Prostitution is Trafficking

We'd like to help dispel a common misunderstanding when trying to decipher between prostitution and trafficking. Many assume that if a woman selling sex is not chained up or shackled, then she is doing it at will and is just trying to make a living. But what we may not realize is that many women and girls who are deemed 'prostitutes' are in fact doing it because they are tricked, coerced, brainwashed and threatened. Many are brainwashed to believe that their pimps love them and they have no other choice. So, in our anti-trafficking community, we consider these girls 'trafficked' and in need of rescuing.

Yet many of the victims are arrested and charged with prostitution. Particularly when it's an emotional chain that binds them, it's just not that apparent to the outside world, particularly law enforcement.

Because trafficking can be masked as prostitution, it's easier for pimps, johns and traffickers to remain industrious. The victim may accept her prostitution charge while remaining silent about the nature of what is actually happening to her. Traffickers, through various forms of manipulation, keep their victims silent so as to maintain profitability and physical proximity (women may be too scared to leave).

You can learn more about this particular topic within the world of trafficking by visiting GEMS @ http://www.gems-girls.org/about.

Rachel Lloyd, a former victim of trafficking, has made it her life's mission to help these women and girls who are commonly mistreated and mistaken for prostitutes. She has devoted her life to dispelling this myth so that these girls are no longer prosecuted but instead SAVED.