Sex Trafficking in Oklahoma: A look into Demand and the Online Networks of Commercial Sex Purchasers

Abstract

“Human Trafficking" has become a buzzword which may conjure images of a girl in chains sitting in the corner of a room or action scenes of the popular movie Taken. Is this what human trafficking looks like though? What causes it? What contributes to it? This community report will attempt to answer these questions as they pertain to the state of Oklahoma and the common beliefs and misconceptions circling not only in the United States, but Oklahoma as well. Can the occurrence of human trafficking be summed up to highway systems and abductions from retail parking lots? According to Oklahoma’s Commission on the Status of Women , “Oklahoma’s central location is believed to play a major role in trafficking cases; with its three major interstate highways, I-35, I-40, and I- 44, Oklahoma cities are on major human trafficking routes throughout all ports, north, east, and west, providing a crossroads to human trafficking,” (Human Trafficking, 2017). In recent years facebook posts have gone viral describing individuals who have been “almost” human trafficked out of retail parking lots. This study will provide information to combat the mythology of those beliefs and to highlight the real factors that drive sex trade in Oklahoma.