The consequences of our complacency to the sexualization of children are far-ranging \u2013 and none more horrifying than the rise in demand for children in the sex trade.
\nBalenciaga, the celebrated fashion house, recently made headlines for a campaign\u00a0featuring young children\u00a0holding plush teddy bears dressed in sado-masochistic trappings \u2013 bondage gear, fishnet shirts\u00a0and studded leather harnesses and collars.
\nBalenciaga\u2019s gaffe wasn’t an accident \u2013 a parallel campaign featured other rotten Easter eggs, like a page from\u00a0a Supreme Court case on child pornography\u00a0and a\u00a0coffee table book\u00a0on an artist whose artwork depicts children in sexual, macabre\u00a0and disturbing settings.
\nThe hypersexualization of young children in fashion, TV\u00a0and social media is not an exception, it\u2019s a worrisome trend that should be triggering a crescendo of warning bells.
\nSupply and demand in the sex trade
\nYet,\u00a0Balenciaga\u2019s egregious misstep resulted in nothing more than a blip on the radar, another quasi-scandal that further desensitized us to using young children as a means to an adult end. The consequences of our complacency to the sexualization of children are far-ranging \u2013 and none more horrifying than the rise in demand for children in the sex trade
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\nChild sex\u00a0trafficking\u00a0is mostly portrayed in the media as a distant problem \u2013 not one that occurs in the United States \u2013 until, inevitably, something happens to remind the general public that\u00a0sex\u2002trafficking\u2002is pervasive and that it\u2019s in our backyards.
\nEnter\u00a0the recent\u00a0arrest of \u201cking of toxic masculinity\u201d Andrew Tate on sex\u2002trafficking\u2002and rape charges. Tate is suspected of luring young women via false promises,\u00a0subjecting\u2002them to physical violence and mental coercion\u00a0through intimidation, constant surveillance, control and invoking alleged debts,\u00a0and forcing them to make pornographic videos.
\nWhether we acknowledge it now or not, the objectification and sexualization of children directly contribute\u00a0to the silent epidemic of child sex\u00a0trafficking\u00a0by fueling demand to purchase minors for sexual purposes.
\nAn\u00a0American Psychological Association\u2019s report\u00a0revealed that entertainment, advertising and the internet glamorize the sexualization of children\u2019s bodies, which leads to the exploitation of children for sex.
\nIt\u2019s not just Balenciaga. It\u2019s\u00a0Benetton.\u00a0Gucci.\u00a0Calvin Klein.\u00a0The fashion industry is riddled with photos and stories of\u00a0young women who are sexualized, exploited\u2002or fetishized.
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\nAnd it\u2019s echoed across industries \u2013 from Disney and Nickelodeon\u2019s hypersexualization\u00a0of child stars, to\u00a0TikTok super teens\u00a0cashing\u2002in on their sexuality\u00a0for careers as fledgling influencers.
\nYet, even with repeated red flags launched into the ether, we seem resistant to make the causal link between the sexualization of young children and the rise of sex\u00a0trafficking\u00a0\u2013 with figureheads like Tate, who has openly admitted to making a lucrative living\u00a0through the sexual exploitation of young women, at the helm.
\nCompanies profit from cycle of exploitation
\nWe look the other way while corporations sexualize young girls with impunity in a cycle of exploitation \u2013 we continue to buy the clothes, watch the shows\u00a0and use the apps. And, much like the apologue of the frog who was boiled by an incremental increase of the water\u2019s temperature, we won\u2019t realize the danger we\u2019re putting our youth in until the consequences become far too dire.
\nAs images of young people in sexually suggestive contexts subliminally enter minds and cross the blurred boundaries of acceptable norms, our society becomes more and more comfortable with pushing the envelope.
\nAnd with increased demand comes increased supply \u2013 naturally, the\u00a0trafficking\u00a0business is booming. American children are\u00a0diverted from a bus stop\u00a0near their foster or group home or on their walk home from middle or high school \u2013 or groomed online with gifts and compliments, only to be lured into a cycle of sexual exploitation.
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\nTraffickers, skilled in their trade, are\u00a0experts at recruitment\u00a0of minors, misdirection\u00a0and concealment. They count on the incredulity of adults who are supposed to safeguard children. They count on our complacency. And in looking the other way, we become their conspirators.
\nVictims of child sex\u00a0trafficking\u00a0are the most vulnerable in our society, including runaways and youth in foster care who have already experienced significant trauma. Many of the teens are victims of parental or caregiver abuse, making them more easily tempted into connecting with a trafficker in hopes of escaping an abusive situation at home.
\nOften, traffickers manipulate traumatized children by offering them housing, food\u00a0and the type of stability they\u2019ve lacked in previous living situations. Later, perhaps when the child isn’t bringing in enough money or tries to leave, the trafficker resorts to physical and psychological violence.
\nTrafficking\u00a0victims fall through the cracks
\nMost of these children aren\u2019t strangers to abuse \u2013 accustomed to trauma, they\u2019re less likely to escape the situation even if given a chance.\u00a0Trafficked children usually don\u2019t call hotlines; some might not even identify as being trafficked.
\nWithout concrete evidence and proper training to ferret out traffickers, authorities to whom these cases are (rarely) reported often fail to act on behalf of the victim.\u00a0So\u00a0trafficking\u00a0victims fall through the cracks and\u00a0once they age out of their bondage \u2013\u00a0if\u00a0they survive it \u2013 it\u2019s to make space for the next generation of sex trafficked youth.
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\nTo stop the cycle, we need to do more than simply criminalize and prosecute sex\u00a0trafficking. We need to get to the root of the problem: It is incumbent upon us to reject the notion that sexualizing children is acceptable in any way.
\nHuman\u00a0trafficking\u00a0can never be obliterated, but ending the tolerance and normalization of children as sexualized objects might\u00a0lead to a decrease in the child sex\u00a0trafficking\u00a0industry.
\nStudies\u00a0researching\u00a0various methods for reducing sex\u2002trafficking\u2002have already demonstrated\u00a0that society\u2019s collective beliefs about what\u2019s right and wrong can shape individuals\u2019 behaviors surrounding sex purchasing. If we, as a society, heavily stigmatize the sexualization of children in any way \u2013 attacking the very nature and desire to view a child as a sexual object \u2013 then we can stem demand.
\nChanging norms can begin with widespread public awareness, and that means reframing the mindset that too often commodifies and objectifies children.
\nWe must call for true financial accountability for the Balenciagas and Disneys of the world,\u00a0and not\u00a0allow the\u00a0scapegoating of third-party\u2002actors\u00a0while keeping the usual suspects unscathed and in power. In the end, for renorming to be most effective, the process should happen at all levels \u2013 early in the home and in schools\u00a0and continue into young adulthood and beyond.
\nUntil we interrupt the hypersexualization of children, every child is at risk. Refusing to see the truth about how objectification of children exploits our most vulnerable population not only hurts all children in the long run, it also delays the solutions we need to fix\u00a0the problem.<\/p>\n