In Search of a Better Future? The Prostitution of Migrant Girls and Adolescents in the United States

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AudienciaPúblico en generales_ES
CoberturaMéxicoes_ES
Fecha de ingreso2026-10-05T16:32:21Z
Fecha de publicación2025-01-01
ResumenThe dominant anti-trafficking model operates within a criminal justice framework grounded in a rigid victim-perpetrator binary. This approach effectively absolves the state of any responsibility for the structural inequalities that undermine the rights and well-being of children and adolescents. This article examines the conditions that drive highly vulnerable girls and adolescents to see trafficking into prostitution as their only available option. These ``most vulnerable victims{''} are exploited not only by traffickers-who profit from their abuse-but also by authorities, who often mistreat them for failing to embody the idealized image of an agencyless victim. Using a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews and chain-referral sampling, the study draws on the testimonies of 77 Central American migrant women who were trafficked as minors and exploited in the U.S. sex trade for an average of nearly seven years. Most were eventually freed through police raids. Paradoxically, many of these women described the authorities who rescued them as abusive and dehumanizing, while referring to the traffickers and club owners who exploited them as kind or humane. The findings suggest that age intersects with gender, class, national origin, and immigration status to shape how migrant girls and adolescents experience sexual exploitation. In many cases, this exploitation became-however paradoxically-a means of pursuing greater autonomy. As such, the current anti-trafficking framework fails to capture or address the complex realities faced by many underage migrant girls within the sex industry.es_ES
Doihttps://doi.org/10.7440/res92.2025.07es_ES
URIhttps://riuat.uat.edu.mx/handle/123456789/4195
Idiomaeses_ES
EditorialUNIV ANDESes_ES
RelaciónRevista de Estudios Socialeses_ES
URL relacionadohttps://doi.org/10.7440/res92.2025.07es_ES
DerechosAcceso abierto (Metadatos de producción científica)es_ES
Licenciahttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2es_ES
FuenteRevista de Estudios Sociales
Palabra claveCentral Americaes_ES
Palabra clavechild and adolescent prostitutiones_ES
Palabra clavecritical approaches to anti-trafficking regimeses_ES
Palabra clavemigrationes_ES
Palabra clavesex traffickinges_ES
Palabra claveUnited Stateses_ES
TítuloIn Search of a Better Future? The Prostitution of Migrant Girls and Adolescents in the United Stateses_ES
TipoArtículoes_ES
ArbitradoHa sido Arbitradoes_ES
AutorPalacios, Simon Pedro Izcara
AutorRubio, Karla Lorena Andrade
AutorPalacios, Simon Pedro Izcaraes_ES
AutorRubio, Karla Lorena Andradees_ES
InstituciónUniversidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
InstituciónUniversidad Autónoma de Tamaulipases_ES
Número92es_ES
URL relacionadahttps://doi.org/10.7440/res92.2025.07
Tipo de artículoIndexado
Tipo de artículoIndexadoes_ES

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