Read Now: NY Times Op-Ed by Noy Thrupkaew “A Misguided Moral Crusade”
The Sunday, September 22nd edition of the New York Times featured an op-ed by Noy Thrupkaew entitled “A Misguided Moral Crusade.” Read the piece here. Sharing and comments welcome.
Read MoreThe Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade
By Ronald Weizer Abstract The issue of sex trafficking has become increasingly politicized in recent years due to the efforts of an influential moral crusade. This article examines the social construction of sex trafficking (and prostitution more generally) in the discourse of leading activists and organizations within the crusade, and concludes that the central claims are problematic, unsubstantiated, or demonstrably false. The analysis documents the increasing endorsement and...
Read MoreThe Mythology of Prostitution: Advocacy Research and Public Policy
By Ronald Weitzer Abstract Over the past decade, public policies on prostitution and other types of sex work have been increasingly contested, both in academia and in popular debates. One perspective, the oppression paradigm, is increasingly reflected in media reporting on the sex industry and is steadily being articulated by government officials in the USA, Europe, and elsewhere. The proliferation of myths based on the oppression paradigm is responsible for the rise of a resurgent...
Read MoreSex trafficking and the sex industry: The need for evidence-based theory and legislation
By Ronald Weitzer From the introduction: Under U.S. law, sex trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.”1 To be punishable, the offense must involve a “severe form” of trafficking involving (1) a person under age eighteen who has been induced to perform a commercial sex act or (2) an adult who has been so induced by the use of “force, fraud, or coercion.”2 Adults who sell sex...
Read MoreRead Now: Human Trafficking and “Red Carpet Feminism”
A commentary by Noy Thrupkaew on the “Women in the World” summit. Read the full article on the Open Society Foundation website here.
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