Lim Sahnah, Lee Seunggun, Cohen Lori, Chin John J, Trinh-Shevrin Chau, Islam Nadia S
Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, NY, USA.
Anti-Trafficking Initiative, Sanctuary for Families, New York, NY, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2023 Feb;38(3-4):2360-2386. doi: 10.1177/08862605221101187. Epub 2022 May 12.
Sex trafficking is serious form of gender-based violence that results in profound adverse health outcomes, yet one that is poorly understood. New York City is a major hub for sex trafficking, with a significant but unquantified number of victims originating from East Asian countries and trafficked via illicit massage businesses. Peer-reviewed studies among Asian survivors of international criminal sex trafficking do not exist. The aim of this study is to qualitatively examine the factors at various levels of influence that impact the recovery and reintegration process of Asian criminal sex trafficking survivors in the United States from the perspective of survivors and front-line service providers. The study was guided by community-based participatory research and trauma-informed approaches, leveraging a collaboration with a well-established service provider organization. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted between 2018 and 2019 with three Korean survivors and seven key informants who were anti-trafficking service providers working with East Asian clients. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Survivors and service providers vocalized factors at multiple levels that either facilitate or impede recovery and well-being. Levels of influence included structural (e.g., poverty/debt bondage, immigration status, limited English proficiency), cultural (e.g., fatalism, collectivism), institutional (e.g., lack of culturally appropriate, trauma-informed care), interpersonal (e.g., exploitation, social support), and individual (e.g., resilience). Stigma was a crosscutting factor that spanned all levels of influence. This study highlights the voices of survivors and front-line service providers to understand the lives of an under-researched population of Asian sex trafficking survivors. Ultimately, the root, structural causes of survivor marginalization need to be addressed, which stem from the intersection of class-, gender-, and race-related inequities. While survivors continue to experience exploitation and marginalization post-trafficking, they also carry an enormous amount of resilience that must be leveraged in their path to recovery from trauma.
性交易是一种严重的基于性别的暴力形式，会导致极其不良的健康后果，但人们对其了解甚少。纽约市是性交易的一个主要枢纽，有相当数量但未量化的受害者来自东亚国家，并通过非法按摩店被贩卖。目前尚无针对国际刑事性交易亚洲幸存者的同行评审研究。本研究的目的是从幸存者和一线服务提供者的角度，定性地考察影响美国亚洲刑事性交易幸存者康复和重新融入过程的各级影响因素。该研究以社区参与式研究和创伤知情方法为指导，与一家成熟的服务提供者组织合作开展。2018年至2019年间，对三名韩国幸存者和七名关键信息提供者进行了十次深入访谈，这些关键信息提供者是为东亚客户提供反人口贩卖服务的人员。数据采用扎根理论方法进行分析。幸存者和服务提供者表达了在多个层面上促进或阻碍康复和幸福的因素。影响层面包括结构层面（如贫困/债务奴役、移民身份、英语水平有限）、文化层面（如宿命论、集体主义）、机构层面（如缺乏符合文化背景的、创伤知情护理）、人际层面（如剥削、社会支持）和个人层面（如复原力）。耻辱感是贯穿所有影响层面的一个交叉因素。本研究突出了幸存者和一线服务提供者的声音，以了解亚洲性交易幸存者这一研究不足群体的生活。最终，需要解决导致幸存者边缘化的根源性结构原因，这些原因源于阶级、性别和种族相关不平等的交叉。虽然幸存者在被贩卖后仍继续遭受剥削和边缘化，但他们也具有巨大的复原力，在从创伤中恢复的道路上必须加以利用。
