In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1831), Victor Frankenstein created a horrible monster, so ugly that he hid from the public eye and ended up making many innocent lives. We have an even more horrible monster in our modern world that also thrives in secrecy, stealing innocent lives. This monster is slavery. There is a common misconception that slavery no longer exists today, that we ended it in the 1800s, or that it still exists in some countries, but the situation is nowhere near as bad as it seems. was at the time of the transatlantic slave trade. . Unfortunately, according to Arizona Centennial Professor of International Affairs Ethan B. Kapstein (2006), slavery has become more prevalent in our modern world than ever before in history (Kapstein, 2006). This assertion was confirmed, years later, by the International Labor Organization report, The Cost of Coercion (2009). These claims were made five to eight years ago, and the number of victims of modern slavery is only growing, but awareness of this social epidemic is still incredibly low. The two main types of slavery today are labor exploitation and sexual exploitation. Most would agree that both forms of slavery are major problems, but it is difficult to determine which is the bigger problem today. According to the International Labor Organization, 78% of slavery victims are due to economic exploitation, and 22% are due to sexual exploitation (International Labor Organization [ILO], 2012). Looking at another UN report, as Edith M. Lederer of the Washington Times (2013) says, “trafficking for sexual exploitation accounts for 58 percent of all trafficking cases detected worldwide” ( par. 3). Although the statistics on the subject remain quite debatable, ...... middle of article ...... for youth sex work in the United States (2010) + Miami, Portland, Oregon and Las Vegas Mary Shelley's Frankenstein concluded with a tragic death of almost all the influential characters. If Americans could intelligently and intentionally publicize these real-life monsters, perhaps similar endings could be avoided for many of these innocent victims, these real-life Williamses, Justineses, and Elizabeths. (2009)Kapstein, EB (2006), The new global slave trade. Foreign Affairs Vol.85, n°6, , 103-115. Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.comLederer, EM (February 13, 2013). The UN says human trafficking is present in 118 countries. Washington Times. Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.comU.S. Department of Labor. (2011)Office of Refugee Resettlement. (2012) Neubauer, C. (2011). Sex trafficking in the United States has been called an “epidemic.” Washington Times.