Sold In America Stitcher & E.W. Scripps Company, Noor Tagouri

Journalist and activist Noor Tagouri grew up thinking she knew everying about sex trafficking in the U.S. But when she embarks on a deeply personal, deeply reported journey, taking listeners into the world of selling sex in the United States, she realizes the story is more complicated. Join Noor as she travels across the country to meet the human faces of this billion-dollar trade – and uncover its surprising misconceptions. Sold In America launches October 10.

Our series begins where Noor’s journey into world of sexual exploitation and violence began, as a 12 year old girl in a hotel in Saudi Arabia. But when she sits down with a survivor of the sex trade, she begins to understand sex trafficking in a whole new light. And now Noor is face-to-face with how easy it is for women to be Sold in America.




You can hear ad-free episodes of Sold in America only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of premium, go to stitcherpremium.com and use promo code 'AMERICA'.

The sex trade in America may appear unseen, but it is not hidden. In Kentucky, where the opioid crisis is making people vulnerable to exploitation, Noor meets doctors and police officers who are training to recognize trafficking victims in medical settings and on the streets. By the time Noor leaves the Bluegrass state, she's convinced that we must talk about drugs and addiction if we want to help trafficking victims.

Every day and every hour in this country, people are buying and selling sex. It’s on the street, it’s online, and it’s worth billions. And the people buying are mostly men. In most parts of the country,  buyers rarely face any consequences, but one city is trying something different. Noor travels to Seattle where she meets a man who was arrested for buying sex, and the public official who wants to crack down on demand. But then she meets a sex worker in the city who flips the narrative about exploitation on its head.




You can hear ad-free episodes of Sold in America only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of premium, go to stitcherpremium.com and use promo code 'AMERICA'.

Nevada is the land of legalized prostitution. At the Bunny Ranch brothel, Noor explores a model of sex entirely as a business – just like any other. She meets a highly paid prostitute who plans to leave the ranch with hundreds of thousands in savings. The infamous pimp who runs the place argues that if you're selling sex for money in America and you're not doing it legally in a brothel, you're a criminal. But Noor learns that only a select few can meet the standards for working in the brothel.




You can hear ad-free episodes of Sold in America only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of premium, go tostitcherpremium.com and use promo code 'AMERICA'.




This episode is sponsored by Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/NOOR code: NOOR).

Noor meets Laya, a trans woman of color who became a sex worker after she was shut out from her family and job. It’s called survival sex -- sex work done purely to survive. What makes sex work dangerous for people like Laya is that she can’t report violent buyers to the police without fear of being arrested. Now, she’s trying to get a new law passed by the Washington, D.C. city council to decriminalize the buying and selling of sex. Is this the solution Noor has been searching for, or just a band-aid?







You can hear ad-free episodes of Sold in America only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of premium, go to stitcherpremium.com and use promo code 'AMERICA'.