5 Free Documentaries that Teach Us about Sex Trafficking in America

Sex trafficking in America is a complex crisis that is often inaccurately depicted as young girls in cages or children kidnapped off the street on their way home from school. However, the reality is not what we see on social media or campaigns created around a hashtag. It’s not an action movie or clickbait. Instead, sex trafficking is a crime hidden in plain sight with traffickers utilizing a grooming process to manipulate victims and buyers, who are overwhelmingly male, with little legal ramifications. They make up the illicit supply and demand chain of human trafficking, victims being the commodity caught between the two.

It’s essential as allies in the fight to end sex trafficking to have a realistic, evidence-based understanding of the issue in order to more accurately educate others. We can start by learning from documentaries that depict sex trafficking from a victim-centered lens and share knowledge from experts in the field.

We’ve put together a collection of five must-see documentaries to get you started in learning about sex trafficking in America. All are free to stream, you do not need a subscription service to view them.