Case Study #7Case of Sexual Exploitation in a Group of High School Girls

Background:

Age, gender, demographics (ethnicity, sexual identity), living situation

  • High school girls looking to make some extra money.

How victim was recruited/trafficking:

A group of girls were asked to dance at parties. They were unaware that the dancing would escalate into more.

Narrative

A group of high school girls were recruited by other girls to dance at a party and were excited to make some extra money. After getting to the party they soon realized that it was going to be more than dancing – the girls had to take their clothing off. The high school girls were told that if they didn’t keep attending the parties to “dance”, then photos of what they were doing would be shown to their parents.

At one point, one of the girls chose not to keep dancing. A photo was shown to her mother and she was sent to Mexico to live with family. Other girls were too afraid to say no after that happened and continued to dance throughout the year.

Resolution:

The girls kept dancing until they graduated. School and police did not become aware of the situation until after most of the students were no longer at school. Students did not know who they could reach out to for help.

Discussion for Case Studies:

  1. What were some of the victim’s vulnerabilities?
  2. How did the sex trafficker exploit those vulnerabilities?
  3. What changes happened in the victim’s life?
  4. Who in the victim’s life should have noticed these changes? What could they have done?
  5. What were the missed opportunities to prevent this victim’s sex trafficking experiences?
  6. If there is no resolution: how many different ways could this story end?
  7. How could this victim’s peers have noticed these changes? Who could they have told?
  8. If this student came to your school, how can the students support them?
  9. If this student came to your school, how can the staff support them?
  10. How can you as a class, help develop awareness about sex trafficking and prevent more victimization?