The confused term "sex trafficking" undermines the campaign against
the grave crime of enslavement and forced prostitution, by identifying
that crime with the practice of paying for sex.
A Republican official who made a bogus accusation against Latin
American immigrants in general — that they would traffic "children"
into the US for prostitution — is now being criticized for supposedly
doing that very thing himself. However, when you look at the details,
he was not accused of enslaving or trafficking anyone. Rather, he is
accused of nothing more than offering to pay for sex, to someone who
was a minor. (No word on whether the official even knew that.)
I warned before that the term "sex trafficking" was apt to lead to injustice.
Now we see it in action.
The term's confusion will undermine efforts to stop enslavement and
trafficking of both adolescents and adults.