Slavery is not defined as a legally enforced relationship between two persons—it is bondage; it is a condition of domination by some person, influence, habit, etc. Many of the young women being exploited in these cases are in slavery, as defined. Some are even kidnapped girls and boys. And—the “relationships” are not “immediately being quashed when brought to the attention of the authorities.”
The problems is growing because very little is being done about it by “the authorities.”
Disagree, mostly.
Here are the two main definitions of the term.
1. the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune
2. the subjection of a person to another person, esp in being forced into work
"Civil relationship" means a legally enforceable one, which means I'm using the primary definition. You're using the secondary definition.
Which to my mind means I'm being more accurate than you are.
I realize these the authorities often know such operations are ongoing and don't do much about it, but if a young lady walks into the police station with reporters in tow and files a complaint, I strongly suspect that in almost all US jurisdictions it will be acted on.
IOW, the absence of aggressive enforcement is largely the result of lethargy on the part of officials, not a concious decision to permit the practice to continue.
Also, unfortunately, in many cases a lack of concern since those affected are The Other, and in some cases PC attitudes of not wanting to "impose our standards on other cultures."
Slavery in the sense of a legally defined relationship is the original meaning of the word.
Slavery in the sense of bondage or domination is a metaphor, ascribing characteristics like real slavery to some other relationship or condition.
As when the Apostle Paul talks about being “slaves to sin.” He saw real slaves every day, as did those he wrote to, and that’s exactly why he used this metaphor.