Where does Sexual Exploitation Happen

Recruitment

Recruitment can and does take place in any public venue where children/youth spend time.

Some common places where recruiting can take place are:

• school grounds
• stores, video arcades, strip malls near schools
• public transit areas (e.g., bus stops, LRT stations)
• shopping malls, especially food courts
• coffee shops
• community centers
• areas where prostitution activities take place
• bars, lounges, pool halls
• youth centers, group homes
• truck stops, gas stations, bus depots
• any place children/youth are identified by pimps and recruiters as being vulnerable i.e. internet and telephone chat lines

Pimps and Recruiters

For the most part, perpetrators, also known as pimps or recruiters, lure children/youth into prostitution. A pimp is a person, male or female, who controls the activities of children involved in prostitution through force or coercion. Pimps may also recruit. A recruiter is an individual, male or female, who actively recruits children/youth for a pimp in return for money or other rewards.

Pimp

A pimp can be male or female, of any age, from any ethnic background and fit any physical description. The majority of pimps are male, however, most pimps share certain qualities, such as they:

• are often associated with other criminal activities
• may pose as a friend or boyfriend who is nice to the family—polite, considerate, a smooth talker
• can easily seduce young people into this lifestyle—they know how to look for and prey on children’s weaknesses
• have a strong desire to possess money and personal status within peer groups
• may be involved with drugs or drug activity
• may carry weapons
• are manipulative
• often have violent backgrounds (e.g., assault charges, abusive histories)
• use total control and/or possessive behavior to isolate young people from their friends and family
• can be a family member.

Recruiter

A recruiter is generally “owned” by a pimp, and often receives payment or rewards for successful recruitment.

Recruiters:

• can be male or female
• are often similar in age to the potential victims and travel in the same circles
• offer friendship and the image of an exciting life
• always appear helpful and caring to young peoples

Other Profiles of Recruiters

Children/youth may also be recruited into sexual exploitation by:

• family members who, due to poverty or to support addictions, may force young peoples into sexual exploitation and related activities
• an adult who convinces a young person that they have a healthy relationship and, in return for sexual activity, the adult provides basic needs (e.g., drugs, alcohol, shelter etc.)
• a peer group who may convince or threaten another peer into sexual exploitation activities in order to make money
• adults or older youth who provide money, drugs and alcohol in exchange for sexual activities at parties
• individuals involved in pornography who recruit young people for the purpose of exploitation

How Young People are Targeted

Pimps use a step-by-step process to exert control over young peoples. This “grooming” for sexual exploitation usually involves gradually luring them away from their support network until they are completely separated from friends, family and home. As a result of this manipulation, they adopt the values of the street and pimps take control over the young persons life.

Listed below are some of the tactics pimps and recruiters use to lure young people into the sexual exploitation trade:

• Seduction – pimps seduce youth as a form of recruitment. They pose as boyfriends/girlfriends, who gain their trust through promises, emotional manipulation and gifts (e.g., clothes, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol.)
• Isolation – pimps slowly separate young people from family, friends and school, so that they become reliant solely upon the pimp.
• Coercion – pimps commonly use intimidation and pressure to force young people into the sexual exploitation trade. This intimidation takes on various forms, such as threats of harm to youth and their families, as well as exposing their sexual activities to family and friends, or psychological abuse.
• Violence – pimps use violence to force youth into sexual exploitation. Although less common than other tactics, kidnapping may be used to recruit young people. Pimps also use violence if youth don't comply with rules.