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"Boys are Victims Too" | a Presentation about Boys in Trafficking
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In this powerful and eye-opening episode of the Trafficking Free America Podcast, Kevin Malone — former MLB General Manager and former president and co-founder of Kids Not For Sale and The U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking (USIAHT) — exposes one of the most overlooked realities in the fight against human trafficking: the sexual exploitation of boys. Kevin challenges longstanding misconceptions, unveils harsh statistics, and recounts heartbreaking stories that illuminate how deeply this issue is hidden in plain sight. He calls America to wake up, take action, and fight for every vulnerable child—regardless of gender.
🔔 Subscribe for more voices fighting for freedom and justice.
📌 Learn more: https://usiaht.org | https://kidsnotforsale.org
👇 Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction: Kevin Malone’s mission to end trafficking
01:20 - The hidden crisis: Male victims of trafficking
02:44 - Legal definitions and misconceptions about trafficking
04:36 - Who are the buyers? Surprising demographics
06:21 - Demand and supply countries: The U.S. as a top consumer
08:15 - Key trafficking venues across the U.S.
10:35 - Limitations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
12:24 - Victim profiles: There is no “typical” trafficking victim
18:01 - Real cases of boys trafficked in the U.S.
23:03 - Cultural bias: Why boys often go unidentified
30:04 - Trafficking tactics: Grooming, sextortion, and recruitment methods
37:05 - Health outcomes and the need for systemic reform
44:12 - Final call: Recognize boys as victims and act now
🎙️ Let’s change the narrative. Let’s end human trafficking—for everyone.
#HumanTrafficking #KevinMalone #BoysInTrafficking #USIAHT #KidsNotForSale #TraffickingFreeAmerica #Podcast #EndSexTrafficking #ChildProtection
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Transcript
Introduction to Trafficking Free America and Kevin Malone
00:00:11
Speaker
What's up guys, and welcome to the Trafficking Free America podcast. In today's episode, we're actually going presentation presented to us by Kevin Malone. Kevin Malone is the former president of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking. When we recorded this, he was still the president at the time.
00:00:27
Speaker
As most of our followers know, he took a leave of absence as he pursued a new position in Washington, D.C.
Boys as Victims of Trafficking
00:00:35
Speaker
Inside this presentation, we talk about how boys are victims too.
00:00:40
Speaker
Males are victims too in trafficking. Now, obviously, the data shows that women and girls are trafficked more often, but the truth is that the data is not extremely accurate as to knowing when boys or males are trafficked because they're labeled oftentimes as not being trafficked when they in fact are.
00:01:00
Speaker
The U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking learned a lot about this when they opened up one of the first boys safe home in the United States. A lot of these stories that that you'll actually hear inside the presentation came from direct stories that we were told.
00:01:13
Speaker
Now, if you were listening to this and you want to receive the full experience, because this is a presentation, if you go to our YouTube channel and watch it there, you'll see the slides, the short film and everything involved.
00:01:24
Speaker
However, if you want to just follow along via audio, that's totally fine too. You just may miss a few facts or graphics or certain elements that included inside our presentation.
00:01:35
Speaker
So if you want to watch that on YouTube, just search at USIAHT and you'll find our channel as well as our podcast channel for the Trafficking Free America podcast. I pray that you learn from this presentation, not just how boys are trafficked inside the system, but also how we can protect our boys and young men in society.
Kevin Malone's Mission to End Human Trafficking
00:02:02
Speaker
Hello, my name is Kevin Malone. I am the president and co-founder of both the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and Kids Not For Sale. Our approach with both organizations is to put an end to human trafficking.
00:02:16
Speaker
We strive to do this by educating every single person in the United States about how this happens and occurs so that this crime is not as easily hidden in the shadows any longer.
00:02:28
Speaker
This will not only make it harder for buyers and perpetrators to be caught, but it may prevent a victim from being groomed in the first place. Our other approach is to care for current victims to cease generational trauma and trafficking, as well as combating the demand by making harder for buyers to get away with purchasing our boys and girls throughout the whole United States.
00:02:53
Speaker
In today's presentation, I'm going to expose a truth that is not often thought about, and quite frankly, it's hidden in our society, and that is around the subject of boys being trafficked.
Misconceptions and Legal Definitions of Trafficking
00:03:08
Speaker
Conceptions about sex trafficking have been formed, they've been promoted and viewed through news reports, cinema, public awareness programs, academic literature and criminal statutes as a heinous crime against women and girls.
