In May of 2010, yet another celebrity sex scandal made headlines: “Hall of Fame Football Player Lawrence Taylor accused of rape in the third degree”. A year later, on March 22 of 2011, Taylor was charged with sexual misconduct and sentenced to six months probation.

What, exactly, did Taylor do? He “made a call to a friend who made a call to a friend”, ultimately paying for sex with a 16 year old girl who was brought to meet him in a hotel room by Rasheed Davis. (Davis faces sentencing in August). Because the case has been so widely publicized, Taylor has openly made several excuses for his behavior that highlight some common myths and misconceptions about sex trafficking. He’s not alone in his ill-conceived attitudes. Although activists have long been pushing to expose the full extent of human trafficking in the United States, for many people it remains shrouded by ideological misconceptions and innocent misunderstanding. What follows is a compiled list of these myths about commercial sexual exploitation.

Myth #1- “I, the John, am not the cause of prostitution.”

One of Taylor’s first remarks to Fox Correspondent Sheppard Smith attempted to deflect guilt: “I’m not the cause of prostitution.” In making this claim, Taylor attempted to absolve himself of blame by instead pointing the finger at pimps, panderers, traffickers, prostitutes, and yes- trafficking victims. In Georgia alone, an estimated 28,000 men buy sex from minors each year, either knowingly or unknowingly. The number of men soliciting sex from trafficking victims who are not minors is unknown. Traffickers are simply responding to a financial opportunity: if no one is buying it, there’d be no one selling it. One pimp interviewed in a report by Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center sums up the issue of demand fairly succinctly: “As long as there are people with money and power, there will be poorer people who they will be able to buy.” (DePaul) The most horrifying fact about sex trafficking isn’t that someone is selling slaves on the street: it’s that someone is buying them.

Myth #2 – It’s not the john’s fault if he doesn’t know that he’s paying to have sex with a minor, especially if he/she lies about their age.

 Taylor explained that he didn’t pick the victim up at the playground, wait for her to get off the school bus, or ask for a birth certificate to back up the age he was given by the young girl’s pimp. In ordinary statutory rape cases, the excuse of “I didn’t know he/she wasn’t 18” doesn’t fly. It doesn’t fly in this case, either, thanks to House Bill 200, signed into law on May 3, 2011.  The Georgia Demand Study has indicated that most men don’t actively seek out sex with a minor- in fact, only 10% do. But as many as half of those who do solicit sex from a minor are willing to continue with the transaction even after being warned three times that she’s under the consensual age. “Overall, 47% of respondents who were subjected to the mini-experiment continued pursuing the sex purchase despite all 3 warnings [that a victim was underage].”

Willful ignorance does not alleviate the hard truth that a person is contributing to the victimization of another individual. Trafficking victims don’t live in cages and they don’t wear shackles around their wrists or ankles. They’re not preceded by the sounds of their chains dragging in the street behind them. Instead, they’re quietly traded back and forth, shuffled along with fake ID’s and only bruised, cut, or burned in places where clients won’t notice or care. Whether the customers seek out young girls or boys, pay for sex with them even though they know they’re underage, or don’t know at all, they’re still contributing in a profound way to exploitation when they engage in paid sex acts with them.

Myth # 3 – If the customer is paying for the sex, it’s not rape and/or abuse.

After being chastised for referring to a sixteen year old as a prostitute, Taylor took on a defensive posture: “Well someone got paid three hundred dollars.” In New York, where Taylor was charged, the age for consensual sex is 17. Minors under this age limit legally cannot consent to sex acts; does it make sense for them to be able to consent to sex acts if they’re paid? The term “child prostitute” is misleading. Polaris Project points out that “A victim cannot consent to be in a situation of human trafficking. Initial consent to commercial sex or a labor setting prior to acts of force, fraud, or coercion (or if the victim is a minor in a sex trafficking situation) is not relevant to the crime, nor is payment.”

In the case of sex trafficking, where victims are manipulated, inoculated with drugs, tortured, and threatened to participate in sex acts to fulfill a quota, participating in commercial sex is not an option. The victim in Taylor’s case is no exception: prior to being driven to the hotel, she was beaten badly enough to leave a black eye and bruising. As for the 300 dollars? Davis kept it. (He was required to forfeit the cash, along with the car he used to transport the victim to Taylor’s hotel, after conviction.)

Myth # 4- Sex trafficking plays a useful role, both economically and socially, and fulfills men who are involved in inadequate sexual relationships.

A report called Female Juvenile Prostitution: Problem and Response identifies this myth as a confirmation of still another myth: “that men have uncontrollable sexual urges that must be fulfilled…The juvenile prostitute is dehumanized by the implication that prostitutes serve a useful purpose as an object for sexual gratification.” Lawrence Taylor’s justification for turning to solicitation: “…it’s all clean- I don’t have to worry about [her] feelings… – you know – I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s the oldest profession in the world.”

Sex trafficking, both of minors and adults, comes at a great cost to society. Not only does it cause post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, behavioral disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, physical violence, and leave its victims completely destitute, the rest of Georgia also must pay a price. The cost of healing isn’t just spiritually taxing: Georgia Care Connection estimates that the cost of residential treatment for one underage victim of trafficking is as high as $5,600 each month. Taxpayers must pick up the cost of the victim’s legal fees and hospital bills. When an underage victim becomes pregnant and cannot take care of the child, society takes on the burden of cost for foster care.

This myth is also damaging to men- see Myth 9 for the reason why.

Myth #5 – Women and girls are protected from violence, robbery, and other forms of crime by their pimps.

Rasheed Davis beat “C.F”, the victim in the Lawrence Taylor case, badly enough to leave a black eye and bruising after she told him she didn’t want to have sex with his client. Like other pimps, he also gave her narcotics and threatened her with force to engage in commercial sex with men.

Pimps in the Depaul study admit to using both physical torture and psychological games to control and manipulate victims. Traffickers historically target the most vulnerable, desperate, and lost souls possible. Runaway children make excellent victims, because they’re typically trying to escape abuse and are susceptible to someone who will offer any form of attention and support. After seducing a victim by acting as a boyfriend or father figure, they use mind games and brutality to control them. According to one pimp in the Depaul report: “You can smell desperation”. Traffickers have admitted to raping their victims, beating them with wire hangers around the ankles and feet to avoid bruises, rubbing salt and alcohol into open wounds, and using threats of violence to force them to comply with their demands. Trafficking victims are not only not protected from crime, they are victims of it at the hands of their traffickers.

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Because sex trafficking is such a well-hidden issue, it’s often difficult to determine the truth among the lies. Check back next week for the remainder of the article: Myths 6, 7, 8, and 9. In the meantime, what are some truths you’ve discovered about the world of trafficking? In the comment section below, feel free to share the myths and misconceptions that you’ve discovered. In the meantime, here is the two-part interview Fox conducted with Taylor:

Part One

Part Two

Read part two of “Dispelling the Myths about Trafficking” here.