Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking

Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) occurs when minors are forced, coerced or otherwise involved in the commercial sex industry. The majority of people who are sex trafficked are females under the age of 18; Research suggests that the average age for a young girl to be recruited into prostitution is 12-14 years old. However, males are just as victimized by this crime as females. Victims of domestic minor sex trafficking often experience feelings of helplessness and self-hatred. They are also easy targets for sicknesses and infections; HIV and AIDS known to be prevalent. They may also experience pelvic pain, vaginal tearing, and/or urinary difficulties as a result of commercial sex work. The best way to help prevent sex trafficking is to

More than often, victims of sex trafficking are young female runaways who want to feel loved, which is what their offenders offer to them—love and shelter. However, it does not take very long for the victim to realize she is receiving more than she bargained for. It is a very serious nationwide issue that physically, and emotionally destroys our youth. This crime is highly frowned upon and I strongly feel it must be prevented; there are several ways to ensure that we protect our children.
Victims of domestic minor sex trafficking often experience feelings of helplessness, humiliation, distrust, self-hatred, suicidal thoughts, and phobias.
“Child sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, and denial. It has been shown that survivors often take personal responsibility for the abuse.” (Browne & Finklehor, 1986 p. 66-77).
Often times, children are abused by someone close to them; either someone they know, or someone they trust. Thus, when the abuse is done by a trusted adult, it may be hard for the child to view the perpetrator in a negative light, causing the victim to obtain self-blame and self-hatred. Because of this, survivors often display self-destructive behaviors and experience more suicidal ideation, than the average

Sex trafficking victims are particularly susceptible to sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea, syphilis, urinary tract infections, and pubic lice. They may also experience pelvic pain, vaginal/anal tearing, rectal trauma, and/or urinary difficulties because of commercial sex work. The best way to help prevent sex trafficking is to know your facts. The more aware you are of the crime and the more state laws you know, increases the chance a victim has of surviving. If you are a parent, the best way to protect your child is to be over protective of him or her and to be proactive. It is very important to be aware of whom your child is keeping in contact with, what they doing are online, and what messages are being sent through their cell phones. DMST is an everyday crime that is continuously stealing and destroying the lives of our young children. However, if we all work together, and we all do our individuals parts inside of our homes in addition to speaking up and taking a stand to what we see outside of our homes we can save the futures of our children one child at a