00:03:23
Speaker
The lack of discussion and studies regarding male victims of human trafficking, sex trafficking in particular, seem to convey the notion that sex trafficking is not happening to males or that it is not as dire of a situation as it is for girls.
00:03:40
Speaker
The line of thought is dangerous to the many men and boys who have been and are currently being sex trafficked in the United States and all around the globe.
00:03:52
Speaker
This is not about comparing who has it worst. Every single survivor, man, woman, male, female, boy, girl, straight, gay, other, every single survivor has a unique story.
00:04:05
Speaker
It's not if I give more to men I'm taking away from women. The more we can address the issue holistically, the better able we're going to be to reduce it. Let's define how our country identifies trafficking today.
00:04:20
Speaker
The federal sex trafficking offense has three elements that can be summarized as acts, means, purpose. The crime is legally defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.
00:04:39
Speaker
The Commercial Sex Act must be induced by force, fraud, or coercion. A commercial sex act is defined as any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by a person.
00:04:55
Speaker
This, unfortunately, finds way to separate prostitution from sex trafficking, but numbers show that when current prostitutes were asked if they would leave the life of prostitution, if they had a better choice or option, over 90% them said yes.
00:05:10
Speaker
so we can easily see how trafficking and prostitution are easily one and the same. However, if a person is under 18 years old, a showing of force, fraud, or coercion is not necessary.
Human Trafficking as a Market-Driven Crime
00:05:24
Speaker
When a child is involved in a commercial sex act, they are automatically considered a victim of sex trafficking under the law. Demonstrating a means of force, fraud, or coercion is not required.
00:05:36
Speaker
Therefore, there is no such thing as a child prostitute. No such thing as a child prostitute. Two aspects of the statute are particularly important to keep in mind when considering male victimization.
00:05:51
Speaker
Human trafficking is the only industry in which the supply and demand are the same thing, human beings. Human trafficking is a market-driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of supply and demand, like drugs or arms trafficking.
00:06:06
Speaker
Many factors make children and adults vulnerable to human trafficking. However, Human trafficking does not exist solely because many people are vulnerable to exploitation.
00:06:18
Speaker
It exists because people are willing to pay to do whatever they want to or with another person. There is a demand for all races, all ages, and all genders.
00:06:30
Speaker
We often think of the supply as a female, but the reality is that boys and men are part of the supply chain. Question, who are the buyers?
00:06:41
Speaker
They often view paying for sex as a victimless crime, especially when it comes to boys. The view is, if they didn't want it to be doing this, they wouldn't do it. That's a lie.
00:06:53
Speaker
54% of buyers are Caucasians and they're married with kids and they're 40 years and older. Buyers visit a range of venues to purchase sex. Demographic traits are poor predictors.
00:07:06
Speaker
Race and sexual orientation have no profiling power. Buyers span the income distribution with one exception. High frequency buyers have an annual income of $100,000 or more.
00:07:21
Speaker
Normalize beliefs about the commercial sex trade. There are at least three people involved in the crime of sex trafficking. The buyer, the trafficker, and the victim.
00:07:32
Speaker
Who is a sex buyer? It's a term that's used to describe a person that pays a sex trafficker to engage in a sex act with a sex trafficking victim.
00:07:43
Speaker
Buyers drive the demand for victims. Sex trafficker is a person who facilitates and or benefits by receiving something of value for the commercial sexual exploitation of a person or attempts to do so.
00:07:58
Speaker
Also, this person is known as a pimp. A sex trafficking victim is a person under 18 that engages in a commercial sex act or an adult that's sexually exploited through means of force, fraud, or coercion.
00:08:14
Speaker
This slide highlights demand and supply countries. The U.S. is one of the largest consumers of victims of human trafficking.
American Men's Role in Commercial Sex Trafficking
00:08:23
Speaker
The blue indicates supply countries which include Russia, Ukraine, Romania, China, Cambodia, Thailand, etc.
00:08:31
Speaker
In Africa, Nigeria is a source country. The red on the slide indicates countries that consume human trafficking victims. These include the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Turkey.
00:08:46
Speaker
Human trafficking is quickly becoming the second most common criminal act behind drug trafficking. It is highly profitable as victims can be sold over and over and over again.
00:08:58
Speaker
The International Labor Organization estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is $150 industry worldwide. billiond dollarlar industry worldwide The U.S. Department of Labor has identified 139 goods from 75 countries made by forced and child labor.
00:09:16
Speaker
There is no official estimate of the total number of human trafficking victims in the United States. It is clear that the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands when estimates of both adults and minors and sex trafficking and labor trafficking are aggregated.
