Sexual Exploitation

Exploitation
Using a person for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain; taking unfair advantage of another person. Exploitation is about power- taking advantage of someone less powerful than you- you are able to take advantage of them because you are more powerful.

Sexual Exploitation
It is the sexual abuse of someone who is in a vulnerable position. Sexual exploitation involves an abuse of power: adults or other children taking advantage of their greater wealth, status and physical strength.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
Commercial means the trade or exchange of goods and money. Commercial sexual exploitation is the exchange of some sexual activity* for money or another form of compensation (clothing, housing, or food, for example) and/or being lured into sexual activity with the promise of money, glamour and independence by any person, syndicate or group. All commercial sexual exploitation is sexual exploitation, but not all sexual exploitation is commercial. CSE, like sexual exploitation is about power, but it is also about money. Sex turns into a commodity. CSE includes:
• Prostitution- selling and buying sex on the streets, in brothels, massage parlors, saunas, bars, and through escort services
• Pornography- selling and buying demeaning sexual images in movies, videos, magazines, and on the Internet and cable television; includes phone sex
• Stripping- selling and buying live sexual performance in strip clubs, adult theaters, bars, peep show booths, and at private parties

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)
Any form of exchange where an adult, syndicate or group achieves sexual gratification, financial gain or advancement through the abuse of a child’s sexuality. The exchange may be monetary or non-monetary (food, shelter, drugs, etc.) in nature.
• Sexual abuse by adults and payment in cash or in kind to the child or a third person or persons
• A fundamental violation of children’s rights
• A contemporary form of slavery of children and consists of practices that are demeaning, degrading and many times life-threatening to children
• The child is treated as a commercial and sexual object
• Is expressed through multiple forms of prostitution and pornography as well as the sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

Internet Sexual Exploitation (ISE)
Exchanging any form of sexual activity or sexual images either voluntarily or involuntarily using e-mail, IM, websites, by utilizing camera phones, webcams or digital cameras/videos. ISE includes:
• Sexually explicit chat, sexual harassment, erotic stories, virtual sex etc.
• Exposure to sexual predators who engage in sexually explicit conversations, enticement of minors or those who arrange face to face meeting which may lead to sexual assault of minors
• Production and distribution of webcam pornographic video and child pornographic images.

*Sex Act (or Sexual Act/Sexual Activity)
Contact between the penis and the vulva or the penis and the anus involving penetration, however slight; contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva, or anus; or penetration of the anal or genital opening of another person by a hand, finger, or other object.

Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking is modern-day slavery. It is estimated that between 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked every year. Victims of human trafficking include children, teenagers, men, and women. Human trafficking is the fastest growing and second largest criminal industry in the world.

“Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” is defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) defines as:

Sex Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act , in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years;
or
Labor Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Human Trafficking Fact Sheet

Human trafficking may be domestic (victims are moved within a country) or International (victims are moved from country to country). Victims of international human trafficking are generally trafficked into the United States from Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 women, men and children are trafficked into the U.S. every year. In terms of domestic trafficking, that number is much higher. Under United States law, any form of commercial sexual exploitation of persons under 18 is considered human trafficking. This means that the estimated 300,000 children in the United States that are involved in commercial sexual exploitation, are victims of human trafficking.

Victims of trafficking may be forced into commercial sexual exploitation which includes prostitution, stripping, pornography and live-sex shows. Victims may also be trafficed for labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, sweatshop factories, or migrant agricultural work.

Early Warning Signs

Internet Sexual Exploitation
• Your child spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night.
• You find pornography on your child's computer.
• Your child receives phone calls from men you do not know or your child is making calls, sometimes long distance, to numbers you do not recognize.
• Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.
• Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
• Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.
• Your child is using an on-line account belonging to someone else.
(Courtesy of FBI)

Commercial Sexual Exploitation

• Unexplained gifts or cash or lying about the source of the gift/cash
• Cell phone calls/phone bills from unrecognizable numbers
• A new cell phone given by a friend
• Hang-ups when an adult answers the phone
• Condoms packages or drug paraphernalia
• Time unaccounted for – lies about where and with whom they have been
• Change in attitude or behavior – aggressive towards family
• Change in appearance – dressing differently
• Isolation from family or friends (physically & emotionally)
• Is secretive about new set of friends or girlfriend/boyfriend
• Having a boyfriend/girlfriend who is much older than the child
• Missing personal items in your home
• Change in appetite (loss/gain weight)
• May have bruises on body
• Staying out late
• May refer to friends as their “street” names or start using street slang

Human Trafficking

Child Victims
• Child attending school sporadically or not at all
• Living with employer or at a place of business or with multiple people in a small environment
• Working long hours for little or no money
• Evidence of physical abuse: scarring, respiratory problems, malnourished, underweight, rotting teeth
• Evidence of mental abuse: depression, helplessness, isolation, fearful or confusion
• Fearful of adults and law enforcement
• Evidence of sexual abuse: signs of STD’s, HIV/AIDS, urinary tract infections

Adult Victims
• Always accompanied by another adult who appears to be controlling
• Rarely allowed to go out in public – no socializing except for work
• Appears fearful, personal of family threats
• Not in control of their visa or passport- lacks identification
• Needs permission to leave or use the bathroom etc.
• Shows signs of physical, mental or sexual abuse

Risk Factors
A number of factors contribute to victims becoming trapped in the Commercial Sex Industry:

• Media Images
• Materialism (sex for sneakers)
• Misogyny
• Acceptance of abuse
• Racism
• Sexual Abuse- 80-90% have a history
• Fractured families, absent fathers
• Involvement with child welfare system
• Prior trauma

How are people lured into the Commercial Sex Industry?
Recruiters, pimps, and predators lure their victims in a number of different ways:
• Pimps prey on emotionally vulnerable people
• “Groom” victims with attention, gifts, and “affection”
• Give them drugs, alcohol
• Create an emotional bonding/loyalty
• Use violence when victims resist

Recruitment on the Street
Runaways and throwaways are at high risk for forced or coerced involvement in street prostitution and/or pornography. They have no food, shelter and are ill-equipped and unprepared to survive on their own. Many are coerced into prostitution by predators on the streets. Predators may promise food, shelter, love, romance or a modeling career to win the victims trust and affection. Some predators use drugs and violence to control their victims.

Recruitment on the Internet
Sex offenders are skilled in luring children and teens into exploitive situations, and they use attention, affection, kindness, empathy and effective listening to do so. They may spend a great deal of time and money luring their victims. These predators will frequently pose as young people, working their way into the lives of teens and preteens chatting on-line. Although some are brazen enough to immediately talk about a sexual relationship, others are crafty enough to draw their unsuspecting prey in slowly, making the child feel like an important part of the “e-friends” life before they suggest exchanging obscene photos or sexually explicit chat, or even a face-to- face meeting.

Because the Internet is subject to few regulations, pornographic sites are very easy to find. Children can access sexual material accidentally just by misspelling a website address. Pornography can appear in pop-up advertisements (hyperlinks), and in e-mails (SPAM) or as an attachment in e-mail. If your child carries a cell phone or PSP, they also may carry web access with them without your watchful eye. iPods are also becoming an area of concern because of the ability to download pornography.

Why are children at risk against these sexual on-line predators? When children are on the internet they have the ability to open up and share with others at a time in their life when it may be difficult to communicate with their family and friends. This is a normal part of the development process into adulthood. Predators know this and take advantage of this.