scholarly journals The Finance of Sex Trafficking and Impact of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-168
Author(s):  
Phoebe Ewen
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sexual Slavery ◽  
Adults And Children

This paper examines how COVID-19 has impacted the lives of sex workers and how changing circumstances may make them and others even more vulnerable to exploitation into sex trafficking. It explores the perceptions and policies that keep sex workers from receiving the financial support needed to keep them safe at this time. It considers how sex work may be driven further underground, and the implications of this on the security of the workers involved. It also considers how the behaviour of clients may change as a result of the virus, examining the supply and demand drivers of online sexual exploitation of adults and children. This paper also outlines the fluidity of criminal nature, how criminals are adapting to changing circumstances and finding new ways to identify, groom, and exploit victims into sexual slavery. Finally, it analyses the implications that COVID-19 has had on the nature of money laundering and the related effects on the ability of financial institutions to operate as the ‘eyes and ears’ in the fight against global sex trafficking. It concludes with recommendations that can be made to financial institutions and related agencies, to respond rapidly to emerging risks and new trends in sexual exploitation and money laundering.

scholarly journals ‘Sex Trafficking’ as Epistemic Violence

2019 ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Chapman-Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Epistemic Violence ◽  
Academic Researchers

While the American Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (FOSTA) has been heavily criticised by researchers and activists for the harm it inflicts on sex workers, many of these critics nevertheless agree with the Act’s goal of fighting sex trafficking online. This paper, however, argues that in American legal discourse, ‘sex trafficking’ refers not to human trafficking for sexual exploitation, but rather to all forms of sex work. As such, the law’s punitive treatment of sex workers needs to be understood as the law’s purpose, rather than an unfortunate side effect. This paper also demonstrates how the discourse of ‘sex trafficking’ is itself a form of epistemic violence that silences sex workers and leaves them vulnerable to abuse, with FOSTA serving to broaden the scope of this violence. The paper concludes by highlighting ways journalists and academic researchers can avoid becoming complicit in this violence.

scholarly journals The Double-Edged Sword of Health and Safety: COVID-19 and the Policing and Exclusion of Migrant Asian Massage Workers in North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Elene Lam ◽  
Elena Shih ◽  
Katherine Chin ◽  
Kate Zen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
The State ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
Sexual Services

Migrant Asian massage workers in North America first experienced the impacts of COVID-19 in the final weeks of January 2020, when business dropped drastically due to widespread xenophobic fears that the virus was concentrated in Chinese diasporic communities. The sustained economic devastation, which began at least 8 weeks prior to the first social distancing and shelter in place orders issued in the U.S. and Canada, has been further complicated by a history of aggressive policing of migrant massage workers in the wake of the war against human trafficking. Migrant Asian massage businesses are increasingly policed as locales of potential illicit sex work and human trafficking, as police and anti-trafficking initiatives target migrant Asian massage workers despite the fact that most do not provide sexual services. The scapegoating of migrant Asian massage workers and criminalization of sex work have led to devastating systemic and interpersonal violence, including numerous deportations, arrests, and deaths, most notably the recent murder of eight people at three Atlanta-based spas. The policing of sex workers has historically been mobilized along fears of sexually transmitted disease and infection, and more recently, within the past two decades, around a moral panic against sex trafficking. New racial anxieties around the coronavirus as an Asian disease have been mobilized by the state to further cement the justification of policing Asian migrant workers along the axes of health, migration, and sexual labor. These justifications also solidify discriminatory social welfare regimes that exclude Asian migrant massage workers from accessing services on the basis of the informality and illegality of their work mixed with their precarious citizenship status. This paper draws from ethnographic participant observation and survey data collected by two sex worker organizations that work primarily with massage workers in Toronto and New York City to examine the double-edged sword of policing during the pandemic in the name of anti-trafficking coupled with exclusionary policies regarding emergency relief and social welfare, and its effects on migrant Asian massage workers in North America. Although not all migrant Asian massage workers, including those surveyed in this paper, provide sexual services, they are conflated, targeted, and treated as such by the state and therefore face similar barriers of criminalization, discrimination, and exclusion. This paper recognizes that most migrant Asian massage workers do not identify as sex workers and does not intend to label them as such or reproduce the scapegoating rhetoric used by law enforcement. Rather, it seeks to analyze how exclusionary attitudes and policies towards sex workers are transferred onto migrant Asian massage workers as well whether or not they provide sexual services.

