{"id":19681,"date":"2024-01-25T18:15:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T00:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/teen-sex-sex-trafficking\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T13:53:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:53:39","slug":"sexo-adolescente-trafico-sexual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalwomanhood.org\/es\/teen-sex-sex-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"La relaci\u00f3n entre el sexo precoz en la adolescencia y el tr\u00e1fico sexual"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a teen, my mom had me watch the 2008 film Taken<\/em> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, human trafficking tends to hit closer to home. According to the Polaris Project<\/a>, 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 \u201cparticular set of skills\u201d might not recognize the signs of his daughter being trafficked if she continued to attend school and other commitments while her \u201cboyfriend\u201d controlled and manipulated her in order to make a profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human trafficking might feel like a malevolent shade\u2013a 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<\/a>, in truth, the statistics from the Polaris Project indicate that there are things that can be done to combat sex trafficking\u2013 and it looks an awful lot like helping youth delay sexual activity until marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are risk factors for early sexual activity?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lack of emotional connection with parents<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Early sexual activity can take place for a variety of reasons<\/a>, 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, \u201cresearch<\/a> 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]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional manipulation<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In addition, teens with unmet emotional needs are more vulnerable to manipulation because their fear of losing an intimate relationship is much greater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teens with unmet emotional needs are more vulnerable to manipulation because their fear of losing an intimate relationship is much greater. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we discussed in our article on sex and consent<\/a>, sexual negotiation is often much more complicated than just a simple \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno.\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficult stories I\u2019ve heard while working to teach teens about healthy relationships<\/a> include lines like, \u201cHe said it didn\u2019t make sense to keep saying I was waiting for marriage if we were going to be together forever,\u201d \u201cHe said if I wouldn\u2019t have sex with him it was proof that I didn\u2019t really love him,\u201d \u201cHe told me he would promise to stop asking for sex if I would just try \u2018other stuff\u2019 first to see if I would like it,\u201d and even, \u201cHe said if I left, he\u2019d kill himself.\u201d (As a note, manipulation and abuse can happen to boys and <\/em>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does teen sexual activity relate to human trafficking?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em><\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cgrooming\u201d 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 \u201cjust this one time,\u201d or as an \u201cemergency fix\u201d to a money problem. As the trafficker starts to normalize sexual exploitation, the \u201ctrapping\u201d stage begins, where threats, violence, blackmail, and addiction are leveraged to keep the victim in the role she or he has stumbled into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common risk factors for early teen sex and sex trafficking<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What protective factors can we foster in pre-teens and teens?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, the converse is also true: meeting teens\u2019 emotional needs (primarily via fostering good self-esteem and a good understanding of healthy relationships) can go a long way in preventing both <\/em>early sexual activity and vulnerability to sex trafficking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I work with a program that started as an abstinence education program<\/a> 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 <\/em>parts of their life to be able to make decisions surrounding sex and relationships that honored their dignity and values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching teens to make good relationship decisions decreases trafficking risk<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n