Exiting Exploitation:
Motivations, Helps and Hindrances
There is a perpetual question—perhaps stated rhetorically—when it comes to sexually exploited persons, particularly against the violence, degradation, criminality, and potential mortality in the trade. And that question is: “Why doesn’t she just leave?” Few studies have endeavored to tackle that question, seeking to provide an understanding of the factors that might keep a person in exploitation, and what state of being, mindset, relationships, circumstances, or prompting events lead to exit.
This 2025 study sought to identify the motivations, hindrances and helps that facilitate a victim’s successful and permanent exit from sexual exploitation.
Some of the key findings from the study
Pathways to Exit:
| 60% | reported that it was their decision to exit exploitation |
| 38.9% | indicated that their means of exit was through rescue |
| 27.9% | indicated that getting arrested, even incarcerated, was part of their exit |
| 62.1% | of whom reported incarceration turned out “for their good” |
| 53.2% | saw an opportunity to get out and took it |
| 53.2% | feared for their life |
Help most needed:
| 72.5% | A safe place to stay for a few nights |
| 66.7% | Relational supports |
| 56.7% | Transportation out of their current location |
| 52.4% | Detox / Sobriety supports |
Where did she look for help?
| 38.0% | she looked for a program in her area or anywhere |
| 20.2% | she called someone in her family or a friend |
| 12.8% | she called or went to a church |
| 12.8% | she called a hotline |
Retention: primary factors that kept these victims in exploitation included:
| 1. | a fear-based, relationship with her trafficker |
| 2. | dependency on substance use |
| 3. | limited economic options, or the lure of “easy money” |
| 4. | relational ties with individuals in the sex trade |
IN THEIR VOICE
“I’m tired of being addicted to drugs and tired of being chased.”
“Getting arrested didn’t save me from trafficking, but it did help me realize that my life was unmanageable and that I desired help so deeply!”
“They were my family & it was really all I knew. Also, I really thought they loved me and that something was just wrong with me.”