According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of whom 80% are female and half are children. However, both the international arena, and human trafficking for labor (as separate from trafficking for sexual purposes) are too vast for this episode to cover.
Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year for commercial sex. Yet, it has been estimated that two-thirds of sex trafficking victims in the United States are US citizens, bringing the numbers of new recruits to an estimated 50,000 each year. The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14 years. Poverty and a lack of education play major roles in the lives of many women in the sex industry. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. California harbors 3 of the FBI’s 13 highest child sex trafficking areas on the nation: Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. The National Human Trafficking Hotline receives more calls from Texas than any other state in the US
This episode hopes to open a window of understanding and compassion toward the centuries-old phenomenon as it manifests in our contemporary society, where popular travel, cellular phones, and the internet make it easier than ever to reach and groom potential victims. This conversation offers listeners the means to combat sex trafficking in their own backyard.
Valeria Teles interviews Talia Carner.
Novelist Talia Carner is formerly the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine and a lecturer at international women’s economic forums. She is a committed supporter of global human rights and has spearheaded projects centered on the subjects of female plight and women’s activism. Her five novels have been hailed for exposing society’s ills, the latest of which is THE THIRD DAUGHTER (HarperCollins, September 2019.) Set in Buenos Aires in the late 1800s, it is the story of a Jewish girl caught in sex trafficking. Talia Carner has given over 300 keynote speeches and presentations about the social issues behind her novels to civic, educational and religious organizations.
