Human trafficking is often considered a modern form of slavery. He degrades his victims to the status of simple commodities bought and sold to satisfy commercial demand. He attempts to erase his victims' identities as humans and instead views them as objects. But despite this, it is the identity of those forced into sexual slavery that is key to understanding the nature of human trafficking, as it is not an arbitrary crime. Its victims share commonalities in their identity, history and experiences. This is not purely coincidental, but rather the result of widespread attitudes regarding gender, race, and socioeconomic class. That is, the crime itself can be more easily dissected and understood by critically examining the identities of its victims from a feminist paradigm. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although feminist theory consists of many intertwined theoretical perspectives, the postcolonial feminist school of thought best explains the role that identities such as gender in the world of trafficking. Similar to the concept of intersectionality, postcolonial feminism maintains that women's experiences vary along cultural, ethnic, and geographic lines. In other words, oppression is not a universal experience among women. Women living in developing countries, for example, lead different lives and experience oppression differently than more privileged women in the Western world (Kegley and Blanton 46). However, unlike intersectional theory and other mainstream feminist movements, postcolonial feminist theory tends to focus on the identities and experiences of non-Western women. It is women living in post-colonial developing countries who bear the brunt of the horrors of human trafficking. The regions of Africa and the Middle East serve as major hubs for transnational trafficking, taking advantage of women seeking employment (note that the term "women" is used loosely here, as 50 percent of victims of trafficking are minors [Lansink 46]). The majority of these women are migrants who, having fled poverty and persecution in their country of origin, are forced to submit to exploitative work when they arrive alone in a new country. This type of exploitation is above all sexist: it is more often women than men who are forced into prostitution, arranged marriages and domestic work. This leaves them vulnerable to rape and other types of sexual violence: all of which are forms of “gender-specific harm” (Lansink 47-48). Although men can also be victims, the specific and sexist nature of human trafficking illustrates that as an industry, it is, at its core, an intentional form of violence against women. Knowing all this, we can try to look for a root cause: what triggers the chain reaction that forces a woman into a life of degradation? All of this comes back to the recurring pattern of women leaving their home countries, fleeing a multitude of forms of oppression: poverty. Lack of education. Unemployment. Abuse. Political unrest. Trafficked women have these things in common. Their identity as young, poor women from developing or politically unstable countries puts them at risk of becoming victims of trafficking. Their gender identities,.