It Can't Happen in My Backyard: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Girls in the United States

Abstract

This article describes the issue of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States and details the risk factors associated with young girls entering the life. The consequences of commercial sexual exploitation are detailed and the barriers to effectively combat this growing phenomenon are investigated. Service providers who work with this population are highlighted, promising practices are discussed, current research is critiqued, and recommendations for developing a comprehensive response to the issue of commercial sexual exploitation are outlined.

How Israeli social workers perceive adolescent girls in prostitution

“…While there has been growing social attention in the past two decades to the problem of youth prostitution as a form of sexual victimization, research on professional intervention in this domain is still in its infancy (Kotrla, 2010;McMahonHoward & Reimers, 2013;Rand, 2009). Further, services for this population remain limited, because providers are not fully aware of this form of victimization (Halter, 2010;Hardy, Compton, & McPhatter, 2013;McMahon-Howard & Reimers, 2013).…”

“…In the US, the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) (US Department of State, 2000) constructed sex workers under 18 years old as child victims of trafficking (Marcus et al, 2012). The terminology of CSEC facilitates a transition away from terms such as juvenile prostitution, which may lead to misconceptions about this population as delinquents rather than as victims (Rand, 2009;Williamson & Prior, 2009). Indeed, CSEC has been defined as a form of child maltreatment affecting children and adolescents on both the domestic and transnational levels (Hardy et al, 2013;Mitchell, Finkelhor, & Wolak, 2010).…”

Inequalities in US Child Protection: The Case of Sex Trafficked Youth

“…It is difficult to make generalizations about either of these experiences because of the vast range of situations that may inhabit one of these categories. Additionally, they may be comorbid, as many DMST victims have prior histories of child sexual abuse (Moore et al 2017;Rand 2009;Wilson and Butler 2014). The sexual acts that youth are coerced to perform in both of these situations may be similar, however, the extent of the abuse and its context can draw attention to some critical differences.…”

“…Research demonstrates that a high proportion of DMST youth have current or past child welfare involvement (Brittle 2008;ECPAT 2012;Fong and Berger-Cardoso 2010;Kotrla 2010;Rand 2009). Early studies identified a relationship between DMST and child welfare involved children including foster care (we will use the term foster care to refer to traditional foster care and other out-of-home placements under the guardianship of the state), and juvenile justice services (Fong and Berger-Cardoso 2010;Kotrla 2010).…”

“…The theory of critical consciousness (Freire 1979) is used to illustrate the process of developing an awareness of the systems of domination and subjugation that create inequities in society, rather than perceiving them to be the result of individual-level problems or failings. Taken together, these theories explain the macro-origins of social problems and the inequities inherent in them; they can be used Johnston et al 2014;Rand 2009). Media outlets often present stories of trafficking as episodic and frequently fail to connect the trafficking to larger social forces (Johnston et al 2014).…”