A recent study unveiled a troubling discrepancy in the North Star State: while sexual exploitation of boys is widely known, just 15% appear to receive any help.
“A significant theme that emerged from the data was the lack of identification and reporting of male victims of trafficking and exploitation compared to female victims,” states the study, And Minnesota Boys, Too, which was released in May. “This disparity was evident across multiple data sources, suggesting that male victims often remain invisible and underserved.”
The research was conducted by the nonprofit organization, Protect All Children from Trafficking, or PACT, and exposed what co-author Jarrett Davis called a “screaming silence.” Through surveys and interviews with service providers, experts and advocates statewide, the study focused on whether boys who survived sexual abuse and exploitation received the support they need, and if there were gaps in assistance, what needs to be done to fill them.
The study also examined the aftermath of the state’s 2011 Safe Harbor Law, which requires that certain youth 24 and younger who are sexually trafficked be treated as victims rather than offenders, and entitles them to dedicated services and support.
Although the study authors acknowledged the limitations of the gender binary, their findings revealed that treatment is far less likely to occur with boys. And too often, the report found, victims aren’t clearly treated as such.
“When you have a boy who’s acting out sexually or inappropriately — which is a well-known sign and symptom of trauma — they are usually, if not always, punished,” Davis said in an interview. “But when this happens with a girl, we tend to ask: ‘Where’s this coming from and where did they learn these things?’ Or we ask: ‘Who taught you this?’”
Davis and co-author Montana Filoteo, virtual engagement lead for the Minnesota Youth Sex Trading project, concluded that the Safe Harbor law was a step in the right direction, but that it has failed to adequately protect cisgender and LGBTQ+ boys.
“Boys hear other kids insulting gay peers with the same slurs thrown at their abusers — so they bottle up trauma to avoid more shame.”
— And Minnesota Boys, Too study participant
Their study focused on boys of all ages through age 24. It was carried out over a six-month period in 2023 and involved 40 service providers and administrators. Survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse did not participate directly in the study.
A lack of identification — and limited reporting by male victims of trafficking and exploitation compared to female victims — stood out in the report. One service provider said 90% of its clients who had been served for sexual abuse were female.
The PACT researchers’ conclusions noted gender stereotypes and “toxic masculinity” as some of the obstacles to full disclosure, and proper response.
“Homophobia and taboos around male sexual victimization foster dismissal and blaming of boy survivors in the media, communities, and institutions,” the report found. “This fuels silence and deters help-seeking among males exploited by male perpetrators.”
In one case, a youth advocate described “how male same-sex abuse elicits intense shame in certain cultures due to rigid homophobic attitudes and masculinity norms.” He shared the case of one Latino boy, who “felt unable to report an abusive uncle due to cultural taboos. He feared being perceived as queer and facing backlash.” More than 84% of respondents to an online survey rated “stigma and shame” or a “culture of silence” a significant reason youth didn’t report abuse.
The study pointed to a higher prevalence of abuse suffered by boys of color, and “generational cycles of violence, family fracturing, and community severance through policies like boarding schools.” Gay and bisexual boys experienced “the intersecting stigma surrounding both sexual trauma and orientation,” which further deters openness.
One administrator told the investigators: “Boys hear other kids insulting gay peers with the same slurs thrown at their abusers — so they bottle up trauma to avoid more shame.” Silently suffering, they remained even further from help or healing. And when they did receive social services, “rushed intake forms and risk tools assuming feminine norms” led to missed signs and gaps in data on the prevalence of male victimization, the study found.
At times, boys reporting abuse have been confronted with insensitive, homophobic slurs, and in one case felt unwillingly “outed,” or blamed for their abuse. One service provider explained it as: “When past help meant punishment, why risk reaching out now?”
Unfair treatment of victims was a persistent theme uncovered by the Minnesota survey. Boy victims may act out in classrooms, get arrested for minor offenses or become hooked on drugs — antisocial behaviors that can be a reaction to the trauma they’ve suffered. Sometimes the traffickers are also the trafficked, but the true picture becomes blurred when law enforcement is involved — and in the end, punishment does not lead to help and supportive services often enough.
“It’s possible to interpret a boy who facilitates another person’s involvement in transactional sex as a trafficker, even if they’re actually more like a peer,” said Lauren Martin, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s nursing school. Martin works on the school’s Youth Sex Trading project, applying research to prevention efforts, policy changes and healing among youth.
Gender can also complicate the picture, Martin added. “Situations like these can get murky,” she said. “I could see stereotypes about men and boys being perpetrators, and girls and women being victims, as drivers in criminalization.”
The 2011 Safe Harbor law was expanded in 2014 to include not just minors but young adults through age 24, and excluded sexually exploited youth from the definition of “delinquent child.”
The same year the state also added a No Wrong Door policy which required first responders and service providers to offer trauma-informed care and to connect survivors to specialized programs and support for recovery.
But one service provider told researchers the policy aim remains far from the reality.
“Every door is the wrong door for boys,” due to systemic barriers that exist, the respondent said. Another administrator lamented, “The system just labels them as juvenile offenders or addicts. Nobody takes the time to uncover the exploitation underneath.”
Lori Cohen, chief executive officer of PACT, said homelessness, too, exacerbates sexual exploitation, a connection revealed by her group’s recent study.
“One statistic that really surprised me is how there are only six beds specifically for sexually abused male victims. I thought it was a typo when I first read it,” she said. “What’s scary is Minnesota has probably some of the most comprehensive safety nets for youth in the country. And for the state to only have six beds — I don’t want to think about how many states currently have zero.”
Waitlists for these beds, all located in Hennepin County, can stretch on for weeks and even months, leaving boys trapped with little safe escape, the report found.
To remedy the problem, lead researcher Davis is planning a second phase of the study which would involve young people who have been subjected to sexual exploitation. His organization’s goal is to better understand the survivors, as well as how to help them.
“There’s a whole world of nuance with how boys reach out, especially exploring cultural impacts — which is something we didn’t really get to investigate as I’d hoped,” Davis said. “I want this to be a culturally and ethically sound study, otherwise we may miss out on amplifying valuable stories for those in power to hear.”
