There is the "Hollywood version" of sex trafficking, write Christopher Johnston and Erin Quinlan at Cosmopolitan—one in which a girl is abducted off the streets and sold into a brutal underworld. But "a more insidious scenario often goes unrecognized: the one where the 'unmarked van' presents as a legitimate romantic relationship and the victim climbs in willingly, unknowingly." In fact, roughly 1 in 4 sex-trafficking victims in the US become so thanks to an intimate partner, usually a manipulative man exploiting a vulnerable female. The Cosmo story focuses on two women who allege in a high-profile Texas lawsuit that they fall into this category. Julia Hubbard and Kayla Goedinghaus both accuse a man named Rick Hubbard, who was married to Hubbard and later engaged to Goedinghaus.
The women detail their experiences, alleging that Rick Hubbard manipulated them into sex acts with other people at parties—well-funded parties. One of the more sensational aspects of the lawsuit is that it alleges Rick Hubbard brought them into the "hard-partying orbit" of Texas real-estate magnate Trammel Crow Jr. Money seemed to be flowing all around them at these parties, with allegations that Crow was writing big checks to Rick Hubbard. Neither man commented for the story. The women acknowledge their own lifestyle choices will be under scrutiny, including their past substance use. "Their stories challenge the myth of the 'perfect victim,' a pervasive bias that people who are harmed must pass a moral purity test for their humanity to be recognized," write Johnston and Quinlan. Read the full story. (Or check out other longforms.)