An Examination of Sex Trafficking by Race and Ethnicity in the State of Missouri on State and Local Levels: Implications for Anti-Oppressive Practice

ABSTRACT

Studies examining the relationship between sex trafficking victimization and race/ethnicity are typically limited to organizational or national-level data. State-level and local-level analyses are limited and typically do not occur simultaneously. The aim of the current study is to examine the race/ethnicity of sex trafficking survivors relative to the population on state and local levels in the state of Missouri. Data were derived from survey responses involving 107 social service, healthcare, law enforcement and legal service professionals who reported working with 402 human trafficking survivors (sex trafficking alone, n = 349, sex and labor trafficking combined, n = 53) accessing services in the previous year. Results indicate disproportionate sex trafficking victimization of people of color on local, regional and state levels. The results underscore the necessity for anti-oppressive practice on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Engaging in critical consciousness and integrating cultural strengths in practice, incorporating the role of structural oppression and including diverse case scenarios in trainings, including diverse images on organizational outreach and training materials, recruiting and hiring people of color in service provision, and working to address structural oppressions and risks on a policy level are recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Human trafficking
• sex trafficking
• commercial sexual exploitation
• demographics
• race
• ethnicity
• structural racism
• anti-oppressive practice

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Dr. Lee Slocum for her data analysis advice in preparing this manuscript and Eryn Carter for her assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data is available by request to the corresponding author.

Notes

¹ The Metro East St. Louis region in Illinois was included in the analysis as a requirement of the funding entity, as this region is within the funder’s service region. There is significant crossover in service access between St. Louis and the Metro East St. Louis region in the bi-state area.

² The authors are white, and aimed to approach their research with an anti-racist lens when analyzing data, interpreting results, and writing this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Missouri Collaborative Against Human Trafficking.