There is a question we don’t ask nearly enough when we talk about sex trafficking: Who is creating the demand? We talk about traffickers. We talk about victims. We talk about arrests. But what about the person who pays for the sex? Because if we want to disrupt the business of sex trafficking, we have to look at the economics of exploitation.
Human trafficking is a crime of exploitation for profit. Traffickers make money because there is a market for commercial sex. And at Lynn’s Warriors, we believe our justice system needs to be absolutely clear: The person being exploited is not the person who should carry the blame for the exploitation. Too often, a trafficking survivor can be viewed through the lens of prostitution rather than trauma, coercion and exploitation. That has to change. The victim is not the customer. The victim is not the trafficker. The victim is not the market.
So today we’re asking a different question: WHAT HAPPENS IF WE STOP NORMALIZING THE BUYER? 💰 FOLLOW THE MONEY Sex trafficking is a business built around exploitation. Research into underground commercial-sex economies has documented the substantial profits available to pimps and traffickers. In one Urban Institute study involving eight U.S. cities, interviewed pimps and traffickers reported taking home between $5,000 and $32,833 per week. That’s why demand matters. If there is money to be made, criminals have an incentive to supply the market. And when the market involves vulnerable people—including children—the consequences can be devastating. The money trail matters. #CommunityCreatesChange