00:09:35
Speaker
Due to the difficulty in identifying and locating victims in combination with the fact that many do not self-identify as victims, it is very difficult to obtain data related to statistics, both nationally and internationally.
00:09:50
Speaker
The United States accounts for almost 52% of global human trafficking with the sex trafficking of minors accounting for the largest percentage. I hate to say this, but it's true. American men are the number one consumers of commercial sex.
00:10:06
Speaker
That means American men are paying to rape our children and paying to have sex with individuals that are being trafficked or being prostituted.
00:10:18
Speaker
This slide will show where
TVPA's Focus and Components
00:10:20
Speaker
trafficking is happening in the United States. These are the top five sex trafficking venues. Number one, hotel and motel based. Two, commercial front.
00:10:31
Speaker
Brothels. Four, online ad venues. Five, unknown. Six, street based. And seven, other venues. These are the top five labor trafficking venues.
00:10:44
Speaker
One, domestic work. Two, agriculture. Three, traveling sales crews. Four, restaurants and food service. And five, other industries. Back in 1998, President Bill Clinton stated that his administration was committed to combating trafficking in women and girls.
00:11:03
Speaker
Two years later, he signed into law the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, TVPA. Although the TVPA was a huge milestone in the anti-trafficking movement, its enactment was motivated by a singular focus on the iconic victim, white,
00:11:20
Speaker
female and helpless, despite human trafficking not being limited to a specific gender, age, race or sexuality. Indeed, lawmakers focus narrowly on the kidnapping and sexual enslavement of the iconic victim to hasten passage of the TVPA.
00:11:40
Speaker
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, TVPA of 2000, focuses on protection, prosecution, prevention and partnership, 2013. twenty thirteen Protection includes providing assistance to victims of trafficking, many of which were previously ineligible due to their legal status in the United States.
00:12:01
Speaker
This specific assistance involves establishing a non-immigrant status for victims if they agree to cooperate in the investigation and the prosecution of the traffickers, also known as the T-Visa.
00:12:16
Speaker
Prosecution. It includes creating a set of crimes that are considered trafficking, forced labor, and domestic servitude in order to supplement the existing but limited crimes related to modern slavery.
00:12:29
Speaker
And with this, recognizing that modern-day slavery takes place in the context of force, fraud, or coercion that furthermore fall into the more widely accepted definitions of sex and labor trafficking.
00:12:43
Speaker
Prevention. includes authorizing the United States government
Challenging Stereotypes of Trafficking Victims
00:12:47
Speaker
to assist foreign countries with their efforts to combat trafficking in the forms of awareness, raising and assistance in drafting laws, creating programs for victims, and implementing effective means of investigation.
00:13:01
Speaker
and partnership, which was added as the newest component in 2013, involves building partnerships between the U.S. government and private entities to ensure that U.S. citizens do not use items, products, or materials that have been produced or extracted with the use of forced labor, as well as ensure the collaboration in the identification and restitution of those that have been victimized.
00:13:27
Speaker
Just as the chained foreign-born young female victim dominated and continues to dominate ideas of what a sex trafficking victim looks like, the pimped young American girl continues to dominate our ideas of what a domestic sex trafficking does look like.
00:13:44
Speaker
When surveying multiple different service providers' websites, most use pictures of females in chains or looking sad. The narrative includes the female pronoun.
00:13:55
Speaker
There is no poster child for who would be a victim of sex trafficking. Males and females, adults and children, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals,
00:14:06
Speaker
the well-educated and those with no formal education. Trafficking occurs to adults and minors in rural, suburban, or urban communities across the whole country. Victims of human trafficking have diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, varied levels of education, and they may be maybe documented or undocumented.
00:14:27
Speaker
is that it is essential to remember that vulnerability to human trafficking is far-reaching, spanning multiple different areas such as age, socioeconomic status, nationality, education level, or gender.
00:14:43
Speaker
Traffickers often prey on people who are hoping for a better life or they lack employment opportunities, they have unstable home life, or have a history of sexual abuse, conditions that are present in all spheres of society.
00:14:58
Speaker
The goals of this training is to raise awareness about the impact of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking on boys and young men. This document highlights best practices to improve identification of and responses to boys and young men impacted by child sexual exploitation.
Personal Struggles of Trafficked Boys
00:15:44
Speaker
My birthday's tomorrow.
00:15:49
Speaker
Mama used to make me chocolate cake.
00:15:54
Speaker
I like that.
00:16:03
Speaker
That was before, before Mama got sick.
00:16:10
Speaker
Before that man started coming over.
