An Examination of Some Central Debates on Sex Trafficking in Research and Public Policy in the United States

Abstract

This article provides an introduction to some central debates in research and public policy on sex trafficking in the United States, with particular attention to how these debates play out among feminists and concluding with recommendations for guiding principles on future directions for public policy and research.

Keywords:

• anti-trafficking activism
• gender
• law and policy
• research
• sex trafficking

Notes

¹ The use of the terms “prostitution” and “prostitute” are contested terms that some consider derogatory. As an alternative, many people use the terms “sex work” and “sex worker” (Bindman 1997), which some feminist abolitionists argue hide the violence inherent in the commercial sex industry (Farley, 2006). In this article, I will use the terms used by those I am discussing.

² The Act defines labor trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery” (TVPA, 2000, §103.8).

³ The Palermo Protocol defines trafficking in persons to include “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation” (Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, 2000, Article 3[a]). Exploitation is defined to include sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs. Similar to U.S. law, the Protocol does not require any force, fraud or coercion if trafficking involves someone under the age of 18 and it does not require transportation across borders in any case. The Palermo Protocol does not have separate definitions for sex trafficking and labor trafficking, and it does not define sex trafficking to include any commercial sexual act, as United States law does.

⁴ I focus this discussion primarily on anti-trafficking activism in the United States, although there are many prominent feminist anti-trafficking groups outside of the United States, such as the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, which is based in Thailand.

⁵ Other important voices are independent scholar Melissa Ditmore, Ann Jones (American University), and Nandita Sharma (University of Hawaii), as well as several scholars from outside of the United States, such as Kamala Kempadoo (York University), Julia O’Connell Davidson (University of Nottingham), scholar/activist Jo Doezema of the Paulo Longo Research Initiative in Lima, Peru, and independent scholar Laura Agustin.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carrie N. Baker

Carrie N. Baker is an Associate Professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She is author of The Women’s Movement Against Sexual Harassment (Cambridge University Press, 2008).