Pandering, Pimping and Sex Trafficking: Self-Narratives Centering Childhood Trauma and its Lessons about Recruiting Vulnerable Persons

• In Event: Sex work and trafficking

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences such as sexual or violent abuse have been consistently related to an increased risk of persistent serious juvenile and adult offending (e.g., Horan, Spatz & Widom, 2015; Burke, et al., 2023) and of minors exchanging sex for money or becoming sex trafficked victims (e.g., Casassa et al., 2022; Franchino-Olsen et al., 2022). Qualitative interviews from 183 sex market facilitators (recruiters, managers, pimps or madams) were analyzed. Within their self-narratives, 54.6% mentioned a childhood trauma and of these 59.0% explicitly linked the trauma as a motivating factor for their entry into the illicit sex trade. Most childhood sexual abuse, violent victimization, neglect, or death of a parent were perceived as motivating entry. Cis and trans-women compared to men were twice as likely to report traumatic childhood experiences. Those who perceived their trauma as motivating entry and men were significantly more likely to recruit workers who had vulnerabilities such as needy, young, traumatic background or homeless. Qualitative analyses revealed that many participants learned from their childhood trauma to cope with emotional pain through using illicit drugs, learned to distrust other people, and learned to hate the gender of their abuser. Interviewees also inferred either good or bad characteristics about their self-identity from their childhood trauma. Further qualitative analyses examine the discourses in their self-narratives such as victimhood, protector, caregiver, destructive self, and gangster. Implications for trauma-informed responses and understanding the victim-offender overlap are discussed.

Authors

• Loretta J. Stalans, Loyola University Chicago

• Amber Horning Ruf, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Milan Tvardek, University of Denver

• Michelle Poirier, University of Massachusetts Lowell