Is prostitution now considered trafficking?

[Anonymous]

I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

[Anonymous]

Obviously prostitution is coercive and rife with trafficking. Even if a girl/woman was not violently abducted. Use your brain, please.

The Nordic model addresses this very well - “sex workers” (what a disgusting term meant to gloss over atrocities, btw) is not criminalized, but solicitors (ie customers) and pimps very much are.

[Anonymous]

You have to look at the specific legal code to see the definition, but I think trafficking usually involves someone who is not the sex worker transporting a sex worker to perform the act, and if it’s federal crime then it’s over state lines.

So for instance an individual selling at her house sex via Craigslist is engaged in prostitution but not trafficking.

A man who brings a women from Baltimore to DC to have sex for money with someone else in a hotel is engaged in trafficking and also violating the prostitution laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

You are incorrect. Trafficking by definition involves force, fraud, or coercion. The coercion can be nonviolent (e.g., threatening to tell your family you had sex) but the sex is not consensual.
I have no idea what "pimps of yesteryear" you have in mind but yes, if someone cannot safely exit the situation they are/were being trafficked.

[Anonymous]

I've known a few prosititutes in my life. Of the ones I met, they fell into two categories:

1. Did it for quick money and desperation. Typically addicted to drugs and need enough for another hit. The (sad) side-effect of drug use is you tend to lose weight since you don't have an appetite, which makes these people more "valued" on the market since skinny people fit a more typical beauty ideal.

2. To earn money. It's a mix of easy money and fun. These are rarely addicts, though I've seen one or two do coke or marijuana when offered. They are higher-end and aren't roaming the streets. All clients are found through websites or referrals, and clients pay well. There's more "dating" involved here, and they like going to fancy restaurants and the rest of it. To some extent, they also pick their clients.

There is certainly a third category which is those who are coerced and forced into it. I just haven't met anyone in that situation so can't comment on it.

[Anonymous]

Much of prostitution is sex trafficking. It’s very rare to find a sex worker who is not being coerced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Much of prostitution is sex trafficking. It’s very rare to find a sex worker who is not being coerced.

Data to back up your outlandish claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

Whatever the political buzz word of the time is. It's all so meaningless and tiresome.

It's the world's oldest profession and will never be eradicated by the big government socialists or the puritanical religious cults.

[Anonymous]

The words seem to be used interchangeably now but they are not exactly the same.

[Anonymous]

If you’re being forced to be a prostitute against your will, yes that is trafficking. This is not a difficult concept.

[Anonymous]

Yes, especially if people have been brought across state lines for that purpose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

Yes.

Sex work that is not solo-practitioner if you will, is trafficking. Sex workers with "pimps" as you put it do not have complete freedom over their bodies and lives and work, even if they have not been kidnapped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

Yes.

Sex work that is not solo-practitioner if you will, is trafficking. Sex workers with "pimps" as you put it do not have complete freedom over their bodies and lives and work, even if they have not been kidnapped.

Sounds like a lot of non-sex-work jobs I know!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

Yes.

Sex work that is not solo-practitioner if you will, is trafficking. Sex workers with "pimps" as you put it do not have complete freedom over their bodies and lives and work, even if they have not been kidnapped.

Sounds like a lot of non-sex-work jobs I know!

Everyone who uses their body to make money, is a prostitute in a sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I first really started widely hearing the term sex trafficking about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I considered sex trafficking to be where victims were essentially kidnapped and forced into prostitution. It's pretty evident that the term is now used for situations that are less coercive than what I had previously assumed.

So are most forms of prostitution now considered trafficking? And would the pimps of yesteryear (prior to the 2000's) now be labeled traffickers?

Yes.

Sex work that is not solo-practitioner if you will, is trafficking. Sex workers with "pimps" as you put it do not have complete freedom over their bodies and lives and work, even if they have not been kidnapped.

Sounds like a lot of non-sex-work jobs I know!

Everyone who uses their body to make money, is a prostitute in a sense.

Only if it's the part of your body that belongs to your husband.