There are many misconceptions surrounding commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Popular music, television, and movies fuel these inaccuracies by either glamorizing the commercial sex trade or using scenes of young girls being kidnapped off the street and shackled in basements as the sole basis to depict human trafficking. To effectively combat commercial sexual exploitation, society needs to be properly educated on its realities and truths, which is why perpetuating such misconceptions is harmful.
On Friday, February 29, the CSE Institute will begin featuring a mini-series written by the winners of our First-Year Law Student Blog Competition, Sarah Blum and Kendal Hutchings. Both writers chose a separate misconception to confront. Their submissions delve into the importance of acknowledging these misconceptions in order to create a more holistic understanding of commercial sexual exploitation. We are excited to share their unique voices and insight into this issue, and hope to change the discussion by bringing these misconceptions to the forefront.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.