00:16:20
Speaker
My friends don't know. They'd laugh at me if they did.
00:16:34
Speaker
First it was one time. Then two times.
00:16:44
Speaker
even know how many times now. I've given up on trying to stop
00:16:54
Speaker
I did tell someone I needed help. I told him I wanted to feel safe. He probably just didn't know what to do with me.
00:17:08
Speaker
It's probably my fault anyway.
00:17:16
Speaker
I think my teacher knew. She saw the bruises. She saw that I had been hurt.
00:17:25
Speaker
Try to give me a hug.
00:17:28
Speaker
I don't like being touched.
00:17:47
Speaker
cry about it anymore. There's nothing I can do about it. Boys don't cry.
00:18:12
Speaker
Does anyone care?
00:18:23
Speaker
Why did Mama let him bring me to his friends?
00:18:28
Speaker
Why did Mama not say anything? Why can't people understand that I never wanted this?
00:18:36
Speaker
Why do they like to hurt me sometimes? Why don't they stop?
00:18:48
Speaker
It's my birthday tomorrow.
00:18:51
Speaker
Why am I different?
00:18:57
Speaker
Why won't you see me?
00:19:34
Speaker
When it comes to boys, victims don't always report crimes to law enforcement due to factors including fear, shame, and confusion. The scope of CSEB is vastly underreported and much more needs to be done to identify sexually exploited boys as young people in need of protection.
00:19:57
Speaker
to raise awareness about the impact of CSEB and to provide specialized services for them. We have served boys as young as 10 years old who was being sold by his father since he was four years old.
00:20:11
Speaker
Again, the demand is what puts four-year-old boys at risk to being sold for sex. These are stats for calls into the national hotline, just to give a view how the numbers of male boy victims have increased over the years, not because there are recently more boys, but we have done a somewhat better job of identifying and allowing boys, males to self-identify.
00:20:38
Speaker
These are calls to the Florida Abuse Hotline. This is the hotline used only for minors who are residents of Florida. In 2014, total 1,225 calls were made to the hotline. 15% of those calls were made to the hotline fifteen percent of those causes were boys In 2021, a total of 1,876 calls were made to the hotline. 17% of those were boys.
00:21:03
Speaker
Is it because male victims have increased or are we even identifying them? That's the question. In our culture, boys are socialized not to be victims.
00:21:14
Speaker
If I am a victim, can I then also be a man? That's the question that sometimes these boys ask. The touching can feel good to both boys and girls, and then that causes great confusion.
00:21:27
Speaker
When young boys are sexually abused by female offenders, there is another interesting mind assault. If a young male is getting attention sexually from an older woman, he is often seen as lucky.
00:21:41
Speaker
Boys can be experimental with sex and that is often regarded as boys will be boys. Often boys report that they don't view the sexual acts perpetrated on them as that being abusive.
00:21:53
Speaker
They minimize or deny the impact to avoid feelings of helplessness or confusion. They may be uncomfortable asking for help or fear that they will not be believed.
00:22:03
Speaker
Some boys and young men may be discouraged from disclosing because service providers use language that implies males are more likely to perpetrate violence than to experience it as a victim.
00:22:17
Speaker
This is compounded by anti-trafficking outreach materials, pictures and brochures, and marketing focusing on exclusively females, which reinforces this bias.
00:22:29
Speaker
Boys and young men may often internalize societal stereotypes, suggesting that they should or do always desire sex and therefore do not view their exploitation as abuse.
00:22:42
Speaker
Among the service providers that do not work with boys and young men, the most common response is that they do not receive calls about child sexual exploited boys, which only seems to reaffirm the common and misguided belief that boys do not need services.
Underreporting and Misperceptions of Male Victims
00:23:00
Speaker
But their failure to screen, which is a big problem, or excess boys at intake is not evidence that CSE boys do not exist. If no one is looking, then it should not be surprising that these boys are not being found.
00:23:16
Speaker
While it is difficult to identify precise data, studies suggest that between 31% and 71% of youth impacted by CSE are male.
00:23:27
Speaker
And while the prevalence data varies, researchers agree that the number of boys and young men impacted by the commercial sex trade is much greater than many believe.
00:23:38
Speaker
As with females, there are significant racial disparities among those impacted by CSE. It is important to realize that less than 1% were trans.
00:23:50
Speaker
It is important because there is a misconception that the majority of victims are trans. Of participants who reported having one episode of CSE before or during adolescence, 39% were female and 61% were male.
00:24:08
Speaker
Of participants who reported repeated CSE exposure before or during adolescence, 29% were female and 71% were male.
