As trusted health professionals in the school setting, school nurses are well positioned to identify students who may be victims of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). However, until recently this issue has been clouded by lack of awareness, stigma, and/or denial. Since nationally the average age of entry for girls into the commercial sex industry (specifically prostitution) is 12–15 years old, many of these young people continue to attend school although attendance may be sporadic. Additional continuing education is needed to increase school nurses’ awareness that these young victims might be in their practices, whether they are located in urban, rural, or suburban communities. As primary sources of health care for children throughout the United States, school nurses have a pivotal role in helping an exploited girl move beyond invisibility to a path of safety and support—and a new life.
BurkeThomas. (2009). Sex trafficking of women and girls in eight metropolitan areas around the world: case studies viewed through a public-health lens(Unpublished document). Boston, MA: Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Global Health and Human Rights.
2.
ClawsonH. J.DutchN.SolomonA.Goldblatt GraceL. (2009). Human trafficking into and within the United States: A review of the literature. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved fromhttp://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/HumanTrafficking/LitRev/
3.
Council for Prostitution Alternatives. (1991). Characteristics of 800 CPA participants. In WeitzerR. (Ed.), Sex for sale: Prostitution, pornography, and the sex industry (pp. 139–155). New York, NY: Routledge.
4.
DworkinA. (1997). Prostitution and male supremacy. In DworkinA., (Ed.), Life and death: Unapologetic writings of the continuing war against women (pp. 139–151). New York, NY: Free Press.
5.
EstesR.WeinerN. (2001). The commercial sexual exploitation of children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
6.
FarleyM.BaralI.KiremireM.SezginU. (1998). Prostitution in five countries: Violence and post-traumatic stress disorder. Feminism & Psychology, 8, 405–426.
7.
FarleyM.KellyV. (2000). Prostitution: A critical review of the medical and social sciences literature. Women & Criminal Justice, 11, 29–64.
8.
FinkelhorD.OrmrodR. (2004). Prostitution of juveniles: Patterns from NIBRS. Juvenile Justice Bulletin(NCJ203946). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
9.
FlowersR. B. (2001). Runaway kids and teenage prostitution. Westport, CT: Praeger.
10.
FriedmanS. (2005). Who is there to help us: How the system fails sexually exploited girls in the United States. New York, NY: ECPAT-USA.
11.
GiobbeE. (1993). An analysis of individual, institutional, and cultural pimping. Michigan Journal of Gender Law, 1, 33–57.
12.
GoldblattGrace L. (2008/2009). Understanding the commercial exploitation of children. The Link: Connecting Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare, 7, 1–13.
13.
GrahamM.WishE. (1994). Drug use among female arrestees: Onset, patterns, and relationships to prostitution. Journal of Drug Issues, 24, 315–329.
14.
HarlanS.RodgersL.SlatteryB. (1981). Male and female adolescent prostitution: Huckleberry House Sexual Minority Youth Services Project. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
15.
HarwayM.LissM. (1999). Dating violence and teen prostitution: Adolescent girls in the justice system. In JohnsonN. G.RobertsM. C.WorellJ. P. (Eds.), Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls (pp. 277–300). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
16.
LloydR. (2005). Acceptable victims? Sexually exploited youth in the U.S. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 18, 6–18.
17.
LloydR. (2011). Girls like us: Fighting for a world where girls are not for sale, an activist finds her calling and heals herself. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
18.
MukaseyM. B.DaleyC. K.HagyD. W. (2007). Commercial sexual exploitation of children: What do we know and what do we do about it?Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
19.
National Association of School Nurses. (2011). Position statement: child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC:Author.
20.
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. (2002). Female juvenile prostitution: Problem and response. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
21.
NixonK.TuttyL.DowneP.GorkoffK.UrselJ. (2002). The everyday occurrence: Violence in the lives of girls exploited through prostitution. Violence Against Women, 8, 1016–1043.
22.
Norton-HawkM. (2002). The life course of prostitution. Women, Girls & Criminal Justice, 3, 7–9.
23.
O’LearyC.HowardO. (2001). The prostitution of women and girls in metropolitan Chicago: A preliminary prevalence report. Chicago, IL: Center for Impact Research.
24.
RabinovitchJ. (2003). PEERS: The Prostitutes’ Empowerment, Education, and Resource Society. In FarleyM. (Ed.), Prostitution, trafficking, and traumatic stress (pp. 239–253). New York, NY: Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press.
25.
RaphaelJ. (2004). Listening to Olivia: Violence, poverty, and prostitution. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
26.
RaphaelJ.ShapiroD. (2002). Sisters speak out: The lives and needs of prostituted women in Chicago: A research study. Chicago, IL: Center for Impact Research.
27.
SilbertM.PinesA. (1981). Occupational hazards of street prostitutes. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 8, 395–399.
28.
SilbertM.PinesA. (1982). Entrance into prostitution. Youth & Society, 13, 471–500.
29.
SmithL. A.VardamanS. H.SnowM. A. (2009). The national report on domestic minor sex trafficking: America’s prostituted children. Vancouver, WA: Shared Hope International.
30.
SpangenbergM. (2001). Prostituted youth in New York City: An overview. New York, NY: ECPAT-USA.
31.
TylerK.HoytD.WhitbeckL.CauceA. (2001). The impact of childhood sexual abuse on later sexual victimization among runaway youth. Journal of Research on Adolescents, 11, 151–176.
32.
WidomC. Z. (1995).Victims of childhood sexual abuse: Later criminal consequences. National Institute of Justice. Research in Brief(NIJ, 1995, NCJ 151525). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
33.
WilliamsL. M.FrederickM. E. (2009). Pathways into and out of commercial sexual victimization of children: Understanding and responding to sexually exploited teens. Lowell, MA: University of Massachusetts Lowell.
