Images About Human Trafficking: A Unequal Focus on the United States

From my cursory research into the topic of human trafficking, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon: most of the websites I have come across focus on human trafficking in the United States. I know that my own post a few weeks ago also discussed the United States, and that was partly because it is easiest to find information about this region, while other regions of the world are not as heavily researched.

This correlates to images depicting human trafficking. Most of the images online are used to raise awareness, which is very important, but they are focused on awareness of human trafficking only in the United States.

The above image, for example, is a very eye-catching and appropriate for the topic of human trafficking because it emphasizes that people are treated as commodities for sale to the highest bidder. The text of the image, however, solely focuses on the United States: "It happens here. It's happening now." Though the 50,000 people stuck in human trafficking in the United States do deserve exposure and all the help they can get, they are only a fraction of the 12 million people worldwide. The people viewing this image, after feeling surprised and then concerned, are impressible--this image has the power to entirely shape their opinion of human trafficking, and their willingness to become an advocate for those who are victims of trafficking. But since the image only focuses on those in the United States, the millions of other slaves worldwide remain helpless and ignored.

The same could be said for this image, with a blonde white woman being shipped against her will. This image has no facts on it, but it does not depict the reality for most people suffering from human trafficking. The majority of those trafficked are of non-white races, and though they are transported in dangerous situations, a suitcase is probably not one of them. These images are gimmicky, and intended to attract attention and raise awareness, but images depicting the reality of modern slavery would be more effective.

This image, though still using visual stereotypes of slavery (barbed wire instead of jars or suitcases), at least gives a better idea of what human trafficking must be like to experience. The sadness in this girl's face is real, and viewers of this image would be much more likely to become interested in helping stop human trafficking after seeing this.

I am not arguing that human trafficking in the United States is not important. However, I am saying that if the many groups whose goal is to raise awareness and garner support want to truly reach out and make people see how horrible this global affliction is, they must use tactics which force people to acknowledge what modern slavery truly looks like, not what it represents in a cutesy, witty way. This is a very serious issue which needs to be confronted by all the citizens of the world.

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