When survivors say “age is just a number”: Domestic minor sex trafficking and the relationship between survivor and romantic trafficker through an embodied attachment lens
Cody, Chelsea Corin
Citations
Abstract
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, or DMST, is defined as “the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor citizen or legal resident within the United States (Twis, 2020). DMST can happen to youth of all ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic statuses, and sexual orientations, and yet, DMST has been found to effect the most marginalized communities at the highest rates (Curtis et al., 2008). This inquiry aims to add to the body of research honing in on victim-trafficker relationship types through the continued analysis of the romantic trafficker type from an attachment lens, so that we may better understand how to best support survivors in the stage and type of recovery they are in with a romantic style trafficker. A qualitative directed content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005) was conducted with de-identified case files of DMST survivors selected by state caseworkers involved with that DMST survivor’s treatment and community placement. Connections between the creation and maintenance of romantic trafficker type (Twis, 2020) with DMST survivors, and the influences of systemic inequities, complex trauma, and intergenerational attachment trauma on the DMST relationship were explored.