In last week’s
blog, There Is such A Thing as Bad Publicity (see below), I wrote about the media’s use of language that often leads to
misconceptions about human trafficking.
This week I continue this focus by looking at the media outlets common
use of sensationalized text, because
in our society sex sells. It is no surprise that sex trafficking cases triumphs
labor trafficking cases in the media, since the appeal of sex is much stronger.
A great
example that demonstrates the detrimental effects on sensationalizing human
trafficking is the Super Bowl. A very common misconception is that the Super
Bowl is the biggest event for human trafficking in the United States; and that
is something that is widely acknowledged by not only the media but also certain
professionals and advocates. It seems reasonable to claim that the Super Bowl
is the biggest hot spot for trafficking because hypothetically it makes sense.
The idea that thousands of football fans, mostly men, are traveling to a city
for the biggest sporting event of the year with a lot of money to spend, that
naturally, they will seek out strip clubs and prostitutes. This then causes
pimps and johns to supply more trafficked women and girls to meet the growing
demand. However, that is not the case. In reality, there is NO single largest
incident of human trafficking because each year there is no evidence or
statistics to support such claims. Nonetheless, news outlets try to
sensationalize sex trafficking but the problem is so dire that there is no need
for it to be amplified. Even though the Super Bowl brings a lot of attention to
the issue of human trafficking, it does so at the expense of the truth. The
media attention hinders the credibility of the campaign against human
trafficking and limits long-term resources necessary for victims to recover.
The primary
way individuals and communities will be able to combat trafficking is if they
are informed and educated about its realities. It is important to understand
that language and imagery play an influential role in perpetuating
misconceptions. The media’s selection of language is strategic and helps create
a misinformed public, which prevents necessary efforts from being examined.
Take
Action: One of the reasons that I
like being a part of the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force (MHTTF) is
because the MHTTF Director and the task force members want to focus on truth
and not sensationalism. I
encourage the readers of this blog to continue addressing these common misconceptions
that are often perpetuated by the media and to inform others of the reality of
human trafficking. Accurate
information enables us to effectively use our resources, time and effort to
help all victims of human trafficking.
