Cameron Conaway explores the global human trafficking of boys & men.
“My very first survivor was a boy. How many of us are looking for boys?”
~Sandra Morgan, Director, Global Center for Women & Justice at Vanguard University
His legs were thin as faded whispers and dangled like twisted ropes from his wheelchair, and his walk was a drag as he pulled himself along with worn-out school erasers clutched in each hand. Nadu was born this way and despite being 13 years old, he had just received his first wheelchair the day prior to my arrival. He hadn’t needed one for the past seven years. When he was five his family bent to the weight of foresight, tradition and circumstance. They sold him.
For seven years Nadu was stored like luggage in the back of a nondescript van and was taken from community to community for the sole purpose of being raped by anybody willing to pay enough to cover the driver’s fuel and food expenses. It’s called a mobile brothel and Nadu’s story is only one of countless many. He fought back the first week, but after being beaten nearly to death on two different occasions, he learned that living meant succumbing. And so it went day after day—when days felt like years and years like thick fog. When I met him he smiled but I couldn’t tell if it was a smile of courtesy, relief or something else altogether.
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Like many Americans, I once lived under the impression that large-scale slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation (and the Civil War) in 1863. My travels both domestic and abroad have coupled with my attendance at conferences by organizations like Not For Sale and Slavery No More to show a truer picture, one that forced me to confront my Americentric worldviews and my absolute naiveté.
After drug dealing, human trafficking (both sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor) is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it’s the fastest growing
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There are more slaves today than at any point in human history – 27 million worldwide(1). The best numbers on the subject reflect that 1-1.2 million children are trafficked every year, and 100,000 human trafficking victims are currently in the United States(2). After drug dealing, human trafficking (both sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor) is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it’s the fastest growing(3). 80% of trafficking victims are women and girls.
These are huge numbers, but numbers rarely arouse emotion like personal stories. Of the personal stories we hear in the news or elsewhere, I’d guess 98% of them represent the 80%. This is not a complaint but an observation – human trafficking awareness is essential regardless of where it comes from.
What might be the reason for this discrepancy? Some have posited that children are the most vulnerable people in our community and as women are the more physically vulnerable sex their stories cut deeper and therefore make better media. Some have said that our world is still entirely uncomfortable with same-sex sex, especially with men.
Another person I spoke to said it could be the result of people being ignorant, willfully or otherwise, when it involves the possibility of men raping boys. This made me think of Joe Paterno’s quote in January 2012, “I never heard of… of… rape and a man.” We’ve thought on this quote plenty as it relates to the Penn State crimes and Paterno’s personal honesty, but what of its general validity? If true, it shows a total lack of awareness. If false, it shows a climate of blindness suggesting that it’s actually a valid excuse for some people to be unaware of the possibilities of the sexual abuse of boys. Either way is terribly sad.
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On the taboo of man-on-boy rape, I’ve talked to several authors and filmmakers who address sex trafficking and they echoed similar sentiments in different words. It should be noted that though their goal is one of awareness it is also one of sales. The two are often intertwined. The more their book or film is talked about, the more buzz. And the more buzz, the more there is awareness and the money to help. That said, these are artists whose work is often shaped by their perception of the general public. Their art isn’t merely for art’s sake and as a result they often have their fingers as close to the public’s pulse as possible. One went so far as to say the following:
“Society can barely stomach the raping of young girls. I feared they couldn’t handle it if my story was about the sex trafficking of young boys. How comfortable would people be with telling others to check out the work? In one sense they could just say it involves rape and most people would assume it meant of a girl or woman. But if it were about a boy or a man could they just say rape and let it stand without adding any extra details? I’m not sure, but I felt that’s where discomfort would come in and I didn’t want to chance it. Great works involve some level of discomfort, but maybe that would be too much.”
Some of the best projects about sex trafficking include Her Story, a film produced by Aaron Au, whom we interviewed last October. Her Story shows how sex trafficking takes place not just in foreign lands, but right next door. It features a young girl enslaved in a brothel.
I recently screened the feature film Not Today by Brent Martz. Debuting in 2013, the movie follows an Orange County trust-fund college student whose travels unexpectedly show him the story of a young Indian girl sold into the sex trade.
Investigative journalist Julian Sher received much-deserved praise for his book, Somebody’s Daughter, which tells the stories of American teens caught in the sex trade.