00:24:19
Speaker
Once a youth ends up on the street, within 24 to 48 hours, they are approached and offered some kind of good for the exchange for sex. While the prevalence data varies, researchers agree that the number of boys and young men impacted by the commercial sex trade is much, much greater than many believe.
00:24:40
Speaker
As with females, there are significant racial disparities among those impacted by CSE. Boys enter the life in their race and ethnicity. Anecdotal information suggests that boys can enter the life at a similar or even younger age than girls, between 11 and 13 years of age for boys and young men compared to 12 and 14 years for girls.
00:25:06
Speaker
Until the last two decades, research framed CES boys and young men as deviants with a desire for quick sex and money. Although this belief is not accepted in the human trafficking community, it appears to persist in the wider culture.
00:25:23
Speaker
One key informant conversation with law enforcement officer typified this attitude as the officer referred to a 15-year-old male found in a motel trafficking sting as a sex addict and to another who was just doing it for the money.
00:25:40
Speaker
Here's a story of a boy in the safe house. He claimed to not be a victim, but an entrepreneur. A 13-year-old boy entered our safe house and presented with multiple indicators that he was being trafficked.
00:25:53
Speaker
He was homeless, he lacked any resources, he had zero support from his family. He was in the community one day trying to figure out how was he going to eat. At one point, he was approached by an older man.
00:26:06
Speaker
This older man asked him if he was hungry. At that point, the child was forced to conduct a sexual act in order to have food for the night. This happened a few times. The child thought he was a hustler and that he was using the older men to meet his need.
00:26:21
Speaker
He lived in this situation for months. He talked about how he would teach other homeless youth how to survive. He learned which bathrooms were the best to meet people, which community pools, and what hotels never asked questions.
00:26:35
Speaker
He looked at himself as an entrepreneur. But by definition, this boy was being trafficked. Rooted in a culture that amplifies feelings of shame and self-loathing, this fear is very common to CSE boys and often leads to their re-identifying themselves as hustlers to give the illusion of control and power.
00:26:57
Speaker
This is much like some exploited girls who claim that selling sex gives them power and embraces terms for themselves that minimize their vulnerabilities. Boys who experience CSE are treated harshly and they go unrecognized as victims within the juvenile and criminal legal systems.
00:27:17
Speaker
A 2008 study of youth impacted by CSE in New York City found that there was a clearly gendered pattern to their interactions with law enforcement.
00:27:28
Speaker
Similarly, a 2016 national study of youth involved in the sex trade found that cis males were more likely to report ever having been arrested than cis females.
00:27:40
Speaker
Rather than identifying male youth as victims of trafficking when they came in contact with them with law enforcement, these youth continued to be criminalized. Involvement with the juvenile criminal legal system itself can actually exasperate vulnerability for CSE since having a criminal record can create barriers to obtaining employment, housing, public benefits, leaving few options for individuals to support themselves outside of exploitation.
00:28:12
Speaker
Boys and young men represent a small percentage of minors who enter the criminal justice system on prostitution charges. They are rarely identified as people arrested for prostitution or victims of human trafficking by law enforcement agencies, whether local, state, or federal.
00:28:30
Speaker
Law enforcement officers do not refer to boys to agencies. They look typically for the stereotypical girl victim. Here's a story of a boy who was with his trafficker, but he got arrested for shoplifting.
00:28:45
Speaker
He worked with a service provider who had three boys that were being trafficked. It was reported that these boys were recruited while they were in a group home by another boy. They were convinced to run away and meet these two men who would pay them for conducting sexual acts.
00:29:01
Speaker
The boys were being transported to another location by odor two older men. They stopped at a store where they were told to steal some items. All three boys were caught in the act of stealing and law enforcement was contacted.
00:29:15
Speaker
During the interview process with law enforcement, the boys were asked where they were going, how they knew the men, why were they stealing. The boys did not have any answers to any of these questions.
00:29:27
Speaker
It was not that they were refusing the answer, they truly did not know. Law enforcement did not dig into the lack of an answer and arrested all three boys and allowed the two men to leave.
00:29:39
Speaker
If
Tactics Used by Traffickers
00:29:40
Speaker
these were girls, the situation would have had a different ending. The most commonly charged offenses for this population, boy victims of sex trafficking, were felony, aggravated battery, misdemeanor battery, and petty theft.
00:29:54
Speaker
This differs from the general delinquency pool in that misdemeanor battery Burglary and petty theft are the most common offenses. Felony aggravated battery falls outside ah of the most common offenses for all DJJ-involved youth.
