable, the madams and pimps gain heavy control over the girls by isolating them from their social support system, by limiting access to communication such as phones and internet, and in some cases, transporting them to different locations (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1025). The girls are the madams and pimps vital investments (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1028), and eventually, rape, manipulations, and extreme physical beatings become normal events, so that the girls maintain psychological dependency on the madams and pimps (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1028-1029).
According to Parker and Skrmetti, a study on 25 Chicagoan pimps and madams found that 64% (over half) were African Americans, 20% (less than one-quarter) were White, 4% were Hispanic, 8% were biracial, and over 25% (one-quarter) were females (madams), and most of the females had past prostitution experiences (Parker and Skrmetti 2013:1029).
Reference
Parker, Stephen C. and Johnathan T. Skrmetti. 2013. “Pimps Down: A Prosecutorial Perspective on Domestic Sex Trafficking”. University of Memphis Law Review 43:1013-1045