NEAR MYTH OF SEX TRAFFICKING IN AMERICA

Written by Michael Thervil

Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/REUTERS

In a country where awareness surrounding the social issue of human sex trafficking has been brought to the forefront, it is about time that Americans take the time out to really consider if all the hype, anger, and public outcry against human sex trafficking is really worth all the outrage. It’s one thing to sensationalize something but another thing to really drill down into the number when compared to other crimes of the similar caliber. This is not to say that human sex trafficking or human trafficking of anything should be ignored, however, the point that needs to be driven home is that human sex trafficking may not be as common as the media has made it out to be.

looking at the number according to the American Law-Enforcement there were an estimated 10,000 arrests made for people suspected of sex trafficking, of course it should be understood that not all 10,000 suspects that were arrested were convicted. In fact, in 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice only convicted 169 people of sex trafficking. That’s less than 1% of all arrests made for the charge. But when you look at other crimes of similar nature such as molestation and rape, in which the number of people that were arrested for molestation was less than 50 in 2024 and in the case of rape in 2019 that number was 16,599.

Then there are other serious crimes such as murder. It was reported that in 2024 12,440 people were arrested for murder. When it comes to how many people were arrested for the use, manufacturing, or sale of narcotics in America, that number sharply rose to 870,874. Keep in mind that the majority (87%) of people arrested for narcotics consisted of mere possession. It seems that people (women) specifically are more likely to be raped and get busted for narcotics than get sexually trafficked.

In sum, when it comes to ranking the most cringeworthy criminal acts in America, sex trafficking ranks dead last, which means that there is an irrational sense of fear that has been going on in America. The question that must be asked is where does this irrational fear of sex trafficking come from and who benefits? Currently there’s no answer to this question. but because of this irrational fear, there are social ramifications that have been spawned from it. women of all types, shapes and sizes think that there’s always a predictor, who seems to always be male waiting for them around the corner. The fact is, even though sex trafficking ranks last on the egregious crimes list, there has been an uptick in women who are the initial facilitators that get people sex trafficked in the first place.

Another social ramification is the that men in the United States have been increasingly reluctant to socialize with women for the real risk and fear that they will become victims of sexual allegations of misconduct which could range from sexual harassment to sexual assault. This has taken a toll not only in the American dating market, but it has played an adverse role in the decline of sexual intercourse between men and women, marriage, and childbearing in America. In short, men simply don’t want to take the risk as they could lose everything, even if they win a case against them regarding sexual misconduct in the courtroom. Is sex trafficking an issue? Maybe? But not as much as people to think it is when compared to murder, rape, and drug use.