Demographic Change, Prostitution, and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates in China

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avraham Ebenstein ◽  
Ethan J. Sharygin
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Transmitted Infection ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
History Of

China has experienced an explosion in the sex ratio at birth, with 25 million more men than women younger than 20 (2005 census). This chapter examines the implications of large numbers of men failing to marry on the supply-and-demand dynamics of sex work, with a focus on how this affects the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The chapter begins with a history of prostitution in China and describes the massive increase in sex work following economic reforms in the late 1970s. It then analyzes the current dynamics of demand and supply for sex work in China, using national census data and detailed microdata on sex workers. The authors find a clear link between high-population sex ratios, the prevalence of sex work, and STI rates. The analysis concludes with projections for the future and a discussion of policy responses in light of an anticipated increase in sex work.

Conflict and Agency among Sex Workers and Pimps

2014 ◽  
Vol 653 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Marcus ◽  
Amber Horning ◽  
Ric Curtis ◽  
Jo Sanson ◽  
Efram Thompson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
The United States ◽  
Child Sex Trafficking ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
The Relationship

The dominant understanding in the United States of the relationship between pimps and minors involved in commercial sex is that it is one of “child sex trafficking,” in which pimps lure girls into prostitution, then control, exploit, and brutalize them. Such narratives of oppression typically depend on postarrest testimonials by former prostitutes and pimps in punishment and rescue institutions. In contrast, this article presents data collected from active pimps, underage prostitutes, and young adult sex workers to demonstrate the complexity of pimp-prostitute dyads and interrogate conventional stereotypes about teenage prostitution. A holistic understanding of the factors that push minors into sex work and keep them there is needed to designand implement effective policy and services for this population.

scholarly journals Sex Work and the City

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-13
Author(s):  
Helen Roitberg
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Sexual Services ◽  
The City ◽  
Ongoing Project

Bill C-36, or the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which was introduced in Canada in 2014, made the purchase of sexual services illegal. To the end of eliminating sex work, Bill C-36 rests on the premise that sex work is inherently exploitative, and that sex workers and their communities are harmed by the exchange of sexual services. Considering that Indigenous women are overrepresented among sex workers and disproportionately victims of severe violence, this paper examines the goals of Bill C-36 in conversation with Canada’s ongoing project of colonialism. This paper demonstrates that Bill C-36 upholds the systemic devaluation of Indigeneity by which Indigenous women’s bodies are rendered deserving of violence, and by which this violence is normalized and invisibilized. Rather than protect ‘victims’ of sexual exploitation, Bill C-36 relies on the colonial stereotypes of the Indigenous prostitute to reimagine sexually autonomous Indigenous women as inherent threats to (white) Canadian society and themselves, and thereby justify state regulation in both public and private spaces.

scholarly journals Domestic Sex Trafficking of Aboriginal Girls in Canada: Issues and Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupriya Sethi
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Domestic Sex Trafficking

The current discourses on human trafficking in Canada do not take into account domestic trafficking, especially of Aboriginal girls. Notwithstanding the alarmingly high number of missing, murdered and sexually exploited Aboriginal girls, the issue continues to be portrayed more as a problem of prostitution than of sexual exploitation or domestic trafficking. The focus of this study is to examine the issues in sexual exploitation of Aboriginal girls, as identified by the grass root agencies, and to contextualize them within the trafficking framework with the purpose of distinguishing sexual exploitation from sex work. In doing so, the paper will outline root causes that make Aboriginal girls vulnerable to domestic trafficking as well as draw implications for policy analysis.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Cunningham ◽  
Manisha Shah
Keyword(s):  
Sexually Transmitted Infections ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Definition Of

This handbook explores the economics of prostitution and offers a working definition of prostitution that takes into account both remunerated professional sex work, as in the case of the Nevada brothels, and the more informal exchange of sex for money that occurs in both developing and developed countries. The discussion is organized into six parts: supply and demand, sex workers in developing countries, men who have sex with men, law and policy, history of prostitution law, and externalities related to sex markets (e.g., sexually transmitted infections and sexual exploitation). Topics range from economic theories and empirical analysis of sex markets to sexual and communication networks of Internet-mediated prostitution, to the spread of sexually transmitted infections and violence.

scholarly journals The Quandary of Thai Women Prostitutes: Contemporary Situations of Poor and Working Class Thai Women Sex Workers in Thailand and New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Piamsuk Menasveta
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Primary Methods ◽  
Thai Women

