Historical Analysis

It has been claimed that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. Whether this is true or not, it is evident that the market for sex and sexual favors is booming in modern culture and can be dated back to a time earlier than the Greek and Roman cultures. The Greeks and Romans both worshipped a goddess of love and prostitution. Prostitution was so prevalent that the authors of the gospel accounts make mention of a prostitute by the name of Mary Magdalene; the earliest of these accounts, scholars say, dates back to the first century (Blint & Westbrook, n.d.). But not all these prostitutes were voluntarily selling their bodies. It is fact that after a battle was waged and won; Greeks and Romans, alike, took the conquered captive to do with as they pleased. Sexual servitude was among the many forms of bondage endured (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).

It may come as a surprise to know that women sold during the African slave trade were not immune to sexual servitude in the least. It is a common fact that women sold at a higher price than men; the southern plantation owners had an insatiable appetite for sex to say the least. Sadly, legislation to protect those suffering the effects of slavery did not come until the early twentieth century and it only guarded white slaves. The White-Slave Traffic Act (better known as the Mann Act) was passed in 1910 and sought to prosecute slave traders. The FBI has been using this act, an act that was instituted in 1910, to prosecute those involved in domestic trafficking or slave trade across state lines (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).

Internationally, treaties were established in European countries to stop the trafficking of women in 1904, 1910, and 1925. Japan was cornered for their enslavement of nearly a quarter million women in sex camps to service soldiers during World War II. After such an atrocity was revealed another treaty was issued in 1949, but oddly enough the U.S. was one of a minimal number of countries who turned down its authorization (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).

Much time elapsed and another war ensued. The Gulf War in 1991 opened the gates to what is now referred to as Sex tourism. Secretary of Defense, Robert MacNamara, in an effort to enhance foreign exchange, thought it would be a good idea to lure men to economically suffering countries by sexually exploiting native women. Not even in theory does this sound ethical! However, the exposure of this idea sparked passion in many non-profit organizations to expose the carnage of such an industry and to advocate for the rights of its victims. Equality Now was such a group. Their hard work eventually paid off when a large sex tourism company in New York was shut down (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).

During this time the market for sex slaves grew in Western and Eastern Europe, especially in nations struggling after the communist collapse in Russia. Israel, commonly seen as the “Holy Land”, was not immune either. In fact, they have one of the largest sex markets in the world. As countries became aware of this growing problem action was taken. An international conference was held in Vienna in 1996 and later in 2000. This conference gave birth to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime or the Palermo Protocols. The protocols were ratified with astonishing enthusiasm and this time the U.S. took a stand by offering its signature (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).

Later that year the United States adopted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The act, instead of being intolerable to any means by which the victim entered the sex industry, limited prosecution to only those traffickers who were proven to have lured the enslaved by way of “force, fraud, or coercion.” This sadly slows the process of protection and prosecution, but protects those who voluntarily enter the trade. Though, there is a loophole the act was a step in the right direction. In 2003 and in 2005, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) was instated. It simply continued provision of funds for TVPA (“A Short History of Sexual Slavery”, 2007).