Why Do Women Choose to Become Las Vegas Sex Workers? |
Ask Americans why women become sex workers, and many reply, “They were trafficked.”
That’s certainly possible. According to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization, human traffickers currently victimize an estimated 28 million people worldwide, 23 percent of whom wind up in non-consensual sex work—6 million worldwide, overwhelmingly women.
There are no reliable estimates of sex trafficking in the United States. But in 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received reports of 5,579 U.S. residents being trafficked for sex, the vast majority recent immigrants or teenage women. That figure is undoubtedly an under-estimate. Many trafficked women are held as prisoners and can’t call hotlines. So, how many women are actually trafficked? No one knows.
Meanwhile, California researchers estimate that 1.5 million American women earn some or all of their income as sex workers. Even if beyond all credible estimates, 500,000 women are trafficked, they represent only one-third of the nation’s sex workers. So, at least two-thirds have not been trafficked. They affirmatively choose sex........