What About American Girls Sold on the Streets?

[MeganLove]

When we hear about human trafficking in India or Cambodia, our hearts melt. The victim has sometimes been kidnapped and imprisoned, even caged, in a way that conjures our images of slavery.

But in the United States we see girls all the time who have been trafficked — and our hearts harden. The problem is that these girls aren’t locked in cages. Rather, they’re often runaways out on the street wearing short skirts or busting out of low-cut tops, and many Americans perceive them not as trafficking victims but as miscreants who have chosen their way of life. So even when they’re 14 years old, we often arrest and prosecute them — even as the trafficker goes free.

In fact, human trafficking is more similar in America and Cambodia than we would like to admit. Teenage girls on American streets may appear to be selling sex voluntarily, but they’re often utterly controlled by violent pimps who take every penny they earn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1&ref=prostitution

[lisamikhail]

It may be some kind of American elitism. "You were born in this great country, so you should know better. That's why we're gonna lock you up, instead of getting you the help a 15 year old girl should get, because it wasn't given to you from birth."

Even though maybe not all teenage SWs are handled by pimps, I still believe that somewhere along the line they didn't get what every child in this country deserves, and that is neglected by authorities depending on the city. When she becomes an adult, she can possibly find these helpful resources easier, but as a child or teenager, she's not going to know where to go.

[TamsenCrown]

I got into this at 16 in this country. I was never on a street level at any point. I consider myself very very lucky. But mark my words, at 18, even though I went for a minimum of 800/hr my voice was in no way heard by my managers(all women, I never worked for a man and madams can be just as demented) and the situation, at times, could have soured severly. And I survived, barely.

In Cambodia/China/Mexico the list goes on, poverty is so severe that patents sell thier daughters into trade. They simply have no choice. And if you were in their shoes with other children, you can't say or cast a valid opinion about what you would do different. Russia, Romania, Vzech Rebublic, it's everywhere. And it's here too. So before snarl at countries over seas, know it's here too. Every possible sick & depraved & inconcievable act you could conjour up in your imagination, it happens here. Regularly.

[TamsenCrown]

I guess what I'm saying is even thoughit isn't street level, underage girls being sold are underage girls being sold.

[QuietSoul]

I heard a part of this program when it aired. Really meant to post here about it before now.

April 28, 2011
Many prostitutes are forced into prostitution and controlled by human traffickers. Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department, talks about human trafficking in the U.S.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/28/135808703/amb-cdebaca-combats-sex-trafficking-in-the-u-s