You understand there’s a misinformation drawback interfering with fact-based anti-sex trafficking efforts when established, respected anti-trafficking organizations begin publishing articles debunking myths and rumors about trafficking.
Now we have joined these organizations as we’ve continued our efforts to share correct details about the each day realities of intercourse trafficking within the USA and counsel long-term options.
But, false theories proceed to flow into on-line. Whereas a few of these warnings are well-intentioned, they do extra hurt than good.
Within the final couple of years, the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline operated by the Polaris Mission, one of many largest anti-trafficking organizations on the planet, was inundated with lots of of calls reporting discredited intercourse trafficking theories. As an alternative of serving to, these calls took time and sources away from real victims in want.
This is only one tangible instance of how actual victims aren’t getting the assistance they want from human trafficking organizations as a consequence of viral theories. The extra viral misinformation there may be about trafficking, the extra vitality is wasted. This vitality ought to be directed towards serving to actual victims, not dispelling myths. Actual victims’ voices aren’t being heard as a consequence of conspiracy theories, so we’re doing our half right here to advocate for them.
We wish to be clear in saying that we perceive why individuals purchase into theories that always embody the “Hollywood” model of intercourse trafficking, as seen within the film “Taken.” There are grains of reality in these theories as a result of the fact is that intercourse trafficking can occur to anybody in any nation of any gender, age, nationality, or every other diversifying issue. Trafficking can contain a stranger, somebody the sufferer is aware of properly, and even simply an acquaintance.
All of these items thought-about, anti-trafficking specialists keep that many human traffickers function with established patterns and behaviors. We err on the facet of this established truth and analysis whereas additionally contemplating every idea we encounter and valuing skilled suggestions on these theories.
As a corporation, we don’t give attention to myths or conspiracies. We share information about pornography’s dangerous results. We additionally spotlight its connection to the underground trafficking business. Please confer with our weblog to see the lots of of articles we’ve about actual intercourse trafficking stats and stories, in addition to tales from survivors.
Established anti-exploitation organizations take a stand
Together with the Polaris Mission, the Nationwide Middle on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) strongly expressed concern about intercourse trafficking theories as a distraction to the actual work needing to be executed:
“We can not merely ignore ill-informed takes on intercourse trafficking as a result of the huge and pervasive unconscious acceptance of the narratives they create makes it harder to unfold the reality and implement efficient change and reform.”
Anti-child abuse and exploitation group Thorn additionally got down to dispel theories and myths that serve to misinform individuals about how youngster intercourse trafficking works reasonably than assist resolve the problem at giant.
Now, it’s our flip. To fight this subject, we should begin with consciousness of the proper data. Most of us aren’t answerable for beginning false trafficking theories. Nevertheless, sharing or retweeting them is one other matter. Even when shared with good intentions, it will possibly nonetheless be dangerous. Although it may be straightforward to impulsively share a narrative after solely studying the headline or with out making an attempt to confirm the knowledge, we wish to emphasize the significance of checking information earlier than sharing data on points as critical as these.
If one thing sounds too “far-fetched” to be true, it is perhaps. In fact, it’s essential to do not forget that something can occur. Whereas remoted incidents could happen, anti-trafficking specialists affirm that traffickers don’t sometimes function as these theories counsel.
The essential factor is to remain knowledgeable, keep conscious of your environment, and report something you personally see that’s suspicious.
So, let’s speak about what’s true and factual and what’s not.
Debunked myths, rumors, and conspiracy theories in line with specialists
Intercourse trafficking is an advanced matter. There is no such thing as a single state of affairs that describes how a sufferer leads to a intercourse trafficking scenario, however there are confirmed patterns.
But lots of the unfounded theories incorrectly depend on the parable that almost all or all victims are kidnapped when, in actual fact, most victims know and belief their trafficker earlier than the trafficking takes place.
To lift consciousness, we’ve compiled a listing of debunked intercourse trafficking rumors. Notice that whereas a few of these could have non secular or political contexts, Struggle the New Drug is a non-religious and non-legislative nonprofit group.
Additionally notice that, once more, whereas remoted incidents of a few of these misinformed theories could have occurred, anti-trafficking specialists keep that traffickers don’t usually function en masse within the methods these theories describe.
Many of those theories are unsubstantiated, however it’s essential to fact-check with established anti-trafficking organizations earlier than spreading any unsubstantiated data.
1. Pizzagate and a political cabal
Although there have been eventualities the place celebrities and high-profile people have been accused of intercourse trafficking with credible proof, Pizzagate just isn’t a type of.