00:30:12
Speaker
While many are arrested on other charges, they are rarely screened for CSE. This is a big problem. Now, girls, on the other hand, are more often screened for CSE and referred to agencies.
00:30:25
Speaker
Until the last two decades, research framed CSE boys and young men as deviants with a desire for quick sex and money. Although this belief is not accepted in the human trafficking community, it appears to persist in the wider culture.
00:30:41
Speaker
One key informant conversation with law enforcement officer typified this attitude as the officer referred to the 15-year-old male found in a motel trafficking sting as a sex addict and to another who was just doing it for the money.
00:30:55
Speaker
Despite their protected status at the federal level, juvenile victims of sex trafficking may at times be labeled and treated as criminals or juvenile delinquents.
00:31:07
Speaker
at the state and local levels. Consequently, these children may be arrested and placed in juvenile detention facilities with juveniles who have committed serious crimes instead of in environments where they can receive needed social and protective services.
00:31:23
Speaker
In addition, because of being processed through the criminal justice system, They may then have permanent records as offenders. Some researchers have noted that labeling these victims as prostitutes or offenders and subsequently placing them in the juvenile justice system is a practice that may further harm these victimized youth.
00:31:47
Speaker
This is any perpetrator's strategy to groom a victim into trafficking. The largest part of this process is they remove any other sources of fulfillment. If the trafficker slash buyer can make the child think that they are the only ones who can meet the child's need,
00:32:03
Speaker
That creates an environment where the child feels like they cannot leave. Methods of recruitment mentioned in the criminal and civil cases filed included job offers, the internet, pre-existing relationships, and promises of material possessions.
00:32:19
Speaker
Out of these recruitment methods, the two most common were the internet and pre-existing relationships. Defenders are commonly recruited online through social media apps utilizing platforms like Grindr, Kick, and Instagram to connect with underage boys to discuss payment and to set a location for the exploitation.
00:32:39
Speaker
Pre-existing relationships were another common method of recruitment. Many of these individuals held positions of trust meant to protect children, doctors, religious leaders, teachers, parents, coaches, and other family members.
00:32:53
Speaker
In one case, for example, the trafficker worked at a school where he would engage in sexual acts with the students in exchange for shoes, clothing, money, or other necessities, sometimes giving the victims drugs to make them more compliant.
00:33:07
Speaker
Since 2015, more than 100 men, and that number's light, across the United States, including police officers, priests, and teachers, have faced charges related to sexually exalting minors or attempting sexual activity with youth that they met on Grindr.
00:33:24
Speaker
Grindr strictly prohibits any interactions with or use of its platform by minors, exploitation or solicitation of any kind, impersonation, and other forms of illicit or inappropriate conduct.
00:33:37
Speaker
Alice Huntsberger, Senior Director of Customer Experience, Trust and Safety, said the following, its app can be susceptible to misuse and bad actors and it works to reduce risk, including banning underage use and working with law enforcement to protect users.
00:33:57
Speaker
Right. An ongoing investigation has found that the number of male victims is vastly underreported, partly because boys don't disclose what happened, stifled by fear, shame, and stigma, and partly because society often has trouble seeing boys as victims at all.
00:34:15
Speaker
The second common way the boys were being sexually exploited was through the possession, distribution, and or production of child sexual abuse material, CSAM.
00:34:26
Speaker
Several of the traffickers not only physically engaged in sex acts with the victims, but they possessed CSAM of their victims or other children.
00:34:37
Speaker
Some of the traffickers had images of both males and females, while others had images only of males. The link between CSAM and sex trafficking of males is not surprising.
00:34:47
Speaker
According to the press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of um Oklahoma, the viewing of CSAM is not a passive crime. The demand for this material fuels the physical and sexual abuse of children around the world.
00:35:04
Speaker
Most boys that we came in contact with reported that they had either had to watch pornography and reenact it or they had to create pornography. Abduction is the act of making a person go somewhere with you, especially using threats or violence.
00:35:20
Speaker
Most thought of when it comes to control, however, it is the least common. The Romeo boyfriend lover boy style, which is Romeo pimps, is a lot more subtle.
00:35:32
Speaker
They do not mind taking their time to gain control over the victim. Victims tend to refer to them as their significant other as the Romeo capitalizes on the need to feel loved, seen, and desired.
00:35:45
Speaker
They use the boyfriending technique, hence the term, by romancing the victim with false feelings and promises to fill their voids and vulnerabilities. The method inspires fierce loyalty from the victim.
