+ What do you mean by exploitation and commercial sexual exploitation?

“Exploitation” usually refers to taking advantage of someone with less power, such as sexual exploitation (sexual abuse that relies on a difference of power) or labor exploitation (work without adequate pay or proper working conditions).

Commercial sexual exploitation is when sexual exploitation occurs for financial benefit (e.g. someone whose partner demands they have sex with strangers to bring home money) or for something else of value (e.g. someone who has sex in exchange for a place to sleep). Commercial sexual exploitation does not have to involve a trafficker or a pimp. Our focus has been on the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth, though our work is relevant to other forms of exploitation as well.

+ What is trafficking? I thought it required movement from another country. Is sex trafficking the same as commercial sexual exploitation?

There are multiple definitions of “trafficking” under different laws. Generally speaking, they all include labor exploitation and commercial sexual exploitation, and they do not require movement from another country. You might hear “sex trafficking” and “commercial sexual exploitation” used interchangeably.

Under federal law, "sex trafficking" means that a commercial sex act happened because of force, fraud, or coercion, or to a person under the age of 18 (even without force, fraud, or coercion).

+ Who are these young people? What’s a typical narrative? What countries are they from?

Commercial sexual exploitation occurs all over the world, and people facing it have many, many different personal experiences. In the United States in general and in the Bay Area in particular, young people who experience it are disproportionately likely to have experienced childhood abuse and neglect (especially childhood sexual abuse), have had touchpoints with the foster care system or the juvenile justice system, and identify as a minority by race and/or LGBTQ identity. This issue affects youth born and raised in the US as well as youth who immigrate to the US.

There are as many different narratives as there are people who’ve experienced commercial sexual exploitation. Some of the ways that young people report getting involved in commercial sex include through “Romeo pimps” (romantic partners as exploiters), guerrilla exploitation (violence, even kidnapping for the purpose of commercial sex), familial exploitation (family members as exploiters), peer recruitment (youth introducing other youth to commercial sex), and survival sex (engaging in sex to meet basic needs).

+ What do you mean by systems? Can you give an example?

Commercial sexual exploitation takes place within the context of a web of interrelated factors, many of which involve whole systems of care failing youth: things like foster care, juvenile justice, housing policy. Even when there are a number of nonprofits or government agencies trying to serve people in need, lack of coordination between them or even gaps in what services can be provided to who can leave youth with their most basic needs unmet.

For example, problems in foster care often lead to teens being moved around, isolated from their loved ones, and surrounded only by professionals, an environment ripe for exploitation. So we’re introducing FAM, a new model of foster care for SF teens that provides stable family homes near their communities and offers the youth and those families extra support.

We’ve also heard from youth that it’s hard to navigate all of the great resources available in San Francisco. So we’re bringing providers together to launch the HYPE Center, where youth can access multiple services and activities under one roof.

+ This is just for girls, right?

This issue affects people of all genders. Because it disproportionately affects girls/young women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, we expect our work will be especially relevant to them.

+ What age group do you focus on?

This issue affects people of all ages--children and adults. Our work focuses primarily on youth 24 and under, with different projects targeting young people of slightly different age ranges. We try to be as flexible as we can about age because we are committed to lowering the barriers that traditionally exist when youth shift from one legal age bracket to another (such as when they turn 18 or 21). And we're particulary focused on work that helps youth as they transition to adulthood legally, socially, and psychologically.

+ Do you provide therapy and support to teens?

Freedom Forward is not a direct service provider, meaning we don’t directly provide therapy or other youth services. There are many great organizations in San Francisco who already do those things well. We try to bring them together in the most useful way. Youth who visit our HYPE Center or join our foster care community FAM will have access to therapy and all kinds of other support from the world-class organizations we're working with.

+ How do you identify the young people you work with?

Different projects are geared toward slightly different populations, but generally our work is for any young person who finds it helpful, whether or not they identify with the experience of exploitation or trafficking. We want to address the context in which exploitation can occur and its direct and indirect impacts, rather than focus on whether someone has experienced exploitation firsthand.

+ What about sex workers?

Sex work--the consensual exchange of sex between adults for something of value, or in other words sex as labor--is not the same thing as commercial sexual exploitation.

Check out the following resources for sex workers in San Francisco:

St. James Infirmary

San Francisco Police Departmnet Bulletin: Prioritizing Safety for Sex Workers

"San Francisco Sex Workers Reporting Violent Crimes Won’t Face Arrest"