Trafficking and sex work: A problematic conflation.
Item
-
Title
-
Trafficking and sex work: A problematic conflation.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3047211
-
identifier
-
3047211
-
Creator
-
Ditmore, Melissa Hope.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Patricia Clough
-
Date
-
2002
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Sociology, Criminology and Penology | Women's Studies | Law
-
Abstract
-
One of the consequences of the current trend towards globalization has been an increased interest in legislating trafficking in persons both domestically and internationally. The year 2000 saw the passage of two significant pieces of new legislation addressing the issue of trafficking in persons. In October 2000, the United States passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, while in December of the same year, the United Nations Optional Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children was signed. The title of this second piece of legislation is revealing. Although the term "trafficking in persons" refers to men, women and children, and covers both internal and cross-border trafficking for migration and labor (Asia Watch 1993, 1997a, 1997b; Richard 2000), what captures the minds and imaginations of the media, the general public and policy makers remains the specter of women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual slavery (see, for one example of many, The New York Times, A1, January 11, 1998).;In this dissertation, I study the conflation of trafficking with prostitution, emphasizing the ways in which a morality about prostitution is being transferred to legislation aimed at trafficking, and the way that the legislation thus produced in turn changes the legal treatment of prostitution. Sex law, I will argue, is often a front for a morality that contains rather than liberates women. What is presented in terms of morality is actually a specific political and ideological position, the net effect of which is typically to limit women's autonomy, in the name of concepts such as "family values."
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