00:35:57
Speaker
Although physical violence may become an issue, and it oftentimes does, the psychological manipulation is what maintains control. Guerrilla style, this is the stereotypical image Hollywood portrays.
00:36:10
Speaker
Typically seen in flashy clothing, jewelry, and cars, the pimp shows off the money and is more apt to utilize force to control the victim and control them. The pimp, someone who solicits customers for a prostitution and acts as a manager for a group of prostitutes.
00:36:29
Speaker
Sextortion, traditionally sextortion occurs when a victim is threatened or blackmailed into providing more sexual imagery. The predator threatens to share their nude or sexual images with the public.
00:36:43
Speaker
They are more likely to have been recruited by friends or peers, according to Friedman in 2013. This makes it harder for social services agencies and authorities to identify boys as victims and increases the difficulty improving trafficking has really occurred.
Vulnerabilities and Risks for Boys
00:37:00
Speaker
After reviewing the civil and criminal cases filed between 2000 and 2020, two common fact patterns emerged as ways in which the boys were being sexually exploited. Some cases were characterized by an individual trafficker taking advantage of a voice of a boy's vulnerability and exchanging something of value for sex.
00:37:20
Speaker
The common view of sex trafficking is that a victim is trafficked by a pimp or trafficker who controls and abuses the victim and a third party buyer who purchases the victim for sexual services.
00:37:32
Speaker
However, In the cases are reviewed, it was common for there to be no third party. Instead, the buyer and the trafficker were synonymous. For example, in the United States versus Otoro slash Otoro, the defendant engaged in sexual acts with approximately five minors and he would pay them between 20 $80.
00:37:54
Speaker
In the complaint, there were no allegations made that the defendant trafficked the minors to any third parties. When there is not a third party involved, the trafficking of boys can be falsely perceived as a consensual relationship rather than inherently coercive and controlling.
00:38:09
Speaker
This can add to the harmful belief that males are more responsible for their actions and are therefore to be blamed. This is what we've learned how traffickers abuse their victims. They abuse with psychological, physical, sexual violence.
00:38:23
Speaker
They use physical violence with weapons, drug control, firearm control, and torture. Sexual abuse and CSE. At least one in six men have been sexually abused or assaulted.
00:38:36
Speaker
Male youth who have histories of sexual abuse are at eight times greater risk of later sex trafficking. Males are less likely to disclose abuse than females.
00:38:48
Speaker
In one study, only 16% of men compared to 64% of women with documented histories of sexual abuse consider themselves to have been sexually abused.
00:39:00
Speaker
Data suggests that male survivors of childhood sexual abuse delay disclosure well into adulthood. Males and females have many similar vulnerabilities for CSE.
00:39:15
Speaker
Primary risk factors for boys and young men experienced in CSE include history of abuse, exposure to childhood adversity and trauma without adequate support.
00:39:27
Speaker
Homelessness is a result of running away or being kicked out of the home. familial rejection of sexual orientation or gender identity, poverty including housing instability, food insecurity, and or lack of basic support such as transportation, substance misuse and dependency experienced by themselves and or caregivers, involvement with child welfare and or juvenile justice systems.
00:39:57
Speaker
The scope of sex trafficking is difficult to measure and the exact number of victims in the United States is unknown, especially over the last few years when the borders have been open.
00:40:08
Speaker
We've been flooded with kids, international kids, in the United States that we know a large percentage are now being trafficked. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that one in six of more than 25,000 cases of children reported missing in 2021 who had run away were victims of child sex trafficking.
00:40:31
Speaker
There is a commonly perpetrated belief that victims of child sex trafficking are almost exclusively female. A 2018 study by the center found, though males may comprise a smaller portion of victims, their numbers are significant.
00:40:47
Speaker
We at the US Institute Against Human Trafficking realized that there are way more than 400 boys that are being trafficked. We know by data and research that over 100 boys are trafficked alone in Florida every year.
00:41:02
Speaker
That's one state out of 50. So you can put the numbers to it and realize thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of boys are being trafficked all throughout the United States.
00:41:15
Speaker
These are common signs that we have noticed of traffic victims, almost always accompanied by an adult who seems controlling. Avoids eye contact. Appears fearful, submissive, anxious, depressed, or nervous.
00:41:28
Speaker
May not speak for themselves. May not know where they are. May be unaware of the day, the week, or the month. They do not know their address. They provide an inconsistent history and story.
00:41:41
Speaker
Reports an unusual amount of sexual partners. Might be inappropriately dressed for the weather. Remember, traffickers and buyers continue changing their strategies and they are very creative.
