NPR Trafficking Coverage

When The Game is Glorified

National Public Radio [NPR] has shared several stories that shed light on the harsh reality of sex trafficking in America. The journalists of these stories explore the phenomenon of the lure for traffickers and johns to exploit underage girls or women in prostitution and the complex interaction of factors that increase girls’ vulnerability to pimps and traffickers.

Recently NPR shared a story on American gangs moving to traffick youth into prostitution for financial gain. This report depicts what NFNL staff has heard from law enforcement at conferences discussing human trafficking over the last several years and from the stories and lives of the women who have found an escape. NPR reports gangs find selling girls comes “with virtually no costs” and that “it is not like moving, or as risky as moving narcotics. It is not as risky as extorting business owners” according to authorities. Gangs who pimp/traffick girls and women may use a variety of tactics to entice, coerce, or force a victim into prostitution.

Another report run in 2010 on All Things Considered shared the story of two young women that were trafficked in their teenage years in Oakland, California. We recommend you listen to the audiocast of this story for its thorough exploration of the culture surrounding the girls and the men in this story, the girls’ recruitment into prostitution, and their escape and healing from “the game.”

The two young women share the harsh reality of their life as prostitutes which seems to counter the normalization and even glamorization of pimping and prostitution they experienced growing up in a neighborhood with rampant trafficking. “I used to fantasize about boys that are gangstas. ‘Oh, they get hecka money and they’re just gansta and cute, and it’s cool.’ That’s ok when you’re in high school. After that, what are you gonna do with your life? You’re gonna be in jail or you’re gonna be dead, and I don’t want part of either one of those.”

NPR shares the diffculty for many in the general public to understand the phenomenon and effect that the normalization of pimping and prostitution and responds that “many [victims] see it as an alternative to desperate home lives, friends getting shot, no food on the table and absent parents. And pimps take advantage of that.”

The report also discusses with authorities and social workers who interact regularly with numerous other victims in the Oakland area, the plight of youth trafficked. Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Sharmin Bock likens trafficking and pimping to brainwashing. “Remember Guyana and Jim Jones, where everybody’s drinking that Kool-Aid drink? Well, that’s exactly what these girls have had. Let’s call it pimp juice. They’ve all had it, and they can’t see past either their affection for their trafficker, or their fear of him,” says Brock in the NPR report.

The broadcast ends with the young women sharing their ongoing process of healing and how even decisions about dressing up or wearing heels stirs an inner-dialogue of their abuse and reclaiming of their bodies. A year after her escape from prostitution the same young woman reflects, “When I was 15, I didn’t see myself alive at the age of 18. And now I am 18, and I can look back and say, ‘You know, I’ve been through all that, and I’ve come out of it.’ It feels wonderful.”

If you want to continue to reading or listening to NPR broadcasts on this topic, the following stories may be of interest for further education or insight into the reality of trafficking. They again explore the Oakland community which can reflect what is reported on youth in Atlanta, New York, and Dallas:

The second part of the report explores the response of Oakland Police and the FBI to sex trafficking of American victims.

Almost a year later, this broadcast follows-up on the community response in Oakland when parents and advocates realized that pimps were targeting their middle school girls for trafficking.