Sex Slavery

From an Utilitarianism view, one could say sex slavery is permissible if it was to support a family financially. However, the majority of girls under control by brothels are kidnapped and not voluntarily given away by the families.  I am going to argue that it is not permissible for a family to voluntarily give away their children.  In a third world country like Cambodia, girls are second-class citizens and must sacrifice for their families.  Kortokoff studied a case where “Mam Di told the family that she would get Srey Neth a job selling fruit and then took her to a brothel, which sold her virginity to a casino manager.” First off, the mother tried to hide where she was taking the daughter. She knew very well what was going to happen to her daughter, yet did not care. The role of a parent is to protect a child at all costs. I understand that many will argue at a certain age roles are reversed and children should fend for themselves and their parents.

I agree with Kortokoff when he says “Typically, trafficking not only destroys its victims' bodies with AIDS but maims their spirits as well, leaving them feeling so worthless that they can't easily return to normal life.”  Someone living with AIDS in the United States has a much high likelihood of surviving. However, in poor socioeconomic areas where sex slavery is happening, AIDS is still an extremely deadly disease. Even if they did survive without some sort of disease or physical ailments, the physiological ones can be just as demoralizing. When they get out of sex trafficking, they must keep it a secret because it is highly stigmatized and would not be able to get married.  The amount of physical and/or physiological damage that results from sex trafficking is devastating. It is hard enough to protect yourself from being kidnapped from these sex trafficking bandits. It is completely impermissible that a young girl is not even safe in her own home with her family.