As a teen, my mom had me watch the 2008 film Taken to learn about the dangers of human trafficking (and to warn me to never go anywhere by myself). In the movie, two teenage girls travel to France where they are attacked and kidnapped by a secret sex trafficking ring to be sold on the black market.
In reality, human trafficking tends to hit closer to home. According to the Polaris Project, 42% of trafficking victims were trafficked by a family member and 39% by an intimate partner. Sadly, even Bryan (Liam Neeson’s character, and the father of one of the kidnapped girls) with his “particular set of skills” might not recognize the signs of his daughter being trafficked if she continued to attend school and other commitments while her “boyfriend” controlled and manipulated her in order to make a profit.
Human trafficking might feel like a malevolent shade–a dark, unpredictable force that cannot be fought or understood because it comes upon someone without warning. And while this is the case for some victims, in truth, the statistics from the Polaris Project indicate that there are things that can be done to combat sex trafficking– and it looks an awful lot like helping youth delay sexual activity until marriage.
What are risk factors for early sexual activity?
Lack of emotional connection with parents
Early sexual activity can take place for a variety of reasons, but some common threads include pre-teens or teens who experience a lack of connection and attentiveness from their parents, have unstable living situations, or experience abuse or neglect. The serious unmet need for love and affection paired with a lack of parental guidance can leave youth especially vulnerable to early sexual activity. While this might fill the need to feel accepted and loved in the short term, “research has shown, in particular, that delayed initiation of sexual intercourse can lead to better academic achievement for youth, improved self esteem and mental health, and higher-quality relationships with romantic partners over time” [1].
Emotional manipulation
In addition, teens with unmet emotional needs are more vulnerable to manipulation because their fear of losing an intimate relationship is much greater.
Teens with unmet emotional needs are more vulnerable to manipulation because their fear of losing an intimate relationship is much greater.
As we discussed in our article on sex and consent, sexual negotiation is often much more complicated than just a simple “yes” or “no.” This is the case even for teens and young adults who come from happier homes, but for teens experiencing neglect, sexual consent is even more fraught.
Difficult stories I’ve heard while working to teach teens about healthy relationships include lines like, “He said it didn’t make sense to keep saying I was waiting for marriage if we were going to be together forever,” “He said if I wouldn’t have sex with him it was proof that I didn’t really love him,” “He told me he would promise to stop asking for sex if I would just try ‘other stuff’ first to see if I would like it,” and even, “He said if I left, he’d kill himself.” (As a note, manipulation and abuse can happen to boys and girls, but most of my personal experience has been with young women.) The complex emotional web of love, guilt, and fear can make these relationships difficult to leave even when a previously fun relationship turns increasingly sour.
How does teen sexual activity relate to human trafficking?
Human trafficking nightmares often start as dream dates, perhaps especially for teens seeking to fill unmet emotional needs. In the documentary Tricked: Inside the World of Teen Sex Trafficking, experts explain that traffickers will scout out potential victims by looking for youth who lack self-esteem, confidence, or show other signs of feeling alone or unloved, such as vulnerable social media posts. Then comes the manipulation. This stage might have things in common with the type of manipulation seen in unhealthy dating relationships, but the trafficker has the means and motivation to take it to the next level.
Often this involves becoming very close to the person being trafficked in order to meet their needs, create dependence, and start turning dreams into a reality (like promising to help launch a modeling or acting career). This is known as the “grooming” stage. Once the victim is highly invested in the relationship, payment is required for all the favors in the form of sexual acts. These sexual acts may be forced, presented as “just this one time,” or as an “emergency fix” to a money problem. As the trafficker starts to normalize sexual exploitation, the “trapping” stage begins, where threats, violence, blackmail, and addiction are leveraged to keep the victim in the role she or he has stumbled into.
Common risk factors for early teen sex and sex trafficking
As with early sexual activity, the youth who are most at risk for being groomed and trapped into sex trafficking are those who lack care and affection from other places in their lives, and are therefore more likely to be caught up in a shower of attention, gifts, and promises. These same youth are often unable to identify red flags such as becoming more isolated from family and friends as a result of the relationship. Put simply, many of the same risk factors that lead to early sexual activity also put teens at risk for being trafficked.
What protective factors can we foster in pre-teens and teens?
Thankfully, the converse is also true: meeting teens’ emotional needs (primarily via fostering good self-esteem and a good understanding of healthy relationships) can go a long way in preventing both early sexual activity and vulnerability to sex trafficking.
I work with a program that started as an abstinence education program and expanded to a full social-emotional learning program for pre-teens and teens. This shift happened because we realized teens needed a strong foundation in all parts of their life to be able to make decisions surrounding sex and relationships that honored their dignity and values.
Teaching teens to make good relationship decisions decreases trafficking risk
The following are some of the ways we work with youth to make good relationship decisions, and we suggest them to other adults with teens in their care:
- Help teens find goals that excite them and that they can work towards, including character goals;
- Help them recognize their values and strengths;
- Help teens practice skills for communication and managing conflict;
- Teach teens how to manage stress and find supportive people they can turn to for help.
- Invite teens to think about sexual activity not just in terms of physical risk, but to consider how big decisions impact every area of life;
- Invite teens to consider their reasons for avoiding sexual activity and to seek to be able to understand them and communicate them well;
- Ask teens if their relationship is one they are proud of, and if it helps both parties to grow as people;
- And, of course, help teens be able to recognize what a healthy relationship looks like and what unhealthy relationships look like.
The practices listed above are key in delaying sexual debut for teens, and they also make teens very unlikely targets for human traffickers. While my program presents these skills formally in a school or church setting, these kinds of life skills can be nurtured with your children or with other youth in your life. Perhaps most importantly, letting a child or teen know that they are valued and appreciated can make a big difference in their life, and watching for concerning behavior can create an opportunity for intervention.
How to combat human trafficking
As Mother Teresa said, “Love begins at home.” Investing time and interest in the lives of your children, nieces/nephews, younger cousins or siblings, students, mentees, or athletes can build them up and give them opportunities to look for guidance or advice when they reach difficult crossroads. Furthermore, we should all avoid media that exploits or sexualizes youth. And given the link between pornography and sex trafficking, everyone should take steps to ensure that our homes are porn-free zones by utilizing software like Covenant Eyes. Most importantly, you can take a stand against a culture that condones the exploitation of others by living a life that always treats others with dignity and respect.
For more information on human trafficking, visit the Polaris Project.
U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888 or text “be free” to 233733
References:
[1] Hande Inanc, Alicia Meckstroth, Betsy Keating, Katie Adamek, Heather Zaveri, So O’Neil, Kim McDonald and Lindsay Ochoa (2020). Factors Influencing Youth Sexual Activity: Conceptual Models for Sexual Risk Avoidance and Cessation. OPRE Research Brief #2020-153. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Additional Reading:
