CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Portrayed in the Media: 2000 through 2017 A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Social Work By Amber Gutierrez In collaboration with Lucy Castro May 2018 The graduate project of Amber Gutierrez is approved: _____________________________________ __________ Dr. Wendy Ashley Date _______________________________________ ___________ Dr. Alejandra Acuña Date _______________________________________ ___________ Judith A DeBonis, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Dedication To my amazing family and friends. Know that without your love, support, patience, and your wonderful words of wisdom, I don’t think I would have succeeded in all the ways that I have. ¡Los quiero bien mucho! A special thank you to my incredible partner Lucy, all those sleepless nights and meetings at the coffee shop was the result of this paper. I truly thank you! My complete gratitude to professor DeBonis, I thank you for your guidance and endless support in helping Lucy and I to be able to write about such a marginalized population that does not receive the attention it deserves. My expectation for this paper is to bring awareness of the misperception commercial sexual exploitation of children receives from the media. My hope is for readers; particularly those in the helping profession to be mindful when interacting with a child who has been sexually exploited- these are children not criminals. iii Table of Contents Signature Page ii Dedication iii Abstract v Introduction 1 Literature Review 3 Method 12 Results 16 Discussion 27 References 33 Appendix A: Research Questions 40 Appendix B: Joint Addendum Form 42 iv Abstract Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Portrayed in the Media: 2000 through 2017 By Amber Gutierrez Master of Social Work Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children is a social problem that has only recently started gaining significant attention. This project examined how the media’s portrayal of CSEC has changed during the years 2000 through 2017. Using archival data, this study examined 18 episodes of Law & Order: SVU to gather data to determine if the media’s perception of CSEC is aligned with clinical social work practices. Researchers constructed a template with topics that assisted them in identifying the language being used to describe CSEC and exploiters such as: child prostitution, sex workers, juvenile delinquents, pimps, traffickers, and exploiters. Using this tool, researcher compared if identification of CSEC has changed over time between 2000-2017. Researchers found the program was aligned with clinical language and stereotypes to describe the exploiter and CSEC youth. Media guidelines were also lacking when reporting on CSEC and would be helpful so as to have more uniformity. v Introduction Children tend to be thought of as innocent and so it may be hard to imagine high incidents of children who are sexually exploited in the United States. While there is no exact number as to how many children are sexually exploited, it is estimated that 100,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation in the United States each year, and the average age of when a child is initially subjected into sexual exploitation is 12-14 years old (Moore, Houch, Hirway, Barron & Goldberg, 2016). Only recently, with such disturbingly high statistics being reported on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), more attention has been directed at this population as a social problem. The advent of television has changed the landscape of how information has been disseminated to millions of individuals and the media plays an important role in how it represents important topics, such as polices, politics and even child sexual abuse (Weatherred, 2015). The representation of the CSEC population in the media is significant to understand because the media has the power to influence societal views (Kitzinger, 2004). If the media only presents certain aspects of CSEC, it can distort the public’s view of sexually exploited youth and misses the opportunity to educate. Due to this influence and the complexity of CSEC, it is vital the media does not dehumanize commercially sexually exploited youth. Instead it should portray them with dignity and worth, and with an understanding of the importance of human relationships (Workers, N.A., 2008). Without this understanding, it could cause the public to distance themselves from the 1 problem and therefore not viewing it as a social issue. Researchers will be examining episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (L&O: SVU) to help determine how CSEC is represented in the media. Researchers chose this particular television show because it discusses topics of physical and sexual abuse and neglect of children. Also, with the show being on its 19th season, this demonstrates its popularity with an average of 5.8 million viewers from around the world (Schultz, 2017). In addition, numerous episodes are based on real-life-controversial headlines in the media. Furthermore, the program is favored by many viewers and L&O: SVU has earned many prestigious awards such as the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Drama Series in 2012, the Prism Award and the GLAAD Media Award (NBC, 2018). It is expected that the media’s portrayal of CSEC is less accurate than clinical observations and descriptions. For example, the media referring to the youth as “prostitutes” or arresting the youth for solicitation of sex may be harmful to the individuals that have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Thus, our qualitative research project will examine how the media’s portrayal of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children has changed during the period of 2000 through 2017. This study will help educate the public and law enforcement to dispel preconceived notions of this vulnerable population. Furthermore, it may assist in supporting awareness to media executives, producers, editors and writers. Lastly, our research may show that there is a need for social workers and other helping professionals to collaborate 2 with the media to advocate for positive representation of CSEC. Literature review Defining Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children CSEC falls under the umbrella of human trafficking, which is defined as the use of force, fraud or coercion to induce an individual to engage in a commercial sex or forced labor (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). Human trafficking can include forced labor, slavery, and sexual exploitation (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). Furthermore, individuals under the age of eighteen who are made to engage in commercial sex are automatically considered victims of human trafficking, even if the use of force, fraud, or coercion is not present (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). Federal law defines child sex trafficking as the recruitment, harboring, transportation or obtaining of a person, who is under the age of 18 years, for a commercial sex act and the act, is induced by force, fraud or coercion. (Hardy, Compton, & McPhatter, 2013). Additionally, a commercial sex act is defined as the act of a sexual nature committed against an individual for financial or other economic reasons. (Miller- Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). It is the commercial aspect of sexual exploitation that makes sex trafficking different than other sexual crimes such as molestation and rape. (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). Thus, CSEC is defined as sexual crimes committed against children under the age of 18 for financial or other economic reasons (O'Brien, Givens, & Leibowitz, 2017). These crimes can include prostitution, pornography 3 and other forms where a child engages in sexual activities in order to have their fundamental needs met, such as food or shelter. (O'Brien, et al, 2017). Additionally, researchers are sensitive to the fact that all CSEC identify as victims. Both researchers have similar views as the non-profit organization Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), which is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization (RAINN, 2018). RAINN identifies victims as those who have recently been affected by sexual violence; where as, survivors are identified by the organization as someone who has or is already in the process of recovery form a sexual crime. Based on the above definition, the youth in L&O: SVU are considered victims (RAINN, 2018). Therefore, throughout this paper, researchers will refer to CSEC as victims instead of survivors. CSEC Related Legislation CSEC is a global issue and a shocking violation of human rights. Although it is thought to be an issue that does not happen domestically and is only occurring in third world countries, data shows that this is quite the opposite (Hardy et al., 2013). The Federal Bureau of Investigation has recognized sexual exploitation of children as a growing business and has estimated it to be a $32 billion dollar per year industry (Child Welfare Council, 2017). In addition, the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York have all been identified as cities 4 that have a high concentration of child exploitation in the United States (Walker, 2013). The first federal legislation passed to protect victims of trafficking and to prosecute their traffickers was the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (2000) (P.L. 106-386). The TVPA helps to fight human trafficking by sponsoring three main components: Protection, Prosecution and Prevention (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). This act helped to promote harsher laws to prosecute traffickers, more methods to protect the victims and prevention to raise awareness to the atrocities of human trafficking (Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2016). Despite this law being amended several times, CSEC was not specifically addressed until 2013 (Roby, & Vincent, 2017). The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2013 allowed law enforcement to prosecute United States citizens living in other countries who commercial sexually exploit children (ATEST, 2017). It also allowed state and local law enforcement to work together to make it easier to charge and persecute traffickers (ATEST, 2017).