Moral Complexity in Sex Slavery

It seems rather difficult to provide a moral justification for sex slavery, especially given what we've read about sex trafficking in southeast Asia. I will operate under the presumption that most people find sex slavery morally impermissible and instead focus on what I believe to be the three very closely related root causes that allow for the existence of sex slavery. I see one root problem as a socially and culturally systemic problem, one as a problem of economics and opportunity, and the final problem as a moralistic one.

The first problem I see is the culturally systemic treatment of women as a lesser human and must sacrifice more for the family in some way. I would argue that this is a problem in most of the world (at least the lesser human part), but it is at the very least clearly a problem in Cambodia and southeast Asia as shown to us by the Kristof articles and the story of Srey Neth. Srey Neth's cousin provided the idea that she should "sell her virginity" in order to help her family out. That this is an option treated seriously as a way to sacrifice for the family tells us that there is a disregard for women that is not present for male figures. Perhaps more evidence might be the fact that Srey Neth's family also felt that they could take things from her grocery store. I suspect there would be far less inclination to steal if the grocery store was owned by the patriarch of the family. If women as a whole are systemically treated as a lesser type of human, it is far easier to both culturally justify and/or ignore the maltreatment of women (especially the younger ones) and it also forces women to view themselves in this way or otherwise be a social pariah.

The second problem appears to be poor opportunities for education as well as few opportunities or even possibilities for other ways to make money. Both problems seem closely tied to money and economics, though they could also be the product of systemic problems as well (i.e. there's almost no emphasis on schooling and education of people, especially women). As I alluded to in my introduction, all these problems are so closely tied together they seem to run into one another; the lack of schooling could very well be both a failure to see value in education as well as the lack of money to fund schools. However, it is clear that it there are very few opportunities for women and the general populace in southeast Asia to make money. Even if one has an idea (like starting a grocery), it is difficult to get the start-up money for an idea. Economics and money is a huge driving force for inequity on a global scale and it appears we need to either pour more funds into poverty stricken areas and peoples or find a different, more equitable type of economic system

The final problem I see involves the lack of respect for natural human rights and the humanity of individuals. I might sound like a broken record at this point, but it seems to me that those who promote, run, and are involved sex trafficking and slavery are disrespecting the natural human rights and the autonomy of the girls they traffic or pimp out. By disrespecting their human rights, anyone involved in sex slavery has done an immoral action because it is an action that fundamentally denies the humanity and life of the women (or men) they sell or control. I call this a moralistic problem not because the other two issues are not morally problematic, but because this specific problem deals with a very specific moral theory involving human rights and autonomy. I think even if a consequentialist, utilitarian, or maybe even Kantian disagrees with my diagnosis of this third problem, the aforementioned economic and systemic problems still stand as crucial roots of why sex slavery can exist despite its immorality.