Human Trafficking and Exploitation: The Texas Requirement _______________________________________
Culture Although many are careful in linking cultural factors to the etiology of human trafficking for fear of imposing judgment on a particular culture, many maintain that cultural ideologies that tolerate sexual trafficking, bonded labor, and child labor may be a stronger factor than poverty in predicting trafficking rates [36; 42]. For example, some cultures emphasize collectivism and prioritizing the needs of the family and group first before the needs of the individual. Some children may feel they have to sacrifice themselves for their family when traffickers promise money [36]. Traffickers also know that they can threaten to hurt victims’ families to keep them from escaping [36]. Furthermore, in many cultures, boys are more highly valued than girls, and as a result, girls are considered more dispensable [36]. Sons are considered the family’s social security, staying with the family while daughters marry into other families. Therefore, girls may be more likely to be sold into slavery than boys. Child labor is also inextricably tied to cultural factors. In India, for example, child labor is common because it is believed that children in the lower levels of the caste system (i.e., the “untouchables”) should be socialized early to understand their position in society [42]. It has been observed that when traditional cultural and societal norms about women’s roles were relaxed in some European countries and more women entered the labor force, child labor decreased [42]. Ultimately, it is difficult to unravel the effects of poverty and culture because the pressures of poverty can lead families to use tradition as a justification to sacrifice young men, women, and children [42]. Ultimately, the conversation about human trafficking is com- plex, and to attempt to isolate the causes is beyond challenging. Multiple factors have been suggested as possibly predicting human trafficking, including macroeconomic factors (e.g., gross domestic product per capita), unemployment rates, female inequality, cultural oppression, and lack of protection of women’s rights [68; 69]. In one study, ease of land access to the destination country appeared to be a powerful predictor in terms of the number of individuals trafficked [68]. TRAFFICKERS: AN OVERVIEW Much attention has been focused on the victims of trafficking; however, it is important to also understand the perpetrators. It has been suggested human traffickers employ five general strategies to recruit and traffic victims [6; 70; 71; 72]: • Kidnapping: Traffickers may kidnap their victims. They may lure them with food or treats or take them by force. Victims with few if any social ties are highly vulnerable, as no one will miss them or report their disappearance.
• Targeting poor families: Traffickers may convince families to sell their children (often daughters). Because many families in developing countries live in abject poverty, traffickers will stress to victims’ families how the money will help them to survive. Other traffickers may tell families that selling their daughter will provide her with more promising opportunities. • Developing a false romantic relationship with victim: A tactic often used with young girls, perpetrators pose as boyfriends by romancing victims, buying gifts, and proclaiming their love. Victims have a difficult time believing that their boyfriends would hurt or deceive them, making them easy targets for trafficking. • Fake storefronts: Some employment, modeling, or marriage agencies are fronts for illegal trafficking operations. A potential victim might be lured with the promise of employment, a lucrative modeling contract, or an arranged marriage in the United States. After victims have been lured in, traffickers come to assess their “product.” Perpetrators may be family members or friends. • Legal storefronts: Some legal businesses in the tourism, entertainment, and leisure industries integrate traffick- ing activities into their business structure. • Recruiting local sex workers: Traffickers might purchase sex workers working in local night clubs from brothel owners or simply lure sex workers by promising them a more affluent future. These trafficked sex workers may later recruit younger victims.
IMPACT ON VICTIMS/SURVIVORS
HEALTH CONSEQUENCES In studies of trafficked women, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, back pain, pelvic pain, stomach pain, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies, and gynecologic infections were common, generally the result of continual physical, psychological, and sexual abuse [30; 73]. Victims of labor trafficking also experience health issues related to the type of work, workplace conditions, malnutrition, and violence [74]. It is important to remember that some of these somatic complaints, such as headaches, fatigue, and gastrointestinal problems, may be underlying symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress [73]. Some cultural groups might not use the terms “depression,” “sad,” or “anxious,” but may use metaphors and somatic symptoms to describe their pain, all of which are embedded within cultural ideologies. The most common culture-based idioms of distress are somatic symptoms. Some groups tend not to psychologize emotional problems; instead, they experience psychological conflicts as bodily sensations (e.g., headaches, bodily aches, gastrointestinal problems, and dizziness).
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