1.  MYTH: Prostitution is a victimless crime.

• 77% of adult prostitutes in US were trafficked into the sex trade as children.
• AIDS and STD’s are rampant among sex-workers, proliferating contraction among society as a whole.
• According to Prostitution Research & Education: “All prostitution harms those in it. Legal prostitution does not protect women in prostitution from harm.”

2.  MYTH: Legalization of prostitution is an entirely separate issue from human trafficking.

• Prostitution is the destination point for trafficking. Legalization of prostitution promotes sex trafficking. http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/laws/000234.html

3.  MYTH: Forced prostitution isn’t human trafficking

• By legal definition, forced prostitution is slavery, i.e. human trafficking

4.  MYTH: Females are the only victims of sex trafficking

• Estimates show that as many as 20% of sex trafficking victims are males

5.  MYTH: Pornography, stripping, and prostitution are unrelated to human trafficking

• “In the business of commercial sex trafficking, pornography serves as the marketing vehicle”   (Focus on the Family, Citizen)

6.  MYTH: Human trafficking mostly happens in other countries

• Human Trafficking has been reported in all fifty states  (2010 TIP Report)
•  Sex slavery is a $9.5 billion business in the U.S. http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/15/5-things-to-know-about-human-trafficking/

7.  MYTH: Physical violence must be involved to prosecute a human trafficking case

• National Human Trafficking Resource Center states that:

Under federal law, an individual who uses physical or psychological violence to force someone into labor or services or into commercial sex acts is considered a human trafficker. Therefore, while some victims experience beatings, rape, and other forms of physical violence, many victims are controlled by traffickers through psychological means, such as threats of violence, manipulation, and lies. In many cases, traffickers use a combination of direct violence and mental abuse. 

The federal definition of the crime, as defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, was created to address the wider spectrum of methods of control used by traffickers beyond "bodily harm."

www.polarisproject.org

8.  MYTH: Minors choose to be prostitutes

• The law states that children can’t consent to sex with an adult, therefore they cannot legally consent to profit from sex with an adult