Shhhhh don't tell the feminist media or politicians, but 40%+ of 'trafficked victims are men', says people who work directly.

TrustMeIDoMath · 2012-04-26T14:08:16+00:00

I have read various stories about how the group of sex workers most at risk of being killed or abused is young males. And homeless young males often resort to sex work to survive.

Yet in most media stories about these kinds of prostitutes they are rarely mentioned, and usually when mentioned are still subordinate to the female angle (hell, even the wikipedia article is shitted up with feminist wank).

Lecks · 2012-04-26T17:07:51+00:00

OK. HERE WE GO. I am leaving my original post and original edits below because I'm nice like that. I will also use capital letters because apparently the lack of them below enraged a few people. Apologies.

I'm not even sure where to start, because human trafficking, which going forward I will simply refer to as slavery, is a very complex issue. I suppose since this is Reddit, and people love fact and science and statistics, we can start there.

As I've mentioned in my earlier post, take all the statistics and throw them out the door. They're incredibly hard to use, because different agencies define slavery differently, and therefore have conflicting numbers. Additionally, slaves aren't considered people, they're considered expendable labor. They simply cease to exist. You can't keep track of people who don't exist. Many people who are trafficked come from developing areas of the world where having a census isn't a priority of the government. Take a look at the interesting but by NO means comprehensive chart that UNICEF has.. This chart is a regional break down of birth registrations. Mosey over to Africa. Compare East and Southern Africa birth registration with that of Central and Eastern Europe. Do you see where I am going with this? Millions and millions of people across the globe, if not billions, simply do not exist on paper, particularly in the developing world. How could we possibly count them as statistics?

My point is it really that it does not matter if there are 28 million, 50 million, 1 billion, or shoot, even SIX slaves world wide. What matters is that it happens, and it happens to males and females.

Expanding on what exactly is slavery, let's use this definition. It's pretty concise. It does come from the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Yes, I know, we as MRAs wish there weren't the little addendum regarding women on there, but it is. Their definition is still the best. Here it is:

"...the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons: by the threat or use of kidnapping, force, fraud, deception or coercion, or by the giving or receiving of unlawful payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, and for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor."

Why I enjoy this definition - three key words. Fraud, deception, coercion. In my experience, the phrase human trafficking conjures up alarmist visuals of helpless, abducted, beaten women, bound at the ankles and wrists. This happens. Of course this happens, because again, slaves aren't viewed as human. They're commodities. HOWEVER... fraud, deception, and coercion play a huge role in slavery beyond what the media splashes in our faces.

Men seeking better lives for themselves and their families and then having their passports and visas confiscated and being forced to pick our fucking apples and peaches and coffee here in the developed world ALSO happens. It's also slavery, and it's a gross injustice to prioritize the struggles of persons who have been enslaved. Global Horizons is/was basically a staffing agency for farms here in the states. More on it here and here and here. Were those men clubbed over their heads and dragged into a new life? No. Were they duped and then confined? Yes. That's slavery! But again, different agencies use different definitions.

What causes slavery? A huge part of it is our fault. Almost everything in our lives is made possible by the suffering of others, but very few of us are willing to make any adjustments. This website does a fantastic job of really explaining what slavery is, as opposed to what everyone in the free world imagines that it is.

I'd like to also point out why this happens. It happens because of lack of resources, or access to resources. Here's an admittedly gross oversimplification, but it gets the point across. A village in Burkina Faso (or wherever) doesn't have access to clean water. Without clean water, the village can't produce enough food for everyone, and health problems rise because of poor hygiene. Parents can't provide for children. Children are seen as liabilities instead of assets; they've nothing to contribute, they just suck up resources. Of course they're vulnerable to traffickers. The parents will willingly push the children off because it means more resources to go around. They might be told that the child is getting a really great job as a domestic servant, or farm hand elsewhere, but that isn't what happens.

Unfortunately, there are evil people all over the place that capitalize on this. There are evil people all over the world that facilitate it. The work I did was in WA state, here is some information. I'd like to expand a touch; people in Seattle had their minds blown when I spoke of how it's a hot spot for slavery. Why? Geographically it makes sense. Container ships come in daily, 1.4 million pieces a year. It's closer by water vessel from Asia than say, L.A. See the shipping routes for yourselves. Seattle is almost two days closer from Hong Kong than L.A. It makes sense. WA state is a border state. East of the Cascades is a whole fucking bunch of nothing. Pretty easy to slip under the radar. Then there is the I-5. Pretty easy to get people up and down the coast and into Canada.

Oh look. I went off on a tangent. Ok, I'm tired. I hope this makes some of you feel better or something. I can still answer any questions you have, or at least try. It's such a huge issue that doing this unguided is annoying.

