Pretty woman. ugly business.

Written by Brianna D'Itri, Medical Advocacy Community Education Specialist

Pretty Woman. The Client List. Risky Business. The Girlfriend Experience.
Exciting car chases, expensive shopping trips, and happy endings of all kinds.
 
The glamorous image of prostitution and sex trafficking in television and movies bears little resemblance to the real, everyday life of a victim of sex trafficking. One common misconception is that victims of sex trafficking are just prostitutes turning tricks to pay the bills. While some people are sex workers voluntarily, the difference between them and a trafficking victim is who keeps the money.

Sex workers, or voluntary prostitutes, are not under the control of a pimp, choose their clients, set their rates, and keep their earnings. Sex trafficking victims are often forced into commercial sex, are controlled physically and/or emotionally through violence and threats, do not choose their clients, do not set their rates, and certainly do not keep their earnings. What appears as prostitution is actually slave labor.

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