Sex Trafficking and What It Looks Like Today

Sex trafficking has been a problem all around the world for centuries, and it has been heavily rooted into history. In America it began during the first Transatlantic Slave Trade when over 300,000 slaves were brought to North America. From then on it has been a very prominent issue, and was deemed a political issue in the early 1900s.

Now with the new age of social media sex trafficking is at its peak. The victim can never be harmed physically, but be exploited all around the world. It mainly happens on websites that are made specifically for sexual content, which are worryingly negligent in preventing such things. There have been many cases where videos of women being sexually assaulted were posted and largely spread all over many sites, women that have been reported missing were also found in videos. These pages are not the only problem; it can happen on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Kik, Twitter, and Whatsapp. It is very important to educate others on the dangers of Sex Trafficking in order to prevent it from happening from those around you.

Here are some signs a person is being Sex Trafficked

- Avoiding interaction with people in authority
- Signs of physical abuse
- Having little to no personal belongings
- Appearing malnourished
- Not having or lacking official documents
- Person seems overly tense, submissive, or paranoid
- Has run away from home

These are only some of the signs, not all of them mean that a person is being trafficked but they can help you identify a victim. Be aware of your child’s online activity and monitor who they interact with.