Black Bodies and the Role of Schools in Sex Trafficking Prevention

Abstract

Human trafficking is widely regarded by experts today as “modern slavery.” Research consistently reveals that survivors of the sex trade are disproportionately women of color in the United States. Such racial disparities are explained by a long history of structural racism and inequality resultant of colonialism. Colonial knowledge production systems are responsible for producing and maintaining anti-black sexual archetypes premised on the pornographic objectification of Black women’s bodies. The hypersexual scripting and adultification of the Black body help to explain why sex trafficking impacts Black girls at higher rates compared to other groups. This also explains why Black youth are less likely to be perceived as victims. In this chapter, we connect the disproportionate impact of sex trafficking to reporting barriers and the often harsher, exclusionary discipline and punitive treatment of Black female youth experienced in the K-12 setting. Although sex trafficking awareness among educators is improving in the United States, we call attention to the pivotal role that educational leaders can play in the prevention of sex trafficking by working in collaboration with the community and local stakeholders to create a shift in culture, response, and policy.KeywordsSex trafficking prevention and educationRacial disparitiesAnti-racist educationBlack body politicsColonialismVulnerabilityBlack youthDiscipline