While all of these pieces are exceptional and will surely combat trafficking in a way that helps all genders, they are all primarily, if not entirely, about the sex trafficking of girls. As the market becomes saturated with similar works, there’s a fear it may continue feeding into the machine that paints only in black and white: Men are monsters. Women are victims. This concept, in part, was addressed by Chris Anderson, Executive Director of MaleSurvivor.org, who explains:
“Ignoring the truth that millions of males are victims of abuse and violence alienates us, and effectively tells us that we have no right to hope, healing, and support for the harms we have suffered. The lasting message of this attitude is that men are the problem. This makes it far less likely that males who have been harmed will ask for the help they need to heal. Further, this attitude has focused our communal attention and directed the bulk of resources to programs and studies that focus primarily on women…”
Yes, men are the primary engines behind sex trafficking. We are the primary pimps and johns. As pastor Eddie Buyn said at the Not For Sale conference in Manila, “There are many slaves in the sex trafficking battle: The pimps who are slaves to greed, the johns who are slaves to lust, and those who are physically enslaved.” But when it comes to victimization, we make up an astounding 20% and that’s on the low end compared to other studies I’ve read. Yet all of this so far has addressed only sex trafficking, a branch off of the overall entity of human trafficking.
In many circles, the term “human trafficking” is believed to be a euphemism for modern-day slavery. The definition given by the U.N. Trafficking Protocol: “the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, or fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation.” This exploitation is typically in the form of sex or labor, but as survivor Ima Matul recently pointed out, “It doesn’t matter which type. The sex side makes the news but all forms are inhumane. Trafficking is trafficking.”
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…When I ask how many survivors are men, the staff members look at me and say, “They all are men.”
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From my travels and research I’d guess that men are trafficked far more than women. Still, because my mind and emotions are most crushed by the sex trafficking of children, I have been surprised when I visit rescue shelters and, when I ask how many survivors are men, the staff members look at me and say, “They all are men.”
Labor trafficking is a brutal business that offers a low risk for the criminals. The story of boys and men being tricked or forced into slave labor camps and then beat mercilessly once there doesn’t many capture headlines. Many still confuse it with separate issues. Make no mistake about it: These slavery rings are not synonymous with typical migrant worker rings whereby foreign workers enter a new country and are employed seasonally and paid meagerly.
We’re talking about the type of slavery most of our history books exposed us to, the stuff of movies, the stuff we think has passed, the stuff that can cripple cultures for generations or longer. I met one boy of 12 who was blindfolded and beat daily for three weeks so that he was sufficiently brainwashed by his “master” and would devote the rest of his healthy life to working for free. And it’s not all boys either. Most of the survivors I met are grown men – ranging from 25-45 – who, in an effort to better support their families, were sold a fake promise and then were sold into slavery rings. Many expressed embarrassment. Many said they could never tell their families what happened for fear of being regarded as weak, stupid and/or unmanly. Our soldiers (and men in general) have become notorious for not being able or wanting to open up about their mental disorders. The same can be assumed for male trafficking survivors.
Most of us are privileged enough to live only among the remnants, tasting it through museums or family photo albums or stories or by driving past the abandoned slave shacks, as I have, on my way to a vacation getaway in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Sure having the beach to myself all day and falling asleep to the ocean’s lullaby stick in my mind, but so too do the images of the journey there: the rotting wood warped and rotting black, the unmown grass. It looks so long ago, and it is, but like any good business it has morphed and evolved to meet the times. I’ve learned a few lessons about its evolution throughout my recent research. Here are the two that come to mind:
- History paints not in the bold brush strokes of Van Gogh but in the curving and often circular pencil sketches of Klimt.
- If eyes could touch, the male survivors I’ve met would have reached out for a hug.
Part two will show some specific ways that trafficking is being combatted and what you can do to get involved in the fight.
Sources
(1) UNICEF
(2) US Department of State
(3) U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services & International Justice Mission
Where can I get more information? This is something that is on my heart and I want to do something.