-------------------------original stuff below----------------------------------

edit 2: i will expand later for the haters with lots of knowledge and stats. tied up for the next few hours and on my phone. also, proof will be sent to mods. thanks!!!

oooooooooohhhh here is something i know all about ama ama ama!! source? ME. i worked 18 months with various NGOs and international non profits and groups here in the states to combat this issue.

ok this will be long and probably all over the place but if you want the tl;dr now here it is: trafficking (slavery) is beyond sex trafficking (slavery); it's a multi billion dollar industry. the majority of trafficking (slavery) isn't even sexual in nature, it's manual labor, and the majority of people trafficked (enslaved) world wide are males.

first off, take all statistics and throw them out the fucking door. here is why.

the definition of slavery is ever expanding in some ways. the reason why is because different agencies use different criteria to define slavery. IMO, one of the better agencies to go by would be unicef, but that isn't saying much. there is also the UN, various gov't agency numbers, various NGOs (amnesty, PLAN, save the children, etc.)

so statistics range. the issue isn't really about the number of people involved, but rather the fact that statistics are incredibly fickle because of the nature of the business of slavery.

in most areas of the world, especially in developing nations, people are seen as expendable. children are looked upon as expensive little headaches instead of assets. it's a really sad fact; if a child has no value in a society, he is at risk for being trafficked, plan and simple. this could be into sexual slavery, manual labor, domestic servitude or as a child soldier. it's pretty grim.

here's another awesome fact: most people (children) are sold into slavery by their families. sometimes the families are tricked, but by and large everyone knows what happens and lingers in denial about it.

actually i'm going to cut this short because i could go on forever, really if given the chance, for-fucking-ever about slavery.

ask me more if you want and i'll respond. in the mean time, if you want to learn about males in the sex trade, go watch the dancing boys of afghanistan.

p.s. people in the states/canada reading this: slavery is huge here. like, really really widespread. especially if you live in a port city. especially if you live in the northwest. especially if you're near seattle/portland/BC.

k thanks for reading byeeeee

oh edit: the media reporting on this might be ALL wrong but i assure you most of the groups working on this issue are veeeeeeeeeery much aware that it goes both ways and are working really fucking hard to end it.

IHaveALargePenis · 2012-04-26T20:26:00+00:00

This is why I never took the "stop sex trafficking" seriously. Every time I saw an ad or read an article it was always focused on the women. I want to help, I really do, but I'm not going to take any group seriously until it stops discriminating based on gender. I don't care if 99% or 1% of the victims are male, just fucking include them in your ad's/articles/etc.

TheTyger · 2012-04-26T17:16:58+00:00

I'm sorry to slightly go off topic on this one, but...

The Salvation Army, which began the support service six months ago, also dealt with the first recorded case of an individual being trafficked to Britain to have their organs harvested.

This is an actual thing??

Kuonji · 2012-04-26T14:16:46+00:00

Public perception

Well there's our problem right there. I would find it hard for there to be any public perception that would actually paint men, as a group, as victims in any case.

Owlie · 2012-04-28T03:18:34+00:00

And 99% of the traffickers are men, too. Sad shit.

TrustMeIDoMath · 2012-04-26T16:49:18+00:00

Does anyone have a source to this survey? I am not disputing it but it seems like it is based entirely on the service provided by a single entity over a year. It could easily be distorted if it were taken in the context of the demand on the only service which was unisex in an enviroment which served other trafficking victims privately but were sex selective.

That is just one example, but I really would love to see the methods they use, just like any other statistic. I would hate if we were presenting "proof" of MRA issues that have been completed shoddily and cherry picked to not be representative in reality.

mdoddr · 2012-04-26T19:09:19+00:00

No they knew that. They don't include them in the group that is cared about.

PissedOffNinjaBum · 2012-04-26T21:59:57+00:00

Hopefully this data won't get downplayed all to hell by the feminist machine.

2012-04-26T15:17:06+00:00

I believe I could personally execute every single person involved with this nefarious practice. Gangmasters??? I could shoot them in the face. Look them right in the eye when I do it too. Human fucking scum.

NiceGuysSTFU · 2012-04-26T13:50:33+00:00

So 60% of victims of human trafficking are women and girls? OK.

Title	Shhhhh don't tell the feminist media or politicians, but 40%+ of 'trafficked victims are men', says people who work directly.
Author	TerriChris
Upvotes	169
Comments	37
Date	April 26, 2012 12:56 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/sthcs/shhhhh_dont_tell_the_feminist_media_or/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/shhhhh-dont-tell-the-feminist-media-or-politicians.1023141 https://theredarchive.com/post/1023141

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