Every day, children all across the United States are bought and sold for sex. They are not old enough to consent to sex – and despite the existence of federal law that defines them as victims of human trafficking, each year more than 1,000 American children are arrested for prostitution in the U.S.
The 2016 Associated Press Style Book is recommending that writers avoid using the word “prostitute” when a child is involved, as in “child prostitute,” “teenage prostitute,” because by definition, an underage child cannot consent to sex, they are victims of rape.
Language matters.
Now we need to address the misuse of the word rescue when reporting on human trafficking. Barbara Glickstein interviews Becky Owens Bullard,Project Director of the Denver Anti-Trafficking Alliance, about the misuse of the word rescue when speaking about trafficking.
