Contrary to popular misconceptions, sex trafficking rarely begins with kidnapping by a stranger. Instead, sex traffickers groom their victims by using love – romantic love, friendship and familial love – to manipulate them into cooperating in their own exploitation. Learn more about the grooming process and what love doesn’t look like.
Now that you’ve educated yourself on how grooming occurs, below are a few resources, including stories from survivors in their own words, which you can share with your networks and audiences to help them understand how sex trafficking really happens.
Social Media Graphics
The graphics below are excerpts from the stories of survivors who were groomed by people they trusted or even loved.
Social Media Videos
The conversation videos below are based on real experiences of people who were trafficked by family members and intimate partners – people who claimed they loved them. You can right click on each of the videos to save and share them.
Text Message Conversations
Survivor Videos
Key Messages
- Sex trafficking rarely begins with kidnapping by a stranger, instead most victims are groomed and exploited by someone they know and may even love.
- From January 2020 through August 2022, data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline showed that in sex trafficking situations where the relationship to their trafficker was disclosed:
- 44% of sex trafficking victims were trafficked by a family member
- 39% of sex trafficking victims were trafficked by an intimate partner
- Traffickers prey on people’s vulnerabilities, whether it’s financial need, a need for love and acceptance, insecurity, or something else.
- The grooming process is the method by which traffickers gain control over their victim and manipulate them into cooperating in their own exploitation, making it difficult for them to choose to leave.
- You can help by listening to survivors’ experiences, learning about the grooming process and having difficult conversations with your loved ones when necessary.
- No matter where a person is in the process of deciding to leave their situation, the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline is here and ready to listen.
Hashtags
#LoveIsnt, #EndHumanTrafficking, #HumanTrafficking, #PolarisProject, #HumanTraffickingHotline