A person who illegally buys and sells goods, often referring to someone involved in human trafficking or drug smuggling.
From Italian 'trafficare,' possibly from Arabic roots related to commerce. Originally meant any merchant or trader in the 1500s. The modern negative connotation developed as the word began specifically describing illegal trade in the 1900s.
The word's journey shows how language reflects changing values—'trafficker' once was just a neutral merchant, but as we identified certain trade as exploitative and illegal, the word transformed to carry moral weight. Language evolution often marks societal moral progress.
Human trafficking disproportionately targets women and girls; language around trafficking often centers male perpetrators while erasing gendered victimhood patterns.
When discussing trafficking, center survivors' identities and vulnerabilities; avoid language that centers perpetrators as the primary subject.
["trafficking survivor","survivor of exploitation","human trafficking victim"]
Women survivors of trafficking have led abolitionist and survivor-centered policy movements; credit these leaders in anti-trafficking discourse.
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