Thank you for talking about human trafficking in the broader perspective. “Sex sells” even in the stories of human trafficking so the issues of labor trafficking and men (whether trafficked for sex or labor) are barely given the attention they deserve. Though it is an issue that is different than migrant labor, there are many people trafficked in the US (and in Colorado) on farms and ranches that people mistakenly feel is an immigration issue but actually is a labor trafficking situation. We need to look inside our own counties, in the US and not always think that trafficking is… Read more »
Thank you for speaking up for the boys. We have just launched a new initiative with survivors. They will be researching and designing a model safe house for survivors as part of their remarkable online and peer mentored art program for boys that due to lack of funding is currently transmitted for a safe house bathroom in the USA and reaches distinct localities around the world. If you know of anyone who would be able to donate $10 towards the expense of this research and design initiative, we would all be so thrilled. It is not money that counts it… Read more »
Excellent article, Cameron, thank you for sharing it! It pains me to hear about this kind of thing continuing to go on in the world, despite all the time we (the US) spends trying to influence other countries and plant the seeds of freedom and Democracy. I’m not saying we do a great job, but it’s hardly for lack of trying. Here’s hoping more people get involved in this cause
Men have more to fear from other men than they do women (although there are some real horrors – no doubt about that). Black have more to fear from white men than they do their wives, daughters, sisters, female friends. Homosexuals have more to fear from straight men than straight women. A man is more likely to be raped by another man than he is by a woman. These are facts. One only has to look at who holds the balance of power. Why are there more black men in prison than other races? Look no further than who holds… Read more »
The problem is the “men has more to fear from other men than they do from women” is being used to shape actual policies to the point that that little phrase may not be as true as some may think. In short those those real horrors you mention in parentheses get ignored. These are facts. One only has to look at who holds the balance of power. Why are there more black men in prison than other races? Look no further than who holds the balance power in law, politics, business. Doesn’t speak to the entire problem. The story goes… Read more »
“Men have more to fear from other men than they do women” The problem with this is that, since women tend to commit violence against men by proxy through other men, one easily gets a distorted view of things. Additionally, threats by other men tend to be direct. You get to face the person threatening you. Not so much with women. So while it may be true men are more often targeted by other men, I would argue the bigger threat usually comes from women, making your assertion rather difficult to prove. “A man is more likely to be raped… Read more »
The majority of sexual abuse men face is perpetrated by women. Yes men receive overall violence more from other men, but they do have a large reason to fear women. In fact I think the stats actually say a man is most likely going to be abused, assaulted, etc by his partner (who for most men is a female). As children they’re more at risk of abuse by their mother even. “This Project is little more than a feel-good exercise for a few privileged men.” It’s either ignorance or bigotry fueling your comment, do you actually bother to study male… Read more »
I honestly do not understand how an organization can willfully turn a blind eye certain victims because of their sex. I’d love to see more discussion of that point with reference to the work of Lara Stemple, Director of Graduate Studies at UCLA School of Law. It’s funny how treaties, conventions and how they work in proving funding outcomes warp matters. If your funding criteria are gender biased, your activity and outcomes are gender biased. It seems odd to have to make that basic point – but it is pretty basic! Chris Dolan, the director of the Refugee Law Project… Read more »
Great work. What angers me most about this is that we have human rights organizations that go into these countries to address human trafficking, yet few of them help male victims, and those that do rarely mention them. I honestly do not understand how an organization can willfully turn a blind eye certain victims because of their sex. I can see why political groups by play that game, but I just cannot get why a neutral organization would just ignore something as serious as slavery (let us stop using the politically correct phrase). And it is not just on a… Read more »
Thanks Cameron. I appreciate your writing. It’s good to see the full range of human trafficking being discussed, not just the sensational and marketable side of it.
Areas of concern in forced servitude/slavery that keep getting missed. I hate Myopia! I also hate people’s everyday complicity in Human Trafficking and that they are so unwilling to see the big picture. Trends in Trafficking are such a social phenomenon and the blindness is just as trendy! It is assumed that all humans have conscience and that such a conscience operates equally and even universally. It’s a massive mistake and allows a great deal to happen in public view because it is assumed that really nasty stuff has to always be hidden away in private. That is not correct… Read more »
Legalizing prostitution surely would help a bit? Looks like a nightmare situation though. I’m glad someone finally did talk about da menz and give a damn, I am actually surprised.
No, not really. Many of the victims of sex trafficking are children, and there is no way to allow for prostitution of minors without it being exploitative. As Cameron noted in his article, this happens all over the world in places where people’s rights are not protected and sometimes not recognized. So even if one did legalize prostitution and offered sex workers protection, there is no way to ensure anyone “hiring” them would not ignore the laws. That is what happens with laborers who are trafficked. There are laws protecting them, but no one enforces them, and those breaking them… Read more »
And, of course, as we all know… A solution that isn’t 100% effective worldwide isn’t even worth considering. The idea that most men who visit prostitutes would be far more likely to go to a government sanctioned and regulated one, That’s completely irrelevant and in no way could possible help disincentivize the trafficking of grown women, and even if it could, it’s not worth even examining because it’s not a worldwide 100% solution and/or it doesn’t make men look like monsters.
