Write a 2-5 page essay, describing what you learned in this course, what it means to you, and what action can be taken in response to Human Trafficking issues. I will attach some of the powerpoint fro
Pornography, prostitution & sex trafficking demand: Theoretical viewpoints & empirical evidence Image from Flickr Early Political Perspectives of Pornography • Conservative perspective - preserving traditional sexual mores, morality and preventing degradation of women/children • Liberal perspective - freedom of sexual expression and free choice for women The Porn Wars • Liberal Feminist perspective - anti -censorship “it’s my body it’s my choice,” pornography is empowering, financially rewarding, and defying traditional mores of sexual purity of women is good • Radical Feminist perspective - pornography viewed as violation of civil rights, sexually objectifying & degrading to women • American Booksellers Association Inc. Vs. Hudnut (1985) had anti -porn Indianapolis ordinance that made it illegal to depict women in sexually subordinate roles or positions • Federal District court declared ordinance unconstitutional Manifesting in modern sex trafficking debates… • Radical Feminists/ Abolitionists – Largely support simultaneous abolition of pornography and prostitution • Sex trafficking, porn & prostitution are inextricably linked • Pornography fuels sexual objectification & commodification of women’s bodies, and demand for paid sex, resulting in sex trafficking • Liberal Feminist/Neoliberal perspectives – Sex trafficking, prostitution, and pornography are distinct • If porn/prostitution is a free choice, then it should be supported 3 Key Areas of Pornography Debates and Sex Trafficking 1. Demand 2. Violence Against Women 3. Inequality and General Degradation 1. Demand • Research does NOT link pornography to increased demand for commercial sex directly • But there is correlational research linking those who consume more porn as being more likely to buy sex • Child pornography is a form of sex trafficking • Thus demand for child pornography inherently creates sex trafficking 2. Violence Against Women • Worst case scenarios in pornography are uncommon, but do exist • They are already punishable by law • Frequency of violence in pornography depends on how “violence” is measured • Women are disproportionately targets of verbal and physical aggression in pornography 3. Inequality & General Degradation • Inequality between men and women in giving and receiving sexual pleasure in pornography • Playing the dominant or subordinate role in sex • Inequality between sexes in conducting or receiving acts of degradation • Debates about what qualifies as degradation Cultural normalization, Blurring the Lines and DMST • Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking ( DMST ) – same as CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) • Lolita ("precociously seductive”) • Teen porn • Schoolgirl fetish • “Just turned 18,” “jailbait,” “barely legal,” “new in town” • Toddlers in Tiaras Child Pornography as Sex Trafficking • According to the US TVPA, any commercial sex act involving a minor is sex trafficking • This includes pornography • Creating something of value ($) makes it a commercial sex act • Buying, selling, trading images, creating, possessing and distributing, it can be viewed as sex trafficking • Demand for child pornography creates sex trafficking to make it Supreme Court • Supports pornography as a form of free speech, excepting child pornography and subjectively determined breaches of obscenity • The Miller test : When deciding whether material was obscene and could therefore be subject to state regulation, the Court said a state had to consider: • a) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest • b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and • c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. • Anti -censorship Outcomes – U.S. • Debates between radical feminists/abolitionists & liberal feminists remain • Legally, we maintain distinction between pornography, prostitution, and trafficking • Pornography will not change. USSC makes it clear that it is a protected form of free speech (exception= minors, subjective calls on obscenity) • U.S. keeps deterrence model of prostitution (worst for outcomes) • Trafficking legislation focuses on decriminalization of minors selling sex, channeling them into services instead of criminalizing them • Adults remain largely criminalized, unless force, fraud or coercion can be proven • In some states, adults who can prove trafficking can expunge criminal records • Increased efforts on “End Demand” approaches, targeting buyers • See 2019 Florida Law Establishing a 'Johns Registry' To Shame People Convicted of Paying For Sex Herrington & McEachern (2018). Breaking Her Spirit Through Objectification, Fragmentation, & Consumption: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Domestic Sex Trafficking • Main purpose of this article is to apply Adams’ (2010) theoretical model of violence against women to the special population of women and children who are exploited through sex trafficking & pornography • 3 main stages to Adam’s (2010) model of VAW 1. Objectification 2. Fragmentation 3. Consumption Critical Thinking Questions Florida creates a registry for solicitors of prostitution “John Registry” (May 2019, 2:20) Should Prostitution be Legal??? (2015, 3:30) 1. Describe at least 3 key radical feminist arguments used to justify eradication of pornography, and the research supporting or refuting these arguments. 2. What is the Supreme Court’s determination about pornography and censorship? Do you agree or disagree, and why? 3. In what ways do some types of pornography contribute to cultural desire for young adult bodies (male & female)? Herrington & McEachern (2018) 1. Objectification – permits an oppressor to view another being as an object. The oppressor then violates this being by object -like treatment: e.g., “the rape of women that denies women freedom to say no” • Two manifestations of the objectification process are “breaking her spirit” to force a woman to comply and asserting control over nearly every aspect of her life, including her movements and image, with the ultimate goal of selling a “product” to the public • Pimps objectify women & children through a process that turns them into profitable commodities by controlling virtually every moment of their lives • After you have broken her spirit she has no sense of self -value. Now pimp, put a price tag on the item you have manufactured • Over time, the commodification and objectification of her body by pimps and johns are internalized . Portions of her body are numbed and compartmentalized. Eventually she also sees her body as a commodity rather than as integral to the rest of herself. Trauma and torture survivors commonly experience this profound disconnectedness Herrington & McEachern (2018) cont’d • Fragmentation – the process of objectification allows fragmentation, or brutal dismemberment, both literally and conceptually, and she posits that “through fragmentation the object is severed from its ontological meaning” (Adams, 2010) • Johns are “renting an organ for ten minutes” • Fragmentation occurs psychologically & physiologically to trauma victims who have been treated as “mere receptacles” • Trauma bonds hold people just as securely as physical chains • Isolation from family members and lack of social bonds are themselves a kind of forced fragmentation. Prostituted women and children are often prevented from developing meaningful connections with one another Herrington & McEachern (2018) cont’d • Consumption - Having first been objectified & fragmented, both prostituted adults & children are finally consumed (i.e., purchased) either through commercial sex or pornography • most pornography today falls into the category known as “gonzo porn,” a genre in which women and girls are routinely brutalized, demeaned, humiliated & debased • Experts from any number of disciplines debate the cumulative effect that pornography has on boys/men when they view it on a regular basis. • Correlation and causation aside, 3 facts are not in dispute: 1. Some men/boys are willing to view ever -increasingly brutal porn, which means that pornographers will supply their demand (Dines, 2010); 2. The explosion of Internet child pornography has