The super bowl is here once again and it has long been believed that this event is responsible for the highest incidence of human trafficking in the form of sex trafficking in the US. Now I am reading stories that this is not the case. That labor trafficking is much more of an issue than sex trafficking and that authorities use the belief of the increase in under age sex trafficking to harass and endanger consensual sex workers. It is also noted that much of the 686 million in federal funding to combat human trafficking goes toward maintaining the six-figure salaries of the leaders of anti-trafficking organizations. Most of the biggest anti-trafficking organizations like the Polaris Project do not provide direct services to victims. Groups like the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project claim the anti-trafficking efforts are more about making sure lobbyist groups get their grant money. To quote an ESPLERP board member, “I am outraged that the Polaris Project gets millions a year in funding, to create policies that violate the human rights of sex workers, and put them at great risk of violence, often from the police during the raids they claim are rescues."
A 2011 report put together by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women reads, “There is no evidence that large sporting events cause an increase in trafficking.” Some are saying that money that is spent on efforts to combat what many in the trenches believe to be a myth during the super bowl could be better allocated to support year-round services like emergency shelters. The raids around and during the sporting event put consensual sex workers in danger. Consensual sex workers are harassed and arrested not sex traffickers. Treating sex work as if it is the same as sex trafficking both ignores the realities of sex work and endangers those engaged in it.
Sex is only one aspect of human trafficking. So, what about labor trafficking? Labor trafficking another serious form of human trafficking is often lost in the concern for sex trafficking. People leave their homes for the promise of a good job in the US, enter the country legally and find themselves forced into what can only be described as slave labor. Their complaints are silenced with threats of deportation, abuse and even harm to their families at home. According to Safe Horizon, one of the largest providers of services for victims and survivors of human trafficking they hear "from survivors every day what it is like to be a human link in a cruel and profiteering business supply chain that allows us to have a clean hotel room on vacation, at a sporting even or get food at a restaurant."
Here are the links to a couple of articles that believe increased sex trafficking during the super bowl is a myth and takes away money and support from the real issues of human trafficking. People can read about it if they wish and come to their own conclusions about the validity of the claim.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariel-...b_9163046.html
http://www.alternet.org/sex-amp-rela...ry-likely-myth