00:41:54
Speaker
Use this as a guide, but understand that we do not know every single sign or data point. Research has found that while the indicators of trafficking are consistent across the gender spectrum, they're interpreted differently by providers depending on the young person's gender identity.
00:42:13
Speaker
When a girl leaves foster care and returns with her hair and nails done or with new clothes, providers suspect she obtained them through exploitation and interpret that as a risk of CSE.
00:42:25
Speaker
When a teenage girl is in a relationship with an older man, providers suspect there is a is coercion or abuse and further investigate the relationship. However, when a boy returns to care with new shoes and jewelry, providers assume that he stole the items or is involved in gang activity.
00:42:45
Speaker
When a teenage boy is in a relationship with an older man, providers assume he is gay, that he desires sex, and he's a willing participant. and that he could leave if he wanted to.
00:42:56
Speaker
The providers then do nothing. Boys also endure a high level of injuries often resulting from violence, such as abscesses, broken jaws, flesh wounds, stabbings, burns, bruises, and scars.
00:43:09
Speaker
Boys are treated violently. We often hear from survivors that they would be in the doctor's office due to injuries related to being hurt by a trafficker. And as they sat in the doctor's office, their trafficker was often in the room with them.
00:43:23
Speaker
When asked, why did you not say something to a nurse or to a doctor, they would say they were afraid that they would be judged.
Health Issues and Need for Systemic Change
00:43:30
Speaker
When it comes to boys, they reported that the reason why they did not say anything is because they were afraid that they would be judged or labeled for something they do not identify with.
00:43:42
Speaker
It is again a reminder that many victims of sex trafficking are forced to participate in so homosexual acts even though they identify as heterosexual.
00:43:52
Speaker
Overall, the mental, physical, and emotional health outcomes of CSE boys are by all accounts dismal with increased chances of further sexual assault at the hands of a stranger.
00:44:05
Speaker
Key informants and desk reviews are in agreement about the disproportionately high rates of illicit drug use among CSE boys, including alcohol and amphetamines, as well as marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin.
00:44:19
Speaker
sometimes forced on them by their pimps or traffickers in cases where a pimp or a trafficker is involved. Polaris found that more than 2,200 people, or about 15% of those that called its National Human Trafficking Hotline between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2017, said that drugs or alcohol had been in used to induce them into prostitution.
00:44:44
Speaker
CSE boys are also reported to suffer from HIV and other STIs, hepatitis C, depression, PTSD, anxiety, and increased rate of suicide attempts.
00:44:56
Speaker
All but one key informant said that the most serious health threat was HIV and other STIs. They also said that boys were able to access health care services, except when they were controlled by exploiters, through free clinics, LGBTQ, and refugee health centers.
00:45:14
Speaker
We need to do a better job at not asking, what's wrong with you? But rather, what's happened to you, especially when it comes to boys and to men? Examine and address your own biases and assumptions about boys and young men, both at the system and individual level.
00:45:31
Speaker
Ensure that you are understanding and non-judgmental in-service delivery to create a safe environment for all clients, including male survivors of sexual exploitation. Provide male victims ah of sexual exploitation access to long-term prosperity and support services, including job training, education, safe housing from emergency to long-term, and mental health services and substance abuse treatment.
00:45:58
Speaker
Provide training for staff on male victims of trafficking. Discuss stereotypes and biases that exist specific to males in trafficking. Ensure that the community is well-educated on human trafficking.
00:46:11
Speaker
And do not limit education to the experiences of female victims and survivors. America. Get your head out of the sand.
00:46:22
Speaker
We have a real issue with child sex trafficking all throughout our country, especially sex trafficking of boys. It's a huge problem.
00:46:34
Speaker
Rarely do I hear anyone talking about the sex trafficking of boys. It's always girls and women. And yes, that is a huge problem. but our boys are not getting the attention that they
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:46:48
Speaker
need. They're not receiving the services that they need because they're not being identified.
00:46:54
Speaker
If they're being locked up, they're not identified as trafficking victims. There's just so many opportunities for boys to find themselves in some kind of legal trouble or in a bad situation, but no one recognizes that they're being trafficked or have been trafficked.
00:47:13
Speaker
You've seen this slide show, but I wanna emphasize how important it is for boys to be recognized as traffic victims. Every state in our country needs to improve the identification tools to make sure that boys that are being trafficked or have been trafficked receive the services and their needs are being met.
00:47:36
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this presentation. Please take action. Please do something to help. I really appreciate the time. God bless you. Thank you.