Nita Belles, author and Managing Director of In Our Backyard, shares the story of Hailey and Renee, two women who were sex trafficked into pornography through coercion and debt bondage in the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s latest video.
In addition to cases of coercion and debt bondage, women involved in the production of “mainstream” porn are often pressured by their agents, directors, and fellow performers to engage in sexual activity they do not want to participate in. This pressure can cross into sexual assault, and in some circumstances it can also be a form of human trafficking. Forced participation as a performer is sex trafficking, and it occurs more often than you might think.
The United Nations defines human trafficking in Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons as:
“The recruitment … by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,… of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services…”
According to this definition, many performers in pornography are sex trafficked. Fraud, deception, threat or use of force, coercion, and abuse of power or vulnerability frequently takes place during the filming of these performers.
WATCH: Nita Belles Tells The Story of Renee and Hailey
To learn more about the links between sex trafficking and pornography, visit:Â stoptraffickingdemand.com
