Myth or Reality
#16

If a victim of sexual exploitation or trafficking doesn’t try to escape, it means they’re a willing participant and choose to stay.

  • or

Your answer is:

The initial contact between the recruiter and a young person is not threatening. With time, however, the pimp will start to use violence to prevent young people from leaving: threats, physical and sexual violence, restricting access to cash to keep them dependent, enabling addiction to substances like alcohol and drugs by forcing young people to use them, demanding that they repay all the money the pimp has spent on housing, food, clothes, gifts, drugs, etc. The victims of sexual exploitation often feel powerless. They’ve lost touch with friends and loved ones, they are threatened and assaulted to make sure they don’t leave, etc. A person who doesn’t try to escape does not necessarily like what’s happening to them; they are usually so closely monitored, they can’t even attempt an escape.