Know the Difference: Why Confusing Trafficking with Consensual Sex Work Hurts Everyone

After ten years running an agency, I've become an expert on something I never wanted to be - spotting the difference between human trafficking and consensual adult sex work. 

And let me tell you, the confusion between these two completely different situations is doing real damage to actual trafficking victims while simultaneously harming consensual adult workers. 

Every few months, some well-meaning organization launches another "awareness" campaign that treats all sex work as trafficking, or some law enforcement sweep arrests consenting adults while actual traffickers slip through the cracks. 

I've seen both sides of this coin - legitimate workers criminalized and actual victims not getting the help they need. It's time we got serious about understanding these distinctions, because lives literally depend on getting this right.



First, let's talk about what human trafficking actually looks like, because it's rarely what people imagine. Real trafficking victims are controlled through force, fraud, or coercion - and I mean serious coercion, not just economic pressure. I've encountered situations where people were physically confined, had documents withheld, faced credible threats against family members, or were manipulated through drug addiction or psychological abuse. These victims can't leave, don't control their earnings, and live in genuine fear. They're often moved frequently, isolated from support systems, and have handlers controlling their every move. The key indicators are lack of freedom, control of movement, and inability to keep their earnings. When I've suspected trafficking situations, the victims couldn't speak freely, seemed terrified, and clearly weren't making their own decisions about clients or services.

Consensual adult sex work looks completely different, and the differences are pretty obvious if you know what to look for. Adult workers choose their clients, set their own boundaries, control their schedules, and keep their earnings (minus reasonable business expenses or agency fees they've agreed to). 

They can walk away, say no to clients, and communicate freely about their work. In my agency, workers negotiate their own rates, choose which services they offer, and can refuse any booking for any reason. They maintain relationships outside work, control their own living situations, and make independent decisions about their involvement in the industry. The difference between "I choose to do this work" and "I'm being forced to do this work" is usually pretty clear when you actually talk to the people involved.

What drives me absolutely crazy is how anti-trafficking efforts often end up harming both trafficking victims and consensual workers. Law enforcement raids that treat all sex workers as victims force actual trafficking victims to lie about their situation to avoid deportation or arrest, while criminalizing consensual workers who were never victims at all. "Rescue" operations that shut down advertising platforms make it harder for both trafficking victims to be found and for consensual workers to operate safely. 

When you conflate all sex work with trafficking, you make it impossible to identify actual victims because everything gets lumped together. Real trafficking victims need specialized services, immigration support, and trauma counseling - not arrest records and criminal charges. Consensual adult workers need labor protections, workplace safety, and basic respect for their autonomy.

Here's how to actually help: Learn the real indicators of trafficking and report genuine concerns to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, not to local police who might arrest everyone involved. 

Support organizations that provide services to actual trafficking victims without requiring them to leave sex work immediately - many victims need time and resources before they can safely exit. Listen to sex worker-led organizations who can tell you the difference between exploitation and consensual adult work. 

Stop supporting policies that criminalize all sex work in the name of anti-trafficking - these policies push everything underground and make actual victims harder to find. 

And please, educate yourself about labor trafficking in other industries too, because the vast majority of trafficking victims are actually in agriculture, domestic work, and manufacturing, not sex work.

The bottom line is this: human trafficking is real, serious, and deserving of our attention and resources. But conflating all adult sex work with trafficking doesn't help trafficking victims - it actually makes their situations worse while harming consenting adults who deserve the same labor rights as anyone else. After a decade in this industry, I've learned to spot the signs of actual coercion and control, and I take that responsibility seriously. But I've also learned that the biggest barrier to helping real trafficking victims is the widespread confusion about what trafficking actually looks like versus what consensual adult work looks like. 

If we want to combat trafficking effectively, we need to start by understanding the difference. Real victims deserve better than misguided policies that conflate them with consenting adults, and consensual workers deserve better than being criminalized in the name of protecting people who don't need rescuing.