Sex Trafficking Around The World: A Case Study

Introduction
Human trafficking is a transnational crime that remains as one of the most profitable crimes. Sex trafficking is a subtype of human trafficking that is being considered the modern day slavery of women (Orme & Ross-Sheriff, 2015). It is estimated that there are 4,500,000 humans worldwide who are being forced into sexual exploitation commercially in the world (ILO, 2012). There are women and girls all over the world that are being forced to partake in commercial sexual acts. Women are being targeted and pulled into this grim world due to the injustices that have placed them into a vulnerable position in society. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why women are the target of sex trafficking around the world, as well as, what
The “Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris Marion Young lays out different categories of oppression that applies heavily to the women who have fallen victim to sex trafficking (2014). Exploitation is when someone does the hard work but that person is not being compensated fairly for their work, but someone else is being compensated for it (Young, 2014). Women are the ones in sex trafficking who are going through all of the torture they call “work.” The men who control them are making the money from selling the women’s bodies to paying customers. According to the Human Trafficking Center, it is estimated that the people who sell the women’s work, make approximately $21,800 per person globally (2014). Powerlessness is the oppression category that explains the separation of power between groups (Miller, 2014). Some people have power and control and others do not. The people who are not in the group with power often feel as though they cannot speak out, get treated poorly because they feel they have no say in what should be done with them and cannot make their own decision (Young, 2014). The victims of sex trafficking have to experience this daily. If the women speak out or try to have a voice, they may be harmed or killed. They also feel that if they try to obtain power, they will lose the roof over their head and their only chance at surviving because it is provided by the traffickers (Soroptomist, 2012). Their survival is at the back of their minds each time they think of escaping. Many women are told that they are illegally placed in different countries, which causes them to believe that if they leave, they will be arrested (Soroptomist, 2012). The victims are also told that if they try to leave or fight back, their family will be killed forcing them to subdue (Soroptomist, 2012). Cultural imperialism takes the dominant identity group, which is typically males, and creates their beliefs and ways of life and make them