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Women & Therapy Volume 26, 2003 - Issue 3-4
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Original Articles

Prostitution and the Invisibility of Harm

Melissa Farley PhD affiliated with Prostitution Research & Education, a sponsored project of the San Francisco Women's Centers, Inc., with Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Pages 247-280 | Published online: 09 Oct 2008
 
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Abstract

The harm of prostitution is socially invisible, and it is also invisible in the law, in public health, and in psychology. This article addresses origins of this invisibility, how words in current usage promote the invisibility of prostitution's harm, and how public health perspectives and psychological theory tend to ignore the harm done by men to women in prostitution. Literature which documents the overwhelming physical and psychological harm to those in prostitution is summarized here. The interconnectedness of racism, colonialism, and child sexual assault with prostitution is discussed.

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