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Buying Sex On-Line from Girls: NGO Representatives, Law Enforcement Officials, and Public Officials Speak out About Human Trafficking—A Qualitative Analysis

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When teenager Melissa ran away from home, she was quickly found by a man who promised her help, but was actually a pimp who intended to sexually exploit her. He used psychological manipulation and coercion to hold her in prostitution, and advertised her using online sites. Refusal to do what he said was met by beatings and threats. Despite her fear of being found and killed if she ran, Melissa 1 day managed to escape from a hotel room where he was keeping her. A patron at another hotel nearby helped her reach the police, who arrested her trafficker.

—From Trafficking in Person Report, (U. S. Department of State, 2014).

Abstract

Federal agencies report the high level of sex trafficking of minors in the United States. This trafficking often occurs on-line with the Internet. Pimps commonly advertise children for sexual exploitation online, and they search social networking sites for young victims. Thus, the high rate of trafficking minors and the increased use of technology have led to a need to better understand purchasing young girls for sex on-line. This qualitative study focused on learning from NGO representatives, law enforcement officials, and public officials their experiences about how men buy girls on-line for sex, and the words that the men use in the transactions. Moreover, it explored beliefs about human trafficking, the anti-trafficking practices, the criminal treatment of young victims, the safe places for girls to stay, and the sex trafficking programs available for these young women. To learn about these issues, we conducted thirty-eight interviewees with participants in four locations in the United Sates. Six different themes emerged: (1) familiarity of the interviewees with sex trafficking and its research: (2) law enforcement anti-trafficking practices, (3) the buying side of sex trafficking, (4) the criminal treatment of victims, (5) lack of safe places for girls to stay, and (6) the prevention, intervention, and assessment of sex trafficking programs. These results have important implications for human trafficking researchers, policymakers, law enforcement officials, and for those who provide services for the young girls.

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Acknowledgments

This Project was funded by Microsoft Research and the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit of the Microsoft Corporation and University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), April 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Andersen Hall, 200 Centennial Mall North, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0443, USA

    Sriyani Tidball

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 241 Teachers College Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68502, USA

    Mingying Zheng & John W. Creswell

Authors
  1. Sriyani Tidball
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  2. Mingying Zheng
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  3. John W. Creswell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mingying Zheng.

Appendix 1: Interview Protocol Questions

Appendix 1: Interview Protocol Questions

Questions for Law Enforcement

  1. 1.

    What is the intended effect of regulatory laws and regulations of escort industries and similar businesses?

  2. 2.

    What other businesses and industries are closely associated with escort services?

  3. 3.

    Who are the primary business owners and operators of escort services?

  4. 4.

    What powers of regulation and punishment do local authorities have over escort services that are different from typical licensing/zoning bodies?

  5. 5.

    What other laws and measures, besides regulation of legal cover operations, have been discussed or researched as possible ways to curb sex trafficking?

  6. 6.

    Are there any laws or policies on the books that investigate possible trafficking and sex industries when prostitutes are arrested or caught by local law enforcement?

  7. 7.

    Are there any federal laws or regulations that affect a state’s ability to combat human sex trafficking and the front businesses that promote prostitution?

  8. 8.

    Do you know of words that are used by johns when they are looking to purchase sex with girls on the Internet? What are some trigger words that may signal a girl is underage?

  9. 9.

    What important questions or issues did I miss that are useful/valuable in understanding human trafficking issues?

Questions for Organizations

  1. 1.

    What is your role?

  2. 2.

    How familiar are you with human sex trafficking in the US?

  3. 3.

    Tell me about your research involved with human trafficking.

  4. 4.

    How have you tried to combat human sex trafficking?

  5. 5.

    How familiar are you with the enforcement laws and how should they be changed?

  6. 6.

    Are you aware of some other sources that could help us look into the demand side of trafficking?

  7. 7.

    Do you have any information about the words that are used by Johns when they look for girls?

  8. 8.

    What words have you seen to describe a girl aged 18–21?

  9. 9.

    What are some trigger words that may signal a girl is underage?

  10. 10.

    What age do you think is most attractive to the typical john and why?

  11. 11.

    What important questions or issues did I miss that are useful/valuable in understanding human trafficking issues?

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Tidball, S., Zheng, M. & Creswell, J.W. Buying Sex On-Line from Girls: NGO Representatives, Law Enforcement Officials, and Public Officials Speak out About Human Trafficking—A Qualitative Analysis. Gend. Issues 33, 53–68 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-015-9146-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-015-9146-1

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