January 11 is Human Trafficking Awareness Day, but awareness of what exactly?
Each year on January 11, Human Trafficking Awareness Day is recognized across the U.S. This year, we should examine what we are actually building awareness of.
As a child trafficking survivor who has also worked for anti-trafficking nonprofits and shelters, I have watched disinformation about human trafficking spread across social media, proliferated by grifter groups like QAnon, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), NCOSE (formerly Morality in Media), and Exodus Cry who capitalize on survivors’ trauma. If we actually want to prevent human trafficking, we must recognize that trafficking is exploitation that thrives on vulnerability.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) defines human trafficking as the force, fraud, or coercion of a person for the commercial benefit of a perpetrator. It is exploitation of vulnerable people, usually by a person who is familiar to the victim, such as a boyfriend, girlfriend, or family member. In campaigns to build awareness, sex trafficking is often sensationalized — but protecting vulnerable people from labor trafficking is equally important, though rarely receives the same level of attention.
As The Washington Post’s Jessica Contrera reported on the debunked Wayfair conspiracy, QAnon’s influence has grown an online mob…
