Trafficking And Prostitution Reconsidered

Trafficking and prostitution are widely believed to be synonymous, and to be leading international crimes. This collection argues against such sensationalism and advances carefully considered and grounded alternatives for understanding transnational migrations, forced labor, sex work, and livelihood strategies under new forms of globalization. From their long-term engagements as anti-trafficking advocates, the authors unpack the contemporary international debate on trafficking. They maintain that rather than a new 'white slave trade,' we are witnessing today, more broadly, an increase in the violation of the rights of freedom of movement, decent employment, and social and economic security. Critical examinations of state anti-trafficking interventions, including the U.S.- led War on Trafficking, also reveal links to a broader attack on undocumented migrants; tribal and aboriginal peoples; poor women, men, and children; and sex workers. The book sheds new light on everyday circumstances, popular discourses, and strategies for survival under twenty-first century economic and political conditions, with a focus on Asia, but with lessons globally. Contributors: Natasha Ahmad, Vachararutai Boontinand, Lin Chew, Melissa Ditmore, John Frederick, Matthew S. Friedman, Josephine Ho, Jagori, Ratna Kapur, Phil Marshall, Jyoti Sanghera, Susu Thatun.

Since the 2005 publication of the highly acclaimed first edition of Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered, human trafficking has become virtually a household phrase. This new edition adds vitally important updates related to recent developments. A new introduction considers the term 'sex trafficking' and its growing use amongst feminist researchers. In a new chapter Ratna Kapur looks at changes in anti-trafficking legislation especially under the Obama administration. Jyoti Sanghera reports from her experience as a UN Human Rights commissioner and Bandana Pattanaik examines feminist participatory research on 'trafficking'. The book concludes with a list of relevant websites, organisations, and publications useful for students, researchers, and activists.

Human Trafficking Reconsidered is a unique collection of original essays that investigates the issue of sex and labor trafficking. The book has three main objectives: (1) to examine the definition of trafficking; (2) to analyze the effectiveness of current anti-trafficking regimes; and (3) to discuss the challenges faced by anti-trafficking advocates on the ground. The volume reconsiders the problem of human trafficking by rethinking the zealous focus on sex work and by drawing on the current structural regimes that render people legally vulnerable to abuse. This analysis offers readers the critical tools necessary to begin envisioning new solutions to the problem of human trafficking.

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Theology - Biblical Theology, London School of Theology, language: English, abstract: In this essay, we will consider the role that the theological method has in engaging with these narratives, especially focusing on the conflicting concepts between the abolitionist narrative and that of sex workers rights. The goal is to use the framework of the theological method to engage with key epistemological differences in the narratives, in order to determine a more balanced and effective approach. There are three primary narrative approaches to define the relationship between sex trafficking and prostitution. The first is that of abolition, where the lines of delineation between prostitution and trafficking are often blurred and cases of exploitation within prostitution are categorized in a sex trafficking context. Here one commonly finds the language of rescue and restoration. In this context, individual actors such as pimps and traffickers, as well as the society itself which allows prostitution to flourish, are viewed as perpetrators. The second narrative is one of criminal justice, where the issue is framed by the language of legal prosecution against criminals and the war on trafficking done by the State and NGO actors. The third narrative is one of sex workers rights, where the human rights abuses surrounding prostitution are framed principally as gender migrant issues and the need for better working conditions is presented as the solution. Assistance from a sex workers rights approach speaks in terms of harm reduction and empowering agency among those in prostitution. This approach considers sex work to be a viable job when the conditions are correct and the women are free from exploitation. All narratives agree that sex trafficking is wrong. The departure takes place where views of prostitution are concerned. The prevalence of harm found in prostitution cause some to place it ontologically in the same category as sex trafficking while others would say that is overreaching and adds to the challenges women in prostitution face. In effect, presuppositions built by a commitment to any of these narratives tend to influence the orientation and praxis of an organization.

Global efforts to combat human trafficking are ubiquitous and reference particular ideas about unfreedoms, suffering, and rescue. The discourse has, however, a distinct racialized legacy that is lodged specifically in fears about "white slavery," women in prostitution and migration, and the defilement of white womanhood by the criminal and racialized Other. White Supremacy, Racism and the Coloniality of Anti-Trafficking centers the legacies of race and racism in contemporary anti-trafficking work and examines them in greater detail. A number of recent arguments have suggested that race and racism are not only visible, but vital, to the success of contemporary anti- trafficking discourses and movements. The contributors offer recent scholarship grounded in critical anti- racist perspectives that reveal the historical and contemporary racial working of anti- trafficking discourses and practices globally—and how these intersect with gender, citizenship, sexuality, caste and class formations, and the global political economy.

A generation ago, most people did not know how ubiquitous and grave human trafficking was. Now many people agree that the $35.7 billion business is an appalling violation of human rights. But when confronted with prostitution, many people experience an odd disconnect because prostitution is shrouded in myths, among them the claims that ôprostitution is inevitable,ö and ôprostitution is a job or service like any other.ö In Not a Choice, Not a Job, Janice Raymond challenges both the myths and their perpetrators. Raymond demonstrates that prostitution is not sex but sexual exploitation, and that legalizing and decriminalizing the system of prostitutionùas opposed to the prostituted womenùpromotes sex trafficking, expands the sex industry, and invites organized crime. Specifically, Raymond exposes how legalized prostitution in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and Nevada worsens crime and endangers women. In contrast, she reveals, when governments work to prevent the demand for prostitution by prosecuting pimps, brothels, and prostitution usersùas in Norway, Sweden, and Icelandùtrafficking does not increase, women are better protected, and fewer men buy sex. Raymond expands the boundaries of scholarship in womenÆs studies, making this book indispensable to human rights advocates around the world.

This volume is a compilation of new original qualitative and ethnographic research on pimps and other third party facilitators of commercial sex from the developed and developing world. From African-American pimps in the United States and Eastern European migrants in Germany to Brazilian cafetãos and cafetinas this volume features the lives and voices of the men and women who enable diverse and culturally distinct sex markets around the world. In scholarly, popular, and policy-making discourses, such individuals are typically viewed as larger-than-life hustlers, violent predators, and brutal exploiters. However, there is actually very little empirical research-based knowledge about how pimps and third party facilitators actually live, labor, and make meaning in their everyday lives. Nearly all previous knowledge derives from hearsay and post-hoc reporting from ex-sex-workers, customers, police and government agents, neighbors, and self-aggrandizing fictionalized memoirs. This volume is the first published compilation of empirically researched data and analysis about pimps and third parties working in the sex trade across the globe. Situated in an age of highly punitive and ubiquitous global anti-trafficking law, it challenges highly charged public policy stereotypes that conflate pimping and sex trafficking, in order to understand the lived experience of pimps and the men and women whose work they facilitate.

Why is the international community so concerned with the fate of prostitutes abroad? And why does the story of trafficking sound so familiar? In this pioneering new book, Jo Doezema argues that the current concern with trafficking in women is a modern manifestation of the myth of white slavery. Combining historical analysis with contemporary investigation, this book sheds light on the current preoccupations with trafficking in women. It examines in detail sex worker reactions to the myth of trafficking, questions the current feminist preoccupation with the 'suffering female body' and argues that feminism needs to move towards the creation of new myths. The analysis in this book is controversial but crucial, an alternative to the current panic discourses around trafficking in women. An essential read for anyone who is concerned with the increased movement of women internationally and the attempts of international and national governments to regulate this flow.