sexual slavery

Eighteen years ago, Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped and made into a slave, bearing two children after being raped by her captor. Americans are outraged, and rightly so. Her story is horrifying. While this Lake Tahoe headline hit particularly close to home, most of us are perhaps unaware that kidnappings and sexual slavery occur every day in war torn areas.

In the global crisis of violence against women, there is a heated debate about the best way to approach the issues at the intersection of HIV/AIDS and human trafficking. Advocates of "harm elimination" push the abolishment of sexual slavery, trafficking, and prostitution. Those who believe in "harm reduction" are working to ameliorate the HIV/AIDS crisis in a pre-existing negative situation.