International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9, Issue 2 2026 64
Identity Development in Sex Trafficking
Identity development in ST parallels identity
development in HCGs, particularly given the array of
tactics used to destabilize the identities of survivors of
the life—tactics associated with increased vulnerability,
suggestibility, and subservience (West &Martin, 1994).
Rhythm is a common feature of ST environments
through the pimp’s rapping or the loud rap music
(Lundstrom, personal communication, 2019 see also
Huxley, 1952/2009). Similarly, each sexual encounter
can gradually add to the destabilization of the self
(Singer, 2003 Tobais &Lalich, 1994 West &Martin,
1994), as described by Hassan (2000, 2013). Too often,
media sources glorifying pimps provide exemplars
of these destabilizing tactics (Ivy, 2017 see Marshall,
1990 Pimp C, 2011). With this array of strategies, ST
unfreezes the pre-ST identity and forges a new identity.
As also noted above, ST typically involves confessions
and testimonials to refreeze the new identity and new
social systems separate from previous family and
friends and to increase suggestibility and vulnerability
to influence and control. As in HCGs, ST victims
may view ST as a desired social group and may shift
clothing, values, and preferences to fit the life (see
Dubrow-Marshall &Dubrow-Marshall, 2015 Stein,
2016). These actions reinforce the ST identity in ways
similar to a totalistic identity and raise the same risks
of pathology (Dubrow-Marshall &Dubrow-Marshall,
2016 Hassan &Shah, 2019), particularly identity
disturbance (DSM-5-TR, American Psychiatric
Association, 2022), as discussed above.
First-, Second-, and Multi-Generation ST Survivors
ST victims who enter trafficking as adults appear most
similar to first-generation members of an HCG. When a
ST victim is coerced into the system in their early teens
near the time of apoptosis transition (Schore, 2012),
their initial status as a teen means that they often have
a combination of both first- and second-generation
attributes. Second-generation children born into a
stable are generally groomed to either be a perpetrating
pimp or a sex trafficking survivor (Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019). Similar to members of HCGs,
these individuals may struggle to recognize coercion,
manipulation, or even the possibility that they could
live outside of the life.
ST Trauma Bonds
Although we use the term “trauma bonds,” the ST
literature emphasizes the term “trauma-coerced
attachment” (TCA).
Fear, comfort, pain, and trauma (and often love,
particularly in situations with Romeo Pimps), typically
culminate in highly emotional and abusive relationships.
As in HCGs, these exploitative relationships can create
these trauma bonds (Carnes, 2018), yet survivors of ST
face particular challenges related to trauma bonds due
to the nature of ST.
Much of the ST lifestyle involves coercion to engage
in sexual behavior, typically CSAs. McIlhaney and
Bush (2008) observed that “sex involves the entire
person, physically, mentally, emotionally, and in every
other way” (p. 81). These features of ST appear likely
to increase the impacts of triple bonds with the pimp,
other ST survivors in the family, and the family itself
(Stein, 2016). Further, “the neurochemical imprint
of... sexual experience[s] remains, often for many
years impeding the very bonding process that leads to
future healthy relationships” (p. 77). These aspects of
ST appear to increase the depth and consequences of
trauma bonds for ST survivors.
Comparing HCGs and ST
Thus far, we have considered HCGs and ST in isolation.
In this section of the paper, we compare HCGs and ST
in line with Lifton’s (1961/2014) criteria. We then turn
to comparisons of recruitment and retention strategies
in HCGs and ST.
Comparison: Lifton’s Criteria
Both HCGs and ST rely on multiple forms of milieu
control, with an emphasis on controlling the physical
context, individual thought, and all communications
among the survivor, other group members, and
TCA involves a powerful emotional dependency
on the abusive partner and a shift in world-
and self- view, which can result in feelings
of gratitude or loyalty toward the abuser and
denial or minimization of the coercion and
abuse. (Raghaven &Doychak, 2015, p. 1)

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Connie A. Mitchell |Abuses Produce Similar Psychological Effects in Survivors
the outside world. Physical and sexual abuse—
both of which characterize ST—consistently intense
environments, and functional and structural isolation,
particularly severe reduction or elimination of privacy
(i.e., micro-regulation), increase control in public and
private spaces alike, even in bathrooms (Edwards,
1978 Hagan et al., 2021). These strategies, often
combined with physical and social isolation, reduce or
eliminate outside support, such as family and friends.
