Customer Reviews

Trafficking And Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives On Migration, Sex Work, And Human Rights (Transnational Feminist Studies)

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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.

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

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

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

Decriminalization and regulation would go a long way in keeping both the women and the men more safe. Prostitutes are sometimes the victims of serial killers while their customers are not infrequently the victims of larceny and robbery. Legalization, while not perfect, would help to alleviate some of these problems. Further, the government could tax it and generate some revenue. It would also help to deal out many of 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 about 45 have little means of attracting a sexually attractive woman. 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 interests that aren't going anywhere. Perhaps one could 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 virtually the only rational solution. Obviously with prostitution being illegal a man cannot visit a prostitute without the dread of getting arrested and ruining life and reputation. This worry must end.

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 terrific book 'The 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 regarding law enforcement and the way they get their jollies by busting sex workers and sex customers (see his seminal book 'United States Essays'). It gives the cops a thrill to bust consenting adults; they swoop-in donning paramilitary garb resembling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 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 TV shows that display this police-state mentality and it always seems ever more pathetic. The cops moralize and talk down to the offender like a sadistic schoolmarm who caught a teenager with a dirty magazine. It's really quite remarkable that in 2008 the state can dictate that it's a criminal offense for a man to try and obtain sexual pleasures 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 a clear red herring since 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 crimes rightfully have laws addressing those offenses.

In Joan Sewell's 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.

Legalization along with regulation obviously won't solve everything, but it would be a reasonable step in the right direction. Criminalizing consensual matters between adults is better suited for 1600s New England than for a society which purports to be based on freedom and rationality.

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