DOI: 10.36344/ccijhss.2019.v05i05.005

Pages: 122-128

California is probably the state in the United States with the greatest range of trafficking. The attraction of Hollywood, the high concentration of undocumented immigrants, the presence of long-distance highways, and the sexualized popular culture that has normalized and reduced the moral barriers to access commercial sex, contributes for the proliferation of sex trafficking. This article, based on qualitative interviews conducted between 2014 and 2017 with five sex traffickers operating in California and sixteen women from Central America trafficked to California, aims to describe how sex trafficking networks operate in California, and examine the characteristics of Central American women trafficked to this state.