Autonomy is the ability to make your own choices. When we say we respect autonomy, we mean we value and center people’s ability to make their own choices, even when we do not understand or agree with them.

Most people make choices from limited options, and some people’s choices are more severely limited than others. However, this does not mean someone does not have autonomy. When someone has fewer options, they still make the choices that are most in line with their needs and values.

Coercion is making someone do something they wouldn’t freely choose by using a wide range of tactics, such as:

• Pressure

• Manipulation

• Threats

• Blackmail

• Violence

• Exploiting debt or other vulnerabilities, such as drug use

Community refers to a group of people connected by shared location, interests, identities or experiences. When we say community we are referring to:

1. Individuals currently experiencing sex trafficking or coerced sex work

2. Consensual sex workers with lived experience of sex trafficking or coerced sex work

3. Individuals with lived experience of sex trafficking or coerced sex work who have exited the sex trades.

Harm reduction refers to any strategy or practice used to reduce the health, social, and legal harms associated with certain activities. While the term is most often applied to drug use, almost everything carries some level of “risk.” For example, wearing a seatbelt is a form of harm reduction when driving.

We promote harm reduction by sharing information and resources that help people in the sex trades stay safer and healthier. Shifting the focus of public messaging from the law enforcement to health resources is harm reduction. Sharing safety resources and research is not promoting sex work or sex trafficking.

The term lived experience reflects the many ways people understand and relate to their experiences without relying on labels like “victim” or “survivor.”

Lived experience not only refers to the past but also includes people who may be currently experiencing these situations.

When we refer to people in the sex trades, we mean individuals who exchange sex under a range of circumstances, including consensual sex work, coercion and sex trafficking. This phrase is used when we are speaking of the needs or impacts that affect both sex workers and people experiencing sex trafficking alike, and is plural to recognize the diversity of experiences that fall under the umbrella of exchanging sex.

For research and funding purposes, this study uses the operational, federal definition of sex trafficking found in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA):

• “A person who is exploited through force, fraud, or coercion to exchange sex for money or other items of value, or someone who was in the sex trades before the age of 18. “

Multiple experiences fall under the federal definition of sex trafficking, and some people may prefer to describe their experiences in these ways. Experiences include:

• People who have experienced coerced sex work, as an adult or before the age of 18.

• People who have engaged in the sex trades before they were 18 (includes survival sex).

• People who have been forced or coerced by another person to exchange sex

Contest eligibility is determined by different experiences that fall under this federal definition, but is NOT assessed by asking contestants if they have been sex trafficked.

Sex work is consensual labor in the sex trades and includes a range of services and actions. Many people who have experienced sex trafficking do not identify as sex workers because their experience was a violation rather than “work.” 

Individuals who have experiences with both trafficking and consensual sex work may identify as a sex worker or refer to their experiences as coerced sex work. While some people in the sex trades use the word “prostitution” or “prostitute,” we do not use this word due to the historic criminalization of consensual sex workers and people experiencing trafficking through anti-prostitution laws.