Jessica Hull

Beatrice Hugetz
ENGL-1301-02
9/27/21
Documentary

This document is about Sex Trafficking in America. This was created in (2021); It was

published by Frontline which is found on PBS, and you can find it on YouTube. Sex trafficking

is a huge problem that goes unseen by many. This documentary has shed light and brought more

awareness to this problem. Sex trafficking has no boundaries and can even be occurring in your

own city. This documentary covers how criminals carry out plans, how people can fall victim to

this, and goes in depth to the world of trafficking. Investigators had gone into depth to show us

how they catch criminals. The investigators and creators educated people that may not be aware

of this problem. Although Sex Trafficking in America tries to inform that sex trafficking is a very

real problem, bias is shown through flattering or unflattering pictures or videos, limited

perspectives, and word connotation. Sex trafficking is known as a modern form of slavery and

happens all over the world. Most of the time this issue is kept in the dark and the average person

will most likely never even encounter something like this. However, it definitely does happen

and is life changing for anyone involved. If you look closely you can dive into how there can be

bias in this.

The victims of trafficking were seemingly criminalized by the misuse of pictures. The

victims were not at fault but could come across as such. It made the victims have a bad image.

This is because people may blame them for getting themselves in that situation when that is not

the case. The pictures can be misleading, and they are illegal. The victims of sex trafficking

should not be the ones to blame, but they are the ones that need help. They should not have
people turn on them because of unflattering pictures. It is not fair to them that those pictures and

videos are out there without their consent. Most of the time the victims are put in situations

where they cannot refuse to have bad pictures of them taken. That side of the individual is

unfortunately the one that is shown. The use of pictures is also a tactic the traffickers will use in

carrying out the process of selling.

Connecting with my previous paragraph, there are limited perspectives on this subject.

Most people turn their heads at this because it is an uncomfortable topic for most. However, the

victims of this crime are not to blame. Some victims are accused of “getting in that situation

themselves” because of the misleading photos and videos. Most of the time that is not the case,

and these are innocent people. Unfortunately, they are not seen as such by everyone. This goes

back to the topic of this paragraph, there are limited perspectives with most od them being

negative towards the victims. A possible reason this topic has limited perspectives is because

people may not really think about this problem. Sex trafficking is tried to be greatly kept under

the radar so this crime can continue to be committed.

Word connotation is a large part of how information is view by the people. The use of

words can shift how the viewer sees the information given. Word connotation is easy to use and

manipulates the documentary as well as others greatly. Word connotation is indeed used in this

documentary by PBS. “This is a life of luxury” was a quote from this documentary. People do

not realize these girls are innocent. However, the media portrays them as criminals. They do

not want a life like that, but the media makes it seem like they do. In reality they are desperate

for help. The “buyers” should be the ones criticized and not the people who they prey upon.

The media twists the reality of sex trafficking by the word connotation they choose to use.

The word connotation may cause people to have a false view of it. The media can make it
seem like everyone involved is a criminal and they can do this by manipulating the word

connotation to favor the point that hey are trying to get across to the public.

Sex Trafficking in America is a documentary made by Frontline from PBS. In this

documentary it is showing the inside world of sex trafficking as well as the minds of criminals. It

does this by being close and personal to how people can be trafficked. This documentary is very

informal and can possibly even help people avoid being trafficked. It is apparent that what the

media portrays about sex trafficking is not what is actually going on. It can be twisted by anyone,

even by politicians to get people to fear. However, when researching this you can really start to

see what is actually happening here. We are swayed to think that the victims may be the ones at

fault. We are swayed by word connotation, unflattering pictures or videos, and limited

perspective.
 Citations

Heil, Erin; Nichols, Andrea. Contemporary Justice Review. Dec2014, Vol. 17 Issue 4, p421-433.

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