Predatory Helpfulness: A Replication (and Expansion) Study Examining Grooming and Recruitment Tactics in Sex Trafficking

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sex trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to trap their victim into exploitative commercial sex work. Focusing on the fraud and coercion, Basra et al. proposed a new framework, Predatory Helpfulness, which consists of a two-prong process of both a grooming stage priming the victim for seduction, and a recruitment stage which activates the victim into exploitative commercial sex. The Predatory Helpfulness framework provides cohesive terminology with which to organize, assess, and understand how traffickers form relationships with their intended victims. The current study used qualitative methods to evaluate the application of the Predatory Helpfulness framework in a geographically and ethnically diverse sample of sex trafficking survivors (n = 59). Participants were recruited both within the domestic United States and internationally. Results showed strong support for the presence of Predatory Helpfulness tactics. Specifically, 58 of the 59 participants described experiences matching Predatory Helpfulness tactics in both the grooming and recruitment stages; 50 of the 59 participants also spontaneously identified a relational shift that occurred between the grooming and recruitment stages. Additionally, findings support the idea that traffickers are far more likely to prevail upon those in crisis via multiple grooming tactics, and to do so quickly (i.e. move to shift the relationship into exploitation within six months). In sum, Predatory Helpfulness offers a clear way for legal actors to identify sex trafficking victims using both the federal legal definitions and survivors’ own language and narratives.