Abstract

WOMEN & THERAPY 2017, VOL. 40, NOS. 1–2, 7–11 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2016.1205904 INTRODUCTION Human Trafficking of Women and Girls: Characteristics, Commonalities, and Complexities a b Deborah L. Hume and Nancy M. Sidun a b Master of Public Health Program, University of Missouri–Columbia, Columbia, Missouri; Independent Practice, Honolulu, Hawaii This special issue of Women & Therapy is devoted to an exploration of human trafficking as a complex human rights violation with many manifestations. Human trafficking is, paradoxically, a single thing—the violent exploitation of another human being for profit or personal gain— and many different things. The circumstances under which it occurs, the persons involved (as perpetrators, as consumers, and as victims and survivors), the means of trafficking, and the factors that contribute to the vulnerability of potential victims are many and varied. There is simply no prototypical trafficking case and no prototypical victim of this crime. The invited contributions to this issue will provide the reader with a sense of the complexity and variability of this important topic, as well as an under- standing of the common thread—exploitation and the violation of human rights—that ties the field together. In keeping with the emphasis of this journal, we focus our examination on the