Her goal: to befriend the women who work there, many of whom she believes are being sex trafficked. Liu is the director of women's services at Garden of Hope, an organization that provides trafficked women in massage parlors with counseling and access to lawyers. Liu is part of a growing number of advocates finding innovative ways to overcome cultural and language barriers to help trafficked women forced to sell sex in more than 9, massage parlors across the United States.
After escort services, it is the second most common type of trafficking reported to the charity's national hotline, which received almost 14, calls last year. Many of the women are illegal immigrants who are recruited by traffickers promising legitimate jobs and later asked to perform sex acts, campaigners say. They speak little or no English and often face pressure to repay debts and support their families, according to advocates, who said it is hard to help the women because they are kept quiet with threats and moved among locations every few weeks.
As discussing sex is taboo in China and domestic violence is not taken seriously, victims are more likely to talk about labor exploitation than reveal sexual abuse, she said. Websites like Rubmaps. That figure includes profits from sexual exploitation and forced labor. Trafficked women in massage parlors are often assaulted by their customers but they feel helpless because they fear the police and cannot speak English, advocates say.
One survivor recalled finding a massage parlor job online, and being told that she would not have to offer "full service" - meaning intercourse - or other sexual services. I had also been threatened by a customer with a knife before when I refused to provide 'full service'.
Still, she said that she was afraid of losing the job because she did not have a work permit, needed to repay the agent who applied for her tourist visa, and support her son.
