Sex Trafficking: The Psychological and Psychosocial Implicatures in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked

Abstract

Nigeria is one of the African nations that have had contacts with the western world. These relations have metamorphosed into the world’s most dangerous trade - sex trafficking.  Sex trafficking is a variant of human trafficking; and it is one of the current trends in African literature. It is a thriving industry in this 21st century, and as such, is highly organized and regulated. It is a trade that demeans the dignity of women, commodifies their bodies and puts tags on them. It thrives in coercion, lies, blackmails, suppression exploitation, and subjugation. The victims are mostly women and girls who are lured into travelling abroad for economic independence and economic reliefs from their countries occasioned by leadership ineptitude. Victims are sold and resold since they are the merchandise of the industry. The victims most times are hoodwinked into it; and consequently, they are dehumanised and traumatized, and thus regarded as expended creatures.  This development has affected the way they are viewed, regarded, and placed in the society. This paper, therefore, highlights the psychological and psychosocial implicatures of the sex trade on the victims as portrayed by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked (2008) and how to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration in the society. It also proffers ways in which sex trafficking and sex traffickers can be checkmated. It also proffers ways in which sex trafficking and sex traffickers can be checkmated. This work appropriates the sociological theory of structural functionalism to analyse the psychological and psychosocial implications of sex trafficking on the victims. Recommendations to prevent the perpetration of the malady and to ameliorate its devastating effects on the victims are also drawn.