Today's Hidden Slave Trade

This issue doesn't even fall "under the radar" anymore. It is so rampant in third world countries, yet not much is being done. It's a ring of women caught up in a prostitution and trafficking network that ruthlessly exploits women smuggled into the country, often illegally, from third world countries.

In prior eras, the slave trade was conducted openly, with ads prominently posted and the slaves paraded and inspected like animals, often at public auctions. Today's sex traffickers, the heirs to that tradition, try to keep their activities hidden, although the rest of the sex trade, the sale of women's services, is advertised on a scale that can only be characterized as colossal.

As a society, we're repelled by the slavery of old. But the wholesale transport of women and girls across international borders and around the US- to serve as prostitutes under conditions that in most cases are coercive at best-stirs very little outrage.

What's important to keep in mind is the great extent to which the sex trade involves real slavery (kidnapping and rape), widespread physical abuse, indentured servitude, exploitation of minors and many other forms of coercion. This modern-day variation on the ancient theme of bondage flourishes largely because of the indifference of the rest of us, and the misogyny that holds fast to the view of women-all women-as sexual commodities.

Of the thousands of foreign nationals that are believed to trafficked into the US each year, 80% are women and children, an overwhelming majority of whome are trafficked for sexual purposes.

Many of the children are actually sold by their families, others are kidnapped. Anyone who thinks that most of the women in prostitution want to be there are deluded. It's a violent, dangerous world, and those that didn't end up as hookers by force are usually there because they have no other option. There needs to be more serious consequences for human traffickers. This is an international problem that must be addressed. The movies you see on this topic are not fantasy. They are based on real life situations. The international community must take steps to end this barbaric practice. America has made a committment to try to eradicate human trafficking, by training law enforcement in foreign countries to spot such activities. It's a massive problem, and one that won't easily be eliminated. On a global level, how far have women really come?