lecture 2: theoretical positioning Flashcards
problem w def of trafficking
doesnt distinguish between consenting sex workers and nonconsensual trafficked victims
problem w governments way of dealing w trafficking
focus on deportation and detainment; not useful for vicitims unless there’s a job/housing provided to actually help
problem w statistics
can be VERY fuzzy and not accurate, or twisted to fit an argument
Ron Weitzer: NO conclusive #s for how many victims of sex trafficking ,partly bc it’s often conflated with migrant sex workers or sex workers in geenral. What is “forced?” Potential victims or victims? Often based on potential victims.
“27 mil individuals world wide are trafficked” but is that an accurate stat? Too many complexities
Footnote from plambech’s article
States that she does NOT use / reproduce any specific numbers of trafficked persons globally/ # of nigerian women selling sex in europe, bc there are no reliable stats
Definition of trafficking from UN human rights office, Palermo Protocol 2000. Ratified by 169 countries in 2015
Consent is irrelevent when any of the means set forth in initial definition are met. These include harbour/use of people by use of force etc, OR of giving payments/benefits to acheieve consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation (including at min forced labor or services, sexual, slavery, removal of organs).
So- NO distinction between prost. and trafficking
Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW) definition of trafficking
Involves 3 core elements
1) movement of a person (inside a country or across borders)
2) with deception or coercion
3) into a situation of forced labor, servitutde, or slavery-like practices
inlcudes starting voluntarily, but ends up being trafficked against their will
doesn’t conflate prost. with trafficking
Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW) def of trafficking
“nmerchandising or womens bodies for the sexual gratification of men in a sex industry that mirrored other industries in its growing globalization”
conflates prost with trafficking
Migrant sex work, agustin, conflation
migrating for sex work NOT a homogenous experience
they don’t study migrant sex work
stresses need to study it w acknowledgement of possibility for them just doing it to supplement income in a way that makes sense for them (as the scientists migrant sex worker said, ppl do waitressing bc they need money not bc they love serving food usually). Exclude and silence ambodied autonomous migrant sex workers
-need to make conceptual distinction between dorced and voluntary (80s, early 90s). Those who ARENT forced are viewed in much worse light, not innocent victims but rather ppl who make bad choices and not worthy of help/regulation
sex worker identity
antitrafficking: trafficked woman is universal victim
- migrant sex worker: look at plambechs’s article, depending on conditions migration and return will also co construct her identity. Agents” money made through return programs considered minor compared to what she could earn in europe.
contemporary situation
- hear less of the horrific stories; they exist but many migrant sex workers in EU are citizens of EU, making it less necesary to use violvence and smuggling to enter countries
- illegal sex work very difficult ot reach, no ideas about how much, nationality, etc
- On legislative level, causal relationship has been created between controlloing prositution and effectively combatting trafficking (either Sweden criminalizing clients, or in netherlands where it’s legal)
importance of migration policy
-what is the position of the migrant in the new country? Do they have possibilities to do other work, have residence, or are they forced to report someone and be sent home?
trafficking experiences solidified into one category (not just conflation of sex work and trafficking)
bangladesh example: women tricked into sex work, but after a while they get used to it and become more autonomous and escape, make money for themselves. Sometimes even become owners of brothels themselves. Are they trafficked?
dutch situation
-2000 legalization of prostitution aimed to improve sex workers situation, paying taxes, registered as self employed
