January 11th.
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
 
#WearBlueDay.

Do you know anyone who has been enslaved in human trafficking?

Have you listened to their stories?  Have you felt their pain?

Did you know that many dissociative trauma survivors are used in organized trafficking groups?

Do you understand that these dissociative systems — including their inside kids, inside teens, and a variety of adults — are used, sold and enslaved in organized sex trafficking?

Do you know that, for some DID Survivors, their inside kids and teens have been trained to do a wide variety of roles and the actual inside kids and teens are the ones forced to be out?

Imagine how devastating that is. Can you feel that in your heart and soul?

Are you wearing blue today?

Texas is ranked second in the USA for the most human trafficking.

Facts about Human Trafficking 

My life experience with victims of human trafficking is person-by-person (or really, system-by-system).

However, to provide a bigger picture, statistics, information and education, I’m going to share a variety of Human Trafficking Quick Facts, as listed on the Homeland Security website.  

Please go to the Homeland Security pages for more information.

Human trafficking is the crime of compelling a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.

According to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization, human traffickers victimize an estimated 27.6 million people worldwide.

• 77% of all victims are in forced labor
• 23% of all victims are in sex trafficking
• 57% are men and boys  
• 43% are women and girls
• Within sex trafficking
  • 78% are women and girls and 22% are men and boys
  • 92% are adults and 8% are children
• Within forced labor
  • 33% are women and girls and 67% men and boys
  • 73% are adults and 27% are children

Although there is no reliable estimate of human trafficking within the United States, human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, on Tribal land, and within U.S. territories.

 

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines human trafficking as:

• Sex trafficking — The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age. (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(A)).

• Forced labor — The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(B)).

Populations At Risk

There is no single profile of a human trafficking victim because traffickers are willing to exploit anyone who can earn them a profit regardless of age, sex, socioeconomic background, nationality, or immigration status. The following are examples of groups that may be at increased risk:

• Individuals who have experienced childhood abuse or neglect
• Children and youth involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems
• People experiencing homelessness
• Individuals living in poverty
• Survivors of violence such as intimate partner or domestic violence
• Unaccompanied alien children
• Individuals displaced due to political instability, war, and disaster
• Individuals working in industries with fewer legal protections

Who are the Traffickers?

There is no single profile of a human trafficker; their only commonality is that they are driven by profit at the expense of others. Traffickers are men and women of all ages. They can be relatives, romantic partners, or close family friends. Or they can be the people behind an employment ad or a new friend on social media or online gaming.

Human traffickers can be part of a transnational criminal organization, a local criminal network, or a gang. However, they can also be the owners of restaurant in the community, a local business offering janitorial services, a farm labor contractor supplying harvesters, or the couple next door with a live-in domestic worker or nanny. On a larger scale, traffickers can be a factory owner producing garments or electronics, or the captain of a commercial fishing vessel out at sea for months. They can be a child sex offender traveling abroad or a pimp.

Traffickers Methods of Control

Traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion to compel labor or services and commercial sex.

• Force can include the threat of and actual physical assaults and sexual violence to the victim and others around them which makes the threat even more credible, or family members.
• Fraud is often false promises – of education, a relationship, a specific job, good pay and days off, paying off a debt, sending money home to support the family, or generally of a new more secure life – but the reality is something different and inescapable.
• Coercion can be subtle or overt. Some common tactics include taking identity documents and threatening arrest and/or deportation, inhumane treatment, blackmail, shaming, isolation, addiction, and economic coercion, which can be taking advantage of existing debt or creating a debt.
• Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.

If you or someone you know needs help,
you can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline
by calling 888-373-7888,
texting “HELP” or “INFO” to 233733,
or using their online reporting platform. 

What if you are both Dissociative and Enslaved in Sex Trafficking?

Think about how devastating this is — being both dissociative and enslaved in human trafficking.  

In these situations, not only does the DID survivor have to manage the external controls violently forced upon them, they also have their own internal system conflicts, dissociative walls, amnesiac barriers, and the whole range of difficult emotions (fear, terror, guilt, shame, humiliation, confusion, horror, embarrassment, sadness, grief, betrayal, etc).  Family relationships are typically dysfunctional, or strained, or destroyed.  Complex PTSD symptoms and extreme trauma memories from childhood to the current day can still haunt their hearts and minds, and shatter any self of self esteem.  Body memories and physical injuries can be a daily painful challenge.  The complexities of life for these dissociative trauma survivors are massive.

And yet…  Healing is possible.  Freedom is possible.  Safety is possible.  Your system can learn how to be safe from harm, and your life can change for the better.   Find someone who understands the complexities of trafficking and how that impacts the dissociative system.  Find your local crisis center, woman’s DV hotlines, or an experienced trauma therapist.

I’m not the only person out there in the world who helps free the enslaved, but you may contact me if you want to discuss your personal situation.

If you want out, you can get out.  It will take a ton of effort, but you can do it.  

Despite whatever they told you, your life belongs to you, not to the traffickers.

Fight your way out.

As always, I wish you safety and freedom in your healing journey.

Warmly,

Kathy

• National Human Trafficking Hotline: Call 1-888-3737-888, Text INFO or HELP to 233733, or use their website’s chat feature for 24/7, confidential help in over 200 languages.

• Emergency Services: If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911. 

Copyright © 2008-2026 Kathy Broady and Discussing Dissociation