Recruiters will often befriend or seduce you, buy you gifts, pay
you compliments, tell you they love you.
- They will try to lure you with promises of drugs, money, and the "good life" (Material Things).
- They will also alienate you and isoloate you from friends and family.
- They will make you feel guilty and manipulate you by saying – "you owe me" "or if you really love me". (Emotional Blackmail)
Recruiters can be male or female, usually in their late teens to early forties. Males are usually recruiting to pay off a drug debt. Females are generally sexually exploited youth. They work for a pimp in order to get time off the streets.
- Any place where youth gather
- Malls
- Schools
- Parties
- Raves
- Youth drop in centres
- Coffee shops
- Bus loops
- Internet
There are Three Stages of Recruitment: Lure, Trust, Payback. The diagram below shows how easily youth are being trapped into a "gear-like" rotation, and are being exploited sexually.
Whether it is a girl who is recruiting another girl, or it is a guy recruiting a girl; recruitment of children andyouth into the sex trade usually follows three stages. Lure, Trust, Pay-back.
Recruitment Scenarios (Performed by TCO2)
Click on the titles below to view a media clip on the recruitment stages:
Male Recruiting a Female: 1. Lure Stage / 2. Trust Stage / 3. Pay-back Stage
Female Recruiting a Female ("Spotting"):1. Lure Stage / 2. Trust Stage / 3. Pay-back Stage
Pimps
Pimps do not look like the stereotypical image of a guy wearing a fur coat, a hat with a feather and a cane. If they did, our job of preventing sexual exploitation would be easy. We do know a few things about pimps that may provide some warning signs.
- Most pimps are males between the age of 16-45.
- They may claim to be involved in the "entertainment industry".
- On the surface they may appear to have a lot of wealth, but do not have a job or education to back it up.
- Most pimps fill a void in some of the lives of the children they exploit.
- Gifts, a pimp will offer youth the world, anything they want (drugs,money etc).
- Pimps are often involved with drugs and drug dealing.
- They are often manipulative, and possessive of their "girlfriends".
- They may carry weapons and have a history of abusive behavior.
