Fact or Fiction

Human Trafficking Rumors

Your social media feed may fill up with terrifying stories of children being snatched off the streets by traffickers, packaged in shipping crates or auctioned off online and sold to the highest bidder. Sometimes these stories are spread by well-meaning people who are truly concerned. This misinformation can make it difficult for survivors to identify how they have been impacted by exploitation. Learn fact from fiction:

Fiction

Trafficking Always Involves Force

Fact

A common misconception about human trafficking is that it primarily involves physical kidnapping or physical restraint. The truth is, traffickers often employ psychological tactics such as deception, fraud, manipulation, or intimidation to coerce victims into providing commercial sex or forced labor.

Fiction

Stranger Danger

Fact

It is not uncommon for human trafficking survivors to have been exploited by loved ones, such as romantic partners or family members, including parents.

Fiction

Consent

Fact

No matter how a person first enters the commercial sex trade or labor arrangement, they deserve support in exiting. A person may have initially agreed to a commercial sex or labor arrangement due to constrained choice. It is important to know that iif an individual is under the age of 18 when involved in the commercial sex trade, they are automatically considered a victim of trafficking, even if they weren’t forced, tricked, or manipulated into the situation.

Fiction

Held Captive

Fact

People involved in trafficking have complex reasons for staying in their situation. Some lack basic necessities such as a safe place to live, while others fear for their safety. Some individuals do not recognize they are under the control of another person until after exiting.

Fiction

Moved Across Borders

Fact

Human trafficking is often confused with human smuggling, which refers to illegal border crossings. Human trafficking can occur without any movement across borders. Victims can be recruited and taken advantage of in their own homes or cities.

Fiction

Girls, Girls, Girls

Fact

Sex trafficking victimizes people of all gender identities. People from the LGBTQIA+ community can be particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Fiction

Child Prostitute

Fact

Under the law, any commercial sex involving a minor is human trafficking. For adults, commercial sex is considered human trafficking if it is done against their will or if they were forced, tricked into, or manipulated into it. Sometimes people enter into commercial sex when they have very limited options to earn enough money to take care of themselves and/or their families. This is known as constrained choice. Commercial sex can be considered exploitive in circumstances involving constrained choice.

Fiction

The Only Type of Trafficking is Sex Trafficking

Fact

Labor trafficking occurs in the United States and it is reported at lower rates compared to sex trafficking but that doesn’t mean it happens less often, just that people are more aware of one type than the other. Human trafficking involves using force, fraud, or manipulation to take advantage of people through labor or commercial sex.

Fiction

Rescue

Fact

A lot of people in the anti-trafficking movement, social services, and law enforcement see themselves as “rescuers”. But we know that many survivors do not relate to the term rescue. We are here to make your path out and life easier, not to rescue you. No matter how much support you receive in exiting a situation where you are being taken advantage of, we know the hero of the story in you.

Fiction

People Always Identify as Victims or Survivors

Fact

Every person and situation is unique and people who have been taken advantage of may self-identify in many different ways. Some may see themselves as former sex workers, others may identify as survivors of sex or labor trafficking. People who are being taken advantage of often do not seek help from law enforcement and don’t always identify as a victim for a lot of reasons including fear, isolation, guilt, shame, misplaced loyalty, and expert manipulation.