A Qualitative Analysis of Sex Trafficking Survivor-Advocates’ Barriers to Exiting “The Life”

Despite the recent expansion of sex trafficking awareness, prevention, and aftercare services, knowledge about sex trafficking remains limited by the systemic exclusion of survivors’ voices and strengths from sex trafficking epistemology. Notably, little research examines sex trafficking survivors’ experiences, their critiques of the counter-trafficking movement, nor their recommendations for how the counter-trafficking movement could be improved to better meet survivors’ needs. In this qualitative study, we adhered to an Intersectional-Standpoint Methodology (ISM) to explore sex trafficking survivors’ perceptions of the counter-trafficking movement and their barriers to sex trafficking exit. The results of this study suggest that survivors encounter numerous barriers to sex trafficking exit, including internal barriers, social barriers, and systemic-institutional barriers. Results point towards recommendations for improving service delivery systems by building upon sex trafficking survivors’ strengths and resilience and by reducing their many barriers to exit. By implementing these recommendations, counter-trafficking advocates at all levels of practice can increase sex trafficking survivors’ access to effective, survivor-informed aftercare services.