Sex Trafficking... You’ve been groomed.

WWW.TheDavidAlliance.com

4-22-19 Monday

You got kids? Then you are really going to want to listen to todays podcast. It’s a war out there! 

 

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Sex trafficking is huge. 

• Human trafficking has surpassed the illegal sale of arms
• Trafficking will surpass the illegal sale of drugs in the next few years
• Drugs are used once and they are gone. Victims of child trafficking can be used and abused over and over
• A $32 billion-a-year industry, human trafficking is on the rise and is in all 50 states (U.S. Government)
• 4.5 Million of trafficked persons are sexually exploited
• Up to 300,000 Americans under 18 are lured into the commercial sex trade every year

Average life span once someone is caught up in trafficking? 7 years. 

 

What is grooming?

Grooming is the precursor phase. Sexual grooming, or just “grooming”, is a preparatory process in which a predator gradually gains a person’s trust with the intent to exploit them. The victim is usually a child, teen, or vulnerable adult. The purpose of grooming is to manipulate the person into becoming a co-operating participant in their own abuse or exploitation, which reduces the likelihood of a disclosure and increases the likelihood that the victim will become attached and repeatedly return to the perpetrator.

Can grooming be stopped?

Yes, but it’s easier to catch it before it happens and trust is built with the predator. If you teach your kids ahead of time to watch for this it can save them tremendously.

 

My parents always told me “don’t ever be alone with a stranger EVER. Not at church, not at someones house, not in another room, not at the mall, not at the park NO WHERE. 

And they told me real life stories about kids who were abused to help anchor the point. 

 

6 Stages of Grooming

 1. Targeting a victim
Traffickers target victims who have some noticeable vulnerability: emotional neediness, low self-esteem, or economic stress.
Social media and apps with private messaging features make it easier and faster for traffickers to identify their victims.

 

Emotional neediness: They failed a major test, their boyfriend broke up with them, they are bullied by others, They got cut from the team…

 

2. Gaining trust and information
   Gathering information about the victim is key. This can be done through casual conversations with the victim or with parents or friends. Many victims are first groomed and exploited by a family member. Traffickers skilled at grooming often mix well with other adults, gaining a trusted position as an honorary “family member” if they aren’t already a member of the victim’s family.

 

3. Filling a need
   The information gained allows the trafficker to fill a need in the victim’s life, making the victim dependant on them in some way: buying gifts, being a friend, beginning a love relationship, or buying soft drugs and alcohol. This is why many times a trafficker may look like a “boyfriend” to unsuspecting friends and family.

 

4. Isolation
   The trafficker creates times to be alone with the victim. The trafficker will also begin to have a major role in the victim’s life and attempt to distance the victim from friends and family. In isolation, the trafficker has more control over the messages the victim hears and is better able to manipulate them.

 

5. Abuse begins
   The trafficker begins claiming that a service must be repaid whether money spent on cigarettes or drugs, car rides or mobile phones. It may even begin with requests for illicit images (sexting) that are then used to threaten the victim. In most cases, the trafficker demands sex as payment for such services.
6. Maintain Control
   In many cases, the trafficker maintains control of the victim through threats, violence, fear, or blackmail. Many victims show loyalty to their traffickers even after they’ve been recovered because of the insidious nature of the manipulation and the trauma bonds that are formed.

 

Why are teens targeted?

Grooming tactics work most successfully when the victim is between the ages of 11 and 16, when a normal human brain is still developing. According the the National Institutes of Health, a teen’s brain is highly sensitive to pleasure and reward as the nucleus accumbens is nearly fully developed. But, the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that helps us make major decisions and foresee consequences – is not fully developed in most humans until their mid-twenties.

All of this means that teens are more vulnerable to flattery, attention, affection, and gifts as means of coercion, especially if there is not a strong safe attachment at home. All human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion.

 

Luke 17:2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.