There are men that would like to goto a sex worker, there is a market and needs to befilled. Where I live there is a legal brothel about 1 hour away, I’ve thought about going their myself even as it’s incredibly hard to find a partner. I believe there is a way to make a legal, regulated and decent market for adult sex workers as I’m constantly reminded by the Scarlet Alliance n other organizations for sex workers. My hope is that it would give options to those that wish to see a sex worker in a legal manner, as… Read more »
Mark, I think legalizing prostitution could work in situations in which the person willing wants to do sex work. But most cases of sex trafficking do not involve willing participants, and a significant number of the victims are minors. Prostitution is legal in Las Vegas. How does the legality of prostitution prevent a person from being trafficked to the city for sexual slavery? Archy, I do not think sex work should remain illegal, however, I do not believe we can honestly regulate it unless it is closely monitored. That takes bodies, time, and lots of money, and I do not… Read more »
It’s one of the barriers to why I haven’t been. Maybe a card showing they have passed a background check could work and some way of knowing they’re here of their own free will. I dunno though, in Australia I hope our system here is ok. It’s a very tricky situation indeed!
“How does the legality of prostitution prevent a person from being trafficked to the city for sexual slavery?”
Easy. When was the last time you drank bootlegged alcohol? I’m guessing it’s been a while. Would that still be true if alcohol were illegal?
Another issue is that many people considered to be “trafficked” are actually economic migrants who willingly travel to work somewhere they’ll have better pay and living conditions. When they’re “rescued” they end up being treated like criminals and deported, clearly decriminalising their work would benefite their situation.
As a life long resident of Nevada, let me explain the laws regarding prostitution in Nevada. In Nevada Prostitution is classed as a “nuisance”. However the legislature has put down these two rules: In counties with population of over 300,000, prostitution is prohibited by State statute. This includes Las Vegas and Reno. In the smaller counties, prostitution is up to the County Commissioners to decide whether to permit or forbid brothels. Typically there has been a long tradition of brothels situated in certain small counties. These counties license them and charge for an annual license, typically $50,000 or more to… Read more »
if prostitution was legal you might as well legalize human sex trafficking, as most prostitutes are not doing this for the ‘benefits’
Are you saying there is no point in having a distinction between being forced into slavery and choosing a shitty job who’s pay is variable? Are you suggesting women are too stupid or to feeble to be capable of properly making these choices, that because women aren’t capable of making such choices responsibly, choosing to sell oneself and being forced to are, in effect, the same thing? and so you feel women should not even be given the opportunity to make those choices, instead being told what to do through government laws? Or do you have some other explanation for… Read more »
It’s getting tiring seeing how many people seem to not believe women have agency, conflating trafficking with prostitution in EVERY case. Because real women would never choose to be sex workers right? Ugh
Great work here. The masses have so readily bought the illusion that human trafficking is “something that men do to women” (like a lot of other crimes I might add) to the point where despite male victims existing in large numbers their stories are not just going untold but being actively ignored. Why? Well part is that simply put since they aren’t female they don’t count.
Good job on addressing this Cameron.
Nah, rape is something men do to men. About time this was being discussed. Maybe if men treated each other with respect there’d be some trickle down effect for women and I never would’ve been treated as a plaything by my ex husband. Maybe.
Because really, women are all the matters, right? You just outright denied that women commit rape, as if women are some pristine angles, and you’re telling men they need to respect each other for women’s benefit? How about trying to respect men yourself?
Men rape women, men rape men, women rape men, women rape women, men rape kids, women rape kids. “Maybe if men treated each other with respect there’d be some trickle down effect for women and I never would’ve been treated as a plaything by my ex husband. Maybe.” I’m sorry for what you went through but it isn’t actually gendered, both males n females commit attrocities to each other and to their own gender. I wouldn’t focus on men respecting men, but people respecting people as often when we only look at males changing their behaviour we ignore females also… Read more »
Thank you, Archy. Well said. If we’re gonna define the issue as something only men can do to women, we’re not gonna make the progress we so desperately need in this world.
Cameron thanks, as usual, for amazing work on an important and sad topic.