Police have made sex workers—and people they suspect of being sex workers—afraid to carry condoms by harassing them and using condoms as evidence of crimes.
We need to explicitly recognize the connections between trafficking, poverty, migration, gender, racism and racial discrimination to adequately battle and destroy human trafficking in the U.S.
Trafficking in persons is often referred to as “modern-day slavery.” Historical grounding confirms that the reference to slavery, while not exactly on point, is relevant.
It seems that stories of young girls victimized by prostitution, are selected to overcome an enormous barrier – that we are not disposed to believe or care for people who engage in sex work, so editing to find the “perfect victim” is necessary.
A recent report on the sex trade illustrates how stigmatization and criminalization of sex workers in the United States result in widespread abuses of civil and human rights.
