The Term Slave

The definition of slave from the Oxford English Dictionary is one who is the property of, and entirely subject to, another person, whether by capture, purchase, or birth; a servant completely divested of freedom and personal rights. Slaves still exist today, and have existed for almost all of mankind. People for different reasons feel like they are entitled to own other people, even though we are all humans. This definition is commonly known around the country, but because slavery was abolished over a hundred years ago no one thinks they still exist today. The word is associated with the slavery that was done in the 17^th and 18^th century with people toiling the fields, but there are many different types of slavery today in the United States and around the World.

One of the most common types of slavery in the country today is sex slavery. It exists all throughout the United States and is not commonly thought of as slavery. It exists with many of the slaves in pornographic films and in the form of prostitutes, but since these have different names people do not associate them with slavery. This fits into our culture because even though most people are against slavery, some will still hire a prostitute supporting the slave trade. This has been a common misconception for some time because the textual term slavery is not exactly what most people think of it as. The other terms are used to describe it so does not seem as bad as it is. This relates to our current narcissistic society where people only care about themselves and even though someone else might be getting hurt, they only care about whatever is to their benefit. If this is their beliefs and the slaves are pleasing them, what do they care? Since they do not have to deal with anyone in the slave industry or anyone that has been affected by it, they will ignore it and not use the term to describe actions they see happening all the time. In my research this is used to describe when people are taken from their homes or bought from a family member and used to pleasure men. This term describes my research exactly because it is the harming of another person that is forced to do something with no rights. Slaves are still present all around the world today, but have been commonly forgotten about due to the terminology. If people started calling prostitution slavery, it would have a profound effect on how people viewed that industry. Definitions of a word can sometimes be confused, but the definition of slave still stands today, it is just that people need to be enlightened on the different types of slaves.