I remember when this circulated last year. It brought up a lot of conversation. The woman herself even got attacked for writing it, if I recall. Guys claiming she was in control of her situation and so and so forth. The thing is, many hobbyists are in active addiction, and addicts will lie to themselves so sadly, most aren't open to having real conversations about it. On the same token, in my experience, most active sex workers will just as much be on the defense and want to claim "most" sex workers are there willingly. Because, the reality is way too hard to face. Especially for those involved, even indirectly. It was only after I retired, and years later, that I finally see just how embedded it is in our society. It's still very much a small number, but it is very much there.
I told a friend once, of all the sex workers I have met, at least 1/3 had entered the biz through trafficking. That's pretty fucked up. Many stayed in it because it became all they knew. They couldn't relate to the outside World anymore, or function in a different environment. Spending 24/7 in hotels or on call as a Sex worker, isolated from people, hanging out on review boards or in circles of friends that are also sex workers, it does something to you after a while. But that's another story for another day!
It is definitely not all minors, and it is definitely not all low end. There are a range of types of trafficking, from international (colombia, russia and greater area, portugal, anywhere someone might be wanting to get out the Country and need help or money doing it, or where 'grooming' is easy to do ((modeling)) etc), all the way down the wire to exploitative relationships, girls or guys who know how to recognize someone in a bad state who is easy to convince, and then live off, runaways, girls in abusive homes or situations, low self-esteem, base Daddy issues, and so on. The former being the most common, and the stickiest because a lot of these victims honestly think they are doing what they have to, and see no way out.
There used to be a ton of material circulating on what to watch for when avoiding seeing someone who *may* be in one of these situations, but I haven't see any lately, or it has come from outside the biz and was laughable at best. A few things stay the same, watch for:
- constantly changing towns or moving around
- working unrealistic hours (available 24/7 ads)
- numbers that trace back to multiple (often questionably young) girls over time, but not an agency
- agencies that boast new off the boat weekly, from specific Countries
- ads where every picture is taken by a third party, again, not agency
Does all of this mean dudes shouldn't see sex workers? No. Go at it, have fun, just be aware of what is happening out there, and make smart choices.