The FBI – Child Sex Abuse Is Almost At An Epidemic Level

“It’s not a choice. At 12, it was not a choice”.

“Trafficking” often conjures images of people from other countries being smuggled over land and across the sea and then forced to work against their will in foreign lands. But the vast majority of children bought and sold for sex every night in the United States are American kids. And this is starting to be the norm in almost all countries, it is no longer a problem coming in from”the outside”. We have it at home.

We have heard from a number of women from the East coast to the Mid-west who have frighteningly similar and horrific stories. Neglected, abused, exploited and often ignored starting from a young age – sometimes even prosecuted by the very people who should have protected them.

One woman says she was bought by her aunt at the age of 14. Another woman says she was 17 when she was kicked out of the house. A third was 14 when she was kidnapped by “a guy I thought I liked”. She didn’t return home for two years.

“I was eight when I was abused by my father for the first time. Then he gave me a bike … So I learned that you could get what you want in exchange for sexual favors”.  – Testimonial of one of the women interviewed by Ian Pannell, BBC journalist.

One woman we spoke to in Minnesota was on the streets, still working at five months pregnant. She says was groomed from age 12 by a neighbour, who enticed her with a garage full of toys and games. He offered her money for topless photos.

“I see more and more younger girls out here now and it’s really sad,” she says. “It’s not a choice. At 12, it was not a choice”.

You can visit some of the groups that helped the BBC during the reporting of this story by clicking in the following logos:

You can read de orginal article at the BBC’s website entitled: “Sex trafficking: Lifelong struggle of exploited children”