Sex trafficking and moral harm: politicised understandings and depictions of the trafficked experience

This paper explores notions of harm in sex work discourse, highlighting the extent to which essentialist ideas of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ sex have pervaded trafficking policy. In a comparative examination of Australian Parliamentary Inquiries and United States congressional hearings leading to the estab...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: O'Brien, Erin E. (VerfasserIn)
Beteiligte: Carpenter, Belinda J. ; Hayes, Sharon
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 2013
In: Critical criminology
Jahr: 2013, Band: 21, Heft: 4, Seiten: 401-415
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Schlagwörter:
Congressional Hearing
Debt Bondage
Human Trafficking
Traffic Woman
Trafficking Victim
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:This paper explores notions of harm in sex work discourse, highlighting the extent to which essentialist ideas of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ sex have pervaded trafficking policy. In a comparative examination of Australian Parliamentary Inquiries and United States congressional hearings leading to the establishment of anti-trafficking policy, we identify the stories that have influenced legislators, and established a narrative of trafficking heavily dependent upon assumptions of the inherent harm of sex work. This narrative constructs a hierarchy of victimisation, which denies alternative discourses of why women migrate for sex work. We argue that it is not sexual commerce that is harmful, but pathological, systemic inequalities and entrenched disadvantage that are harmful. A narrow narrative of trafficking fails to adequately depict this complexity of the trafficked experience.
Beschreibung:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 414-415
ISSN:1572-9877
DOI:10.1007/s10612-013-9183-6