Pizzagate dates again to 2016 when 4Chan customers speculated {that a} pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. was getting used because the headquarters of a kid intercourse trafficking ring led by elites within the Democratic get together.
This can be a usually false conspiracy idea that immediately resulted in at the least one occasion of violence. A 28-year-old North Carolina man drove to the restaurant to conduct his personal investigation whereas armed. He was arrested and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
On-line theorists have used quick meals names on a couple of event to unfold rumors about intercourse trafficking that sound doubtlessly true however aren’t.
Past Pizzagate, there’s a perpetual rumor that traffickers converse in code, referring to boys as “scorching canine” and women as “pizza.” Even t-shirts with slogans like “In Pizza We Belief” or “Desire a Pizza Me” are incorrectly believed to sign youngster intercourse trafficking. To study extra about why this idea just isn’t backed by information and knowledge, click on right here.
2. Children in cupboards and high-priced gadgets
In July 2020, a Reddit publish went viral. A consumer found utility cupboards on the net furnishings retailer Wayfair, priced above $10,000 and reportedly named the identical as lacking kids.
Customers on-line made an incorrect soar in logic and assumed the costly cupboards had been an indication of kid intercourse trafficking and that when bought, the client would obtain a toddler for exploitation. Related accusations unfold to different retail websites like Amazon or Etsy, the place customers might dig up high-priced gadgets and say it was an indication of intercourse trafficking.
This idea has been completely debunked, with a number of nationwide anti-trafficking organizations saying this isn’t how intercourse trafficking really occurs. What’s extra, no survivors have come ahead to corroborate these claims. There aren’t even recognized remoted incidents reported of this taking place.
3. Masks-wearing will increase trafficking
Because the COVID-19 pandemic unfold internationally, rumors additionally unfold that face masks are dangerous for intercourse trafficking victims. The idea goes {that a} face masks makes it tough to see if a toddler is in misery, however this ignores the truth that many trafficking victims are psychologically manipulated or groomed and will not categorical misery within the first place.
Those that imagine this rumor have used Elizabeth Sensible’s story for instance, saying she wore a masks that prevented her from being found sooner.
In actuality, Sensible was disguised by her captors in a gown, wig, sun shades, and veil, not a medical or fabric masks. To ease considerations, specialists proceed to emphasise that carrying a face masks to forestall the unfold of COVID-19 is not a menace to intercourse trafficking victims.
4. Textual content messages about unclaimed packages
A “smishing” (SMS phishing) rip-off sparked a rumor that textual content messages with hyperlinks to unclaimed packages are a part of a intercourse trafficking scheme.
The worry was that clicking the hyperlink within the textual content would allow intercourse traffickers to trace an individual’s whereabouts. Whereas these messages do seem like scams, this occasion of smishing is not a intercourse trafficking scheme.
5. Youngsters’s swimwear web sites
One other false rumor suspects web sites that promote kids’s swimwear as fronts for intercourse trafficking operations. This one is hard as a result of it’s true that some people concerned in youngster pornography gather, produce, and distribute pictures of kids in swimwear. These pictures don’t meet the authorized definition of kid pornography however are sexualized inside that neighborhood.
We wish to be clear: sexually exploiting kids is rarely acceptable. With regard to this rumor particularly, it’s essential to know that almost all of on-line retail websites promoting kids’s swimwear are real and should not reportedly linked to youngster abuse.
6. “800,000 lacking kids a yr” stat
There are not any broadly agreed-upon figures for youngster intercourse trafficking victims annually, however a misinterpreted statistic persists.
You’ll have seen the declare on social media that 800,000 kids go lacking yearly within the US, adopted by a share of those that are intercourse trafficked. That is an previous quantity and, because the Polaris Mission put it, “just about meaningless” as a result of it consists of repeat stories and youngsters who return dwelling or are rapidly discovered, many unhurt.
Any variety of lacking kids is devastating, and when there may be extra correct data out there, we ought to be conscious. Let’s attempt these information as a substitute. The FBI reported 421,394 entries for lacking kids in 2019. The Nationwide Middle for Lacking and Exploited Youngsters (NCMEC) discovered that 91% of circumstances reported to them concerned endangered runaways in the identical yr. Of these, 1 in 6 had been probably victims of intercourse trafficking.
7. White passenger vans
In a TV interview, Baltimore Mayor Jack Younger warned residents about an individual in a white van abducting girls for human trafficking. When pressed the place he acquired this data, he mentioned it was “throughout Fb.” The Baltimore police mentioned that they had been conscious of the social media posts however had not acquired any stories of precise incidents.