HCG members may attend meetings away from
family, and ST survivors typically face demanding and
unusual work hours, which prevent spending time with
outsiders (Hagan et al., 2021). In ways that parallel
HCGs’ requirements and punishments (see Layton,
1998), ST survivors are expected to devote inordinate
amounts of time to working and meeting daily financial
quotas (Doychak &Raghavan, 2020), which may be
required in order to receive permission to have their
first meal of the day (Thomas, 2023).
According to Hassan (2013), the group peer pressure
and isolating social structures of milieu control induce
HCG victims to appear to voluntarily surrender their
individuality, their identity and personality, and
their critical thinking skills, leading to psychological
imprisonment. Similarly, Doychak and Raghavan (2020)
stated that in the CEO and Romeo Pimp models of ST,
the social environment, the structural and functional
isolation, and the trauma-coerced attachment cause
the victim to “appear to freely consent” (p. 340), which
they describe as psychological captivity (also called
bounded choice [Lalich, 2004]). Some ST settings
include physical as well as psychological control for
example, Gorilla Pimps rely on physical coercion and
brutality rather than only psychological influence
(Marcus et al., 2014 Roe-Sepowitz et al., 2014a).
A trafficked victim who questions the pimp is often
viciously slapped across the face in front of the sisters
(Lundstrom, personal communication, 2019 Doychak
&Raghavan, 2020 Reid, 2016) to teach her and others
the importance of compliance and alignment with the
demands of the pimp (Raghavan &Doychak, 2020).
In addition to physical and social controls of HCGs
and ST perpetrators, which may include physical
coercion, milieu control in both ST and HCGs
includes dissociative, mind-numbing or mind-altering
practices, such as hypnosis (Hassan &Shah, 2019),
extended meditation, repetitive verbal affirmations,
lengthy denunciation sessions, public humiliation
and ridicule, and extended and intense indoctrination
meetings (Tobias &Lalich, 1994a). In both systems,
questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged
and can lead to severe and often public punishment
and shaming (Hassan, 2013 Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019 Reid, 2016).
As described above, both HCGs and ST involve loading
the language, using group-specific or ST-specific
terms in ways that differ from the usage outside the
HCG or ST. In addition to the words themselves, the
cadence of speech can affect survivors. Similarly, the
stable becomes the victim’s new family (Reid, 2016),
including the use of familial titles such as sisters, wife-
in-law, and daddy (Bender, 2019), as discussed above.
The speaking rhythms of some HCG leaders (see
Guinn, 2017) serve similar functions as rap music or
the rapping of the pimp in ST (Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019 see Huxley, 1952/2009).
Demands for purity run through both contexts. HCG
members typically carry expectations to display
excessive zeal and unquestioning commitment to its
leader (see Guinn, 2017 Layton, 1998 Mills, 1979),
regarding the leader’s belief system, ideology, and
practices as the truth—as absolute law (Lalich &
Tobias, 2006 Singer, 2003 Stein, 2016). To achieve
purity in this context, an ST survivor must typically
put on a “working” persona, including revealing
clothing and seductive behaviors (Lundstrom, personal
communication, 2019). Purity reflects alignment with
the goals of the pimp.
Leaders in both HCGs and pimps in ST emphasize
mystical manipulation. They negatively reframe
members’ and survivors’ prior experiences and require
these individuals to prioritize the goals of the group
and leader or pimp. Typically, HCG members and ST
survivors must spend most of their disposable time
with like-minded individuals (Lalich &Tobias, 2006).
Similarly, both HCGs and ST emphasize confession,
often including spying, requirements to inform on
other members or survivors, and public confessions
(see Edwards, 1979 Layton, 1998 Lundstrom,
personal communication, 2019). Similarly, the life of
ST demands full commitment to what is portrayed as
exciting, sexy, and the opposite of the square world
(Lalich &Tobias, 2006 Thomas, 2023).