<p>As a Thai feminist scholar, I engaged in a study of the economic and social circumstances of a particular group of women, poor and working class Thai sex workers, over the late 1990s to 2001. In this thesis, Thailand and New Zealand are the primary geographical points for the commercialisation of poor and working class Thai women prostitutes. The rational is to present an explanation for why these women engaged both in the Thailand and New Zealand sex trade. In addition, my thesis investigates the causes and consequences of Thai women being traded nationally and globally, as though they were a form of merchandise. The chief assumption underlying this study is that the effects of female poverty, such as the deficiency and inadequacy of education and of work opportunities, influence the numbers of poor and working-class Thai girls and women entering the sex industry. These women are additionally constrained socially by their gender, their poverty and their class position combined. Inequality between males and females in Thai culture is the overriding factor contributing to unjust profiteering by the sex businesses that employ these women sex workers. The causes and consequences of sex work among poor and working class Thai women are investigated by interviewing thirty former and current prostitutes in Thailand and in New Zealand. The hypothesis that their plight is mainly a result of sex discrimination in Thai society is examined by using Thai feminist methodologies. The interviews show that these sex workers initially entered prostitution in order to escape from poverty, and continued to do sex work because of particular controlling factors in their lives such as the obligation to support their families/children. The interviews also implied the misleading belief of Thai women sex workers that sex work would bring them economic security. However, as the findings show, sex work does not always engender such financial security, but frequently begets painful experiences. In spite of this, most prostitutes assent to this situation and prolong their sex occupation. Later, these Thai prostitutes struggle and hope for self-sufficient improvement of their lives in first world regions and countries other than Thailand. The difficulty of avoiding sexual exploitation in Thailand pressurised them into migrating to other countries, including New Zealand. In general, the findings of my research establish that Thai women prostitutes have little control over their economic state in overseas countries. However they had less power over their lives in Thailand and elsewhere than in they had in New Zealand. In addition, gambling and alcohol seem to be used as the primary methods of comforting their personal stress. The negligence of their money discipline is also the cause of Thai sex workers intermittently re-entered prostitution. In particular, the stigma of sex work is an outstanding aspect in their later lives after giving up sex work. I conclude that sex work is a destructive work alternative for most Thai sex workers, though it obviously offers the possibility of making some money. Furthermore, I assert that their individual rights must be upheld as equivalent to those of other women, so that these sex workers are empowered in their 'life situation'.</p>

Female sex work in Yangon, Myanmar

Sexual Health ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Talikowski ◽  
Sue Gillieatt
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Political Support ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Sex Trade ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The Government

Background: Myanmar (Burma), with an upper estimate of 400 000 people living with HIV/AIDS, faces a dangerous and potentially devastating epidemic. Female sex workers in the country are one of the most affected populations, with high prevalence rates of both HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken in Yangon at the end of 2002 to investigate the social and demographic features contributing to the transmission of HIV among female sex workers in urban Myanmar. Twenty-seven key informants from the government, non-government organisations (NGOs), international non-government organisations (INGOs), private sector and the United Nations system agencies and 25 women currently working in the sex trade were interviewed. Results: The sex trade in Yangon is rapidly growing and is characterised by a high degree of complexity. The number of female sex workers is estimated to be between 5000 and 10 000 and there are ~100 brothels operating in various townships around the city. Nearly one-third of the women in the study reported previous imprisonment for offences related to sex work as well as fear of harassment, sexual exploitation, violence and gang rape. Almost half reported using condoms with clients at all times. Contradicting views exist as to the level of awareness about STIs and HIV among Yangon sex workers, with the majority never having been tested for HIV. Only one-quarter of women were regular patients of the limited number of STI clinics operated by INGOs. Conclusions: Female sex workers in Myanmar remain a highly marginalised group almost inaccessible due to a variety of legal, political, cultural and social factors and are particularly vulnerable to HIV and STIs. It is important to encourage partnerships between INGOs by promoting service coordination and information sharing to increase the availability of services for sex workers and to build political support for an unpopular cause.

scholarly journals Justice and Civil Liberties on Sex Work in Contemporary International Human Rights Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Belinda Brooks-Gordon ◽  
Marjan Wijers ◽  
Alison Jobe
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
International Consultation ◽  
Forced Labour

To fulfil obligations in international law State parties have to take the issue of human trafficking seriously. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) provides General Recommendations (GR) to member states on the interpretation of the Women’s Convention. In 2018 the CEDAW Committee started to develop a GR on trafficking in women and girls in a process planned to conclude in 2020. The first stage towards this was through the publication of a Concept Note to serve as a basis for dialogue during the two-year international consultation period. The Concept Note is a vital link in a textual chain because it frames the policy problem and actively constructs its own ‘documentary reality’. This article provides a critical analysis of the CEDAW Concept Note on the grounds that such analysis provides an understanding of its discursive construction of trafficking, migrant labour and sex work, by an institution responsible for international jurisprudence on human rights. Analysis of the Concept Note explores the documentary constructions including narratives that merge adult women with girls, the symbolism of exploitation, the silencing of scientific research, the elision of sex worker voices, and sex work as work. The analysis leads us to conclude that the General Recommendation should define what counts as ‘exploitation’, and ‘forced labour’, and address the growing international recognition of best evidence on the wider impact of sex work laws, in order that legal framing and constructions of sex trafficking are not erroneously used to curtail rights of sex workers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document