ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the trafficking of women and girls into one market, commercial sex, as an example of the commodification of humans for profit. Commonly-cited estimates of the number of people trafficked across national borders annually range from 700,000 to two million; millions more are trafficked each year within their own country. It should also be noted that human trafficking, whether for sexual or other labor, is different from human smuggling. The sex sector of human trafficking, which relies on institutionalized gender relations as well as advances in transnational trade operations, provides an important example of how the trafficking industry profits from human commodification. Controlling the commodity also reduces trafficking risks, such as exposure to law enforcement or immigration officials. Traffickers further the women's isolation by restricting their space and movement, disallowing communication with family back home, and holding their earnings as well as their passports or other identification documents.
