The Invisible Man: The Conscious Neglect of Men and Boys in the War on Human Trafficking
Abstract
This Article explores the intersection between an attribute of the commercial media and American criminal jurisprudence that existing legal scholarship has largely disregarded: the systematic neglect of male victims in the publicity of human trafficking.13 Indeed, male vulnerability to human trafficking has been neglected even in academic discourse. The traditional narrative posits that women and girls are more vulnerable to human trafficking and thus are in greater need of legal protection, whereas males, conversely, are resistant to human trafficking and thus less in need of legal protection. This Article will demonstrate, however, that men and boys are both more likely than women and girls to become victims of human trafficking and far less likely to receive legal protection. Additionally, this Article will establish that, although the text of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is gender-neutral, its implementation is unlikely to protect male victims of human trafficking because the TVPA is largely interpreted and enforced as a law primarily designed to protect women and girls from sexual exploitation. It argues that the traditional notion that human trafficking is primarily a sex crime against females harms the collective good by facilitating the neglect of hundreds of thousands of male victims who suffer from sex crimes or forced labor. This social condition leaves the full extent of the resulting harm unabated and significantly increases the incidence of human trafficking, particularly of male victims.14 This Article links this injustice to media driven perspectives and presentations that propagate falsities regarding male vulnerability. It highlights the glaring, but normative, institutional lack of concern for male victims of human trafficking; discusses the reasons for and catalysts of this neglect; identifies the misconceptions that perpetuate it; and argues for the advancement of gender-neutral reporting, research, and funding schemes that delegitimize misconceptions regarding male victims of human trafficking. To this end, Part II of this Article highlights traditionally overlooked facets of the human trafficking phenomenon, including male victims of sex slavery and forced farm labor. Part III describes and critiques the textual objectives of the TVPA relative to all victims. Part IV demonstrates that the disproportionate level of focus in publicity and law enforcement on protecting female victims marginalizes male victims and injures males and females alike. Part V highlights the media’s complicity in marginalizing male victims of human trafficking by connecting its commercial incentives to its propagation of myths about human trafficking and its subsequent influence on public perception and law enforcement objectives. Part VI concludes by arguing for immediate victim identification training for first responders, a gender-neutral exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and fair and impartial application of the criminal laws designed to prevent harm to males and females alike. (Author Introduction)
Description
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Article
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Keywords
child abuse, CSEC, prostitution, boys, law, policy
Citation
Jones, S. V. (2010). The Invisible Man: The Conscious Neglect of Men and Boys in the War on Human Trafficking. Utah Law Review, 1143 (2010).