Super Bowl is coming up - does that mean trafficking is getting way worse?
Let’s be real – sometimes it can be very confusing figuring out what a news story or a released report is actually saying. Often headlines are flashy but can actually be misleading. Frequently we don’t have time to go to original sources or to carefully read an article in its entirety because we are constantly bombarded with information.
And stories around human trafficking? Those can be amongst the trickiest to navigate (in our opinion!). There’s such discrepancy around the figures, sensationalized stories, and even misunderstanding about what the legal definition of human trafficking is.
With the Super Bowl coming up rapidly, you are likely to see articles and social media posts about this game being the biggest human trafficking event in the country. Some articles even say the world. But is this actually true?
Let’s delve into it.
There have been reports that sex workers have said there is potential for making money and a possible increase in work around major sporting events, the Super Bowl included. But let’s go deeper. The first thing we need to remember is that not all sex work equals sex trafficking. That means not all sex workers are trafficking victims. There are individuals who are engaged in commercial sex transactions through their own consent. Sex trafficking victims, however, must have fraud, force, or coercion involved in their commercial sex transactions. Or (and this is important) be under 18 years old. Please remember – if a person is a minor, there is no consent for sexual transactions. There is NO such thing as a child prostitute – only a victim.
Why does this matter? It matters because we are dealing with two entirely separate issues. Prostitution is largely considered a misdemeanor while trafficking is a felony. Prostitution is legal in some jurisdictions in Nevada while trafficking for sex is never and has never been legalized anywhere. So when the reports say sex workers expressed potential for more clients, this is not trafficking. And in follow-up reports, those same workers said they were disappointed with the reality of this situation. So this means there are no reports of increased sex work at all, much less trafficking.
From a practical standpoint, trafficking more people for sex for a specific event does not make sense with how we know traffickers typically operate. There is often a very long grooming process (even up to a year!) and there are often bonds made between the victim and the trafficker that take far too long to create for a single event. Some have responded to these claims with there’s not more trafficking that happens, the traffickers just travel and bring all their victims to the location of the event. This, too, has zero evidence and also doesn’t make sense with how traffickers usually work. Traffickers try to stay low and make easy money. Competing with other traffickers for the same demographic is a lot of work and could very easily fuel violence.
But what about all the reports about law enforcement making huge busts in the city where the Super Bowl is being held?
Yes, those do happen. But it doesn’t mean that there’s an increase – just that the law enforcement is targeting this specific crime in this specific time. In fact, some reports have found that the media coverage claiming the Super Bowl is the largest trafficking event fuels the funding and effort into these types of busts and stings. But even the news reports can be misleading.
Take this example from 2022:
“Nearly 500 human trafficking related arrests made in Southern California during Super Bowl week.” That sounds huge! But the very first line of the article reads, “A statewide effort coordinated by the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department to crack down on the sex trade, which happened to coincide with this year’s Super Bowl, resulted in nearly 500 prostitution-related arrests and the rescue of dozens of human trafficking victims, official said Tuesday, Feb 15.” If you read further, it says that this is the 7th year this operation has happened and it doesn’t coincide with the Super Bowl.
Also of note, is that in one county with over 500 arrests, only 7 were charged. Another very important thing to note is that sex workers themselves were arrested. There were arrests for women in sex work, for men attempting to purchase sex, not simply traffickers. Let’s not detract from the fact that there were victims that were identified and helped! That’s a major win!!! But the headline is quite misleading and feeds into a narrative that has no evidence or research to back up its claim.
The reason debunking myths around trafficking matters is because if people have a false idea of what trafficking looks like, they’re going to miss the actual vulnerabilities and oppressive situations that are in their own community. Educating yourself on the realities of human trafficking, the realities not just the headlines, is a responsible way of tackling this issue. And if you have shared these types of stories before, don’t feel shame! You didn’t know! And now that you do, you can share your newfound knowledge with the world, remove the article from your timeline or page or even edit it to show the problematic nature of it. When we know better, we can do better. Again, without shame or belittling others who might not yet know. But we at FTG believe that the issue is horrific enough without inflating figures, that it’s atrocious enough without fabricating or fear-mongering, and that people actually want to hear the truth.
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The article cited above:
More to read:
https://www.ijm.org/news/is-the-super-bowl-the-largest-human-trafficking-event-in-the-world
https://www.antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/atrjournal/article/view/404/336
https://www.gaatw.org/publications/WhatstheCostofaRumour.11.15.2011.pdf