Mayor Younger was neither the primary nor final to imagine this false menace that white passenger vans are indicators of trafficking. Traffickers drive every kind of autos, and there may be no proof they favor white vans.
8. Zip ties and marked vehicles
One other warning about intercourse trafficking concerned zip ties and tagging autos. One thought was that traffickers had been inserting zip ties on automotive door handles to trick girls into wanting down or of their purses for one thing to chop the tie with, and as soon as they had been distracted, a trafficker would abduct them. This may occasionally occur in remoted incidents. Nevertheless, the proof doesn’t counsel it’s a widespread technique traffickers use to abduct victims.
Equally, one other warning claimed youngster traffickers had been scribbling codes onto vehicles to determine potential victims. This tagging method, just like the zip tie, doesn’t occur generally.
Natalie Ivey of the Group Coalition In opposition to Human Trafficking in Tennessee mentioned that these plots require extra work for the traffickers and dramatically enhance their danger of getting caught—one thing they wish to keep away from.
9. Deserted automotive seats
In October 2021, Paige Marie Parker, a TikToker with 122,000 followers, posted a video. She alleged that traffickers use deserted automotive seats to lure and kidnap unsuspecting victims. The video was seen over 12.2 million occasions on the primary day it was posted.
The idea got here from a publish Parker noticed on social media. It was not from trafficking specialists or survivors. The publish featured a photograph of an deserted automotive seat in a Walmart parking zone in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The publish included allegations that it was a entice.
In accordance with a publish by the Wilkesboro Police Division, two Walmart clients had left their previous automotive seat within the parking zone after shopping for and putting in a brand new one.
“At no time was this incident deemed to be concerned in any prison exercise,” the publish, which has solely 255 shares versus Parker’s video, which has greater than 264,000 shares, concludes.
Megan Cutter, director of the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline—operated by Polaris—says traffickers inserting automotive seats to lure victims “isn’t a sample we’re conscious of or have heard from survivors.”
Rolling Stone stories that Cutter says the hotline has acquired “fairly a number of” ideas primarily based on Parker’s TikTok from simply throughout the first 24 hours.
“Individuals are calling and repeating the identical data from TikTok as a result of that’s what the publish requested they do,” she mentioned. “It may be difficult as a result of we’re persevering with to spend time and sources responding to that, reasonably than to survivors.” calling to get assist.”
You’ll be able to battle misinformation
Many of those theories are unsubstantiated, however it’s essential to fact-check with established anti-trafficking organizations earlier than spreading any unsubstantiated data.
A standard retort we’ve seen when sharing fact-checking on myths and conspiracies is that nobody believed billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was trafficking dozens of underage women, and but it was true. “How will you know that these theories aren’t true when the theories that sounded unimaginable about Epstein had been true?” many have mentioned in response to fact-checking. However this can be a false equivalence.
Any of those theories, and plenty of extra we didn’t share right here, can’t be pretty in comparison with Epstein’s trafficking ring. For one, the reported trafficking of dozens and dozens of younger women allegedly executed by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein left a path of police stories, survivor testimonies, and eyewitness accounts. In distinction, none of those theories above have any survivor-backing, nor paper trails of police stories, and so forth. See the distinction?
So, what do you do in case you are “doomscrolling” and are available throughout a declare about intercourse trafficking? Possibly it’s a warning or accusation a few particular occasion of intercourse trafficking. What’s your subsequent transfer?
A few lecturers supplied some recommendation. They had been researching social media propaganda about COVID-19, however their strategies under on how every of us can fight misinformation are relevant to intercourse trafficking myths.
- Be important when scrolling social media.
- When doubtful, confirm the knowledge.
- Don’t depart false data in your on-line networks. You’ll be able to politely ask the one who shared it to take away it.
- Report false data to the internet hosting platform.
- Make extra noise than the individuals sharing false data.
Intercourse trafficking itself just isn’t a fable, however there are myths about intercourse trafficking. Begin with factual data if you wish to assist rescue victims and advocate for survivors. Info that anti-trafficking specialists and survivor-led organizations help. They’ll level us in the proper route and preserve the battle factual.
The underside line: It’s essential to remain conscious of your environment, and do you have to wish to report or search providers associated to a case of human trafficking, you’ll be able to contact the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or e-mail [email protected].
To learn the way intercourse trafficking and pornography are linked, click on right here.
