A text that in the end favors trafficking

books:


	• Trafficking And Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives On Migration, Sex Work, And Human Rights ... Paradigm Publishers, 2005 - 247 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Deserves a wider audience

An interesting book at an interesting time, when the problem of human trafficking is finally beginning to get the international attention it deserves. Unfortunately, as the book points out, much of that attention is based upon a few overly simplistic assumptions.

The editor and the essayists argue persuasively that greater attention needs to be paid to those forms of trafficking which do not fit into the (mostly inaccurate) stereotype of 'young girl snatched from home and forced into prostitution', and to how trafficking is facilitated by strict migration laws, gender stereotypes and an absence of worker protections.

Those who think trafficking can be stopped by criminalising prostitution, or by denying funding to organisations simply because they don't take an abolitionist line, will find much food for thought here.

If I have one complaint about the book it's that it's too Asian-centric. While that's obviously the part of the world where the trafficking problem is most acute, it wouldn't have hurt to include just one essay about another part of the world.

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Excellent

Working on my thesis on human trafficking, I have found this book very useful.

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A text that in the end favors trafficking

Under the guise of being against trafficking but wanting to 'de-sensationalize it' this book in the end argues that all laws against trafficking are in fact really 'racist' laws that are really designed to stop migrant labour and are themselves harming 'indigenous' and 'aboriginal' people. This is a wonderfully crafted scam, a typical scam that uses underlying principles and high language to promote or simply dis-regard the millions of women held in virtual slavery year after year in places as far flung as Bangkok, Prague and New York. No one in their serious mind can claim a law that puts away a person who sells a 12 year old girl into a brothel to work as a slave is really a 'covertly racist law' that 'discriminates' against the 12 year old by not allowing her the freedom of being enslaved. Yet this book bends over backward to do just that, to try to covnince us that in fact if only the 'racist' west stopped pushing its values on the 'east' by telling places like Cambodia that it is wrong to sell 12 year girls who thought they were going to work as chamber maids into brothels is somehow 'racist' becuase, and this is the insinuation, 'that is what cambodian girls are for'. This is a disgusting, wrethed, offence and racist text whose conslusions do a great disservice to the global effort to stop slavery and human trafficking.

Seth J. Frantzman

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LEGALIZE ADULT PROSTITUTION

Prostitution between consenting adults (adults!) should have been decriminalized generations ago. The primary reason it's still on our criminal statute books is because Christian fundamentalists still have a grip on our legislative branch. And no politician would ever have the stones to get up on the stump and say what needs to be said: legalization of prostitution between consenting adults (adults) is the only way to go.

Decriminalization and regulation would go a long way in keeping both the women and the men safe. Prostitutes are sometimes the victims of serial killers and male customers are sometimes the victims of larceny and robbery. Legalization, while not perfect, would help to alleviate some of these problems. Further, the state could tax it and generate some revenue. It would also help to deal out the pimps who parasitically feed off the labors of women in the sex underworld. Legalization is not a panacea; however it is a much sounder public policy than the status quo.

Most men past the age of 40 have little means of attracting a pretty woman, unless of course said man has a thick wallet. Moreover, physically handicapped men, ugly men, old men, men with little confidence, have almost no way of winning the charms of a pretty woman. Yet they still have sexual urges that aren't going anywhere. Perhaps one could also argue that they have a right to sexual pleasure with a consenting adult. Allowing them to pay for sexual favors from an obliging woman is the only rational solution. Throughout history rich men have always had the luxury of indulging in sexual pleasures with various women at the country club, and other social networks. Many poor, working class, and middle class men have pretty much been denied this option except for risking the services of prostitutes, which is fraught with the fear of getting arrested and ruining life and reputation.

The intellectual Lionel Tiger has written some amazing stuff regarding a human being's right to sexual pleasure, of course with a consenting adult, see his "Pursuit of Pleasure." As our society becomes more enlightened (a not altogether sure thing) sexual pleasure will eventually be seen as more of a right than simply a luxury for the young and well born. Gore Vidal has also written some fabulous essays and passages regarding police and the way they get their jollies by busting sex workers and sex customers (see his seminal "United States Essays"). It gives the cops a thrill to bust consenting adults; they swoop-in donning paramilitary garb and violently force to the ground some poor soul who's simply looking to enjoy the pleasures of a woman. Everyone has seen the "reality" cop shows that display this police-state mentality at work and it always seems ever more pathetic. It's just so ridiculous; the cops moralize and talk down to the "offender" like a sadistic schoolmarm who caught a teenager with a dirty magazine. Consenting adults should be left the hell alone! It's really unbelievable when one stops to think about it that in 2007 the state can tell a man that it's a criminal offense for him to try and obtain an orgasm with a consenting woman.

Advocates of the status quo are fond of citing the argument that prostitution brings drug dealing, assaults, and other petty crimes to a neighborhood. Of course this argument is an obvious red herring because it fails to address the question of legalizing prostitution in and of itself. Prostitution in and of itself is a victimless crime between consenting adults. Obviously the other activities rightfully have laws addressing those offenses.

In Joan Sewell's new book "I'd Rather Eat Chocolate" she demonstrates that men have a much higher sex drive than women and that many women simply don't like sex. Hence, one could argue women prostitutes are valuable service providers doing integral work for some men who sometimes have few other options.

Kempadoo's excellent book goes a long way in delivering some rationality to this important issue.

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Trafficking and prostitution are widely believed to be synonymous, and to be leading international crimes. This collection argues against such sensationalism and advances carefully considered and grounded alternatives for understanding transnational migrations, forced labor, sex work, and livelihood strategies under new forms of globalization. From their long-term engagements as anti-trafficking advocates, the authors unpack the contemporary international debate on trafficking. They maintain that rather than a new 'white slave trade,' we are witnessing today, more broadly, an increase in the violation of the rights of freedom of movement, decent employment, and social and economic security. Critical examinations of state anti-trafficking interventions, including the US-led War on Trafficking, also reveal links to a broader attack on undocumented migrants, tribal and aboriginal peoples, poor women, men and children, and sex workers. The book sheds new light on everyday circumstances, popular discourses, and strategies for survival under twenty-first century economic and political conditions, with a focus on Asia, but with lessons globally.

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