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Sexual exploitation of youth contributes to myriad harms. Research reveals stark disparities in the prevalence of sex trading and exploitation for BIPOC youth, systems-involved youth, LGBTQ+ youth and those experiencing homelessness/poverty (Martin et al, 2021; Rider et al, 2022; Johnston-Goodstar et al, 2022). This presentation introduces the Minnesota Youth Sex Trading (MYST) project, an exemplar study to recenter and democratize knowledge for social justice. Specifically, it reports the processes and results of a mixed-methods, community-based design to establish prevalence rates amongst Native+ youth, understand the historic and ecological dimensions of this prevalence and develop and engage youth-led strategies of disruption.
Methods:
Our study utilized a mixed-methods, community-based design focused on two primary modes of engagement: a Community Advisory Board (CAB) and a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project. To begin, we engaged a 6-member CAB in quantitative analysis of self-report data from youth who completed the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) in 2019. The MSS is a triennial, anonymous statewide school-based survey conducted in collaboration with local schools and Minnesota State agencies. In 2019, the MSS began asking: have you ever traded sex or sexual activity to receive money, food, drugs, alcohol, a place to stay or anything else? Following our initial efforts, and in collaboration with our CAB, we engaged an 8-member, YPAR research team in analysis of 2022 MSS data, and participatory qualitative inquiry utilizing praxis-based focus groups, youth-led interviews, photovoice and experiential inquiry asking: what are the root causes that contribute to the vulnerability of Native+ youth to sexual exploitation and what strategies are necessary to disrupt these pathways?
Results:
In 2019, we found that 3.1% of Native+ high school students indicated that they had traded sex for something of value, compared to 1.4% of all high school students. Among Native+ students who identified as LGBTQ+2S, 4.8% indicated trading sex. In 2022, we found 4.3% of Native+ students and 8.9% of Native+ LGBTQ+2S students indicated trading sex. Native+ youth who reported sex trading also reported significant rates of interpersonal violence and suicide ideation.
Native+ rates were higher than non-Native peers and trended upward during the Covid-pandemic diverging from non-Native students. Rates also varied across the state, contrary to assumptions that sex trading is an “urban issue”. In addition to establishing contextually-informed prevalence rates for Native+ youth, the project resulted in the development of two unique variables (Native+, LGBTQ+Two-Spirit), identified 7 historical and ecological roots of vulnerability and youth-led strategies to disrupt sexual exploitation. Upon completion of both project stages, we co-created infographics and engaged in cross-sector dissemination of the findings.
Conclusions and Implications:
Our project established sex trading prevalence rates for Native+ students in Minnesota. These findings inform state and tribal policy, therapeutic interventions and service provision. Qualitative findings provide important nuance for the placement of services and innovation for community building, anti-racism efforts and civic engagement as interventions for sexual exploitation. Our project also developed two unique variables that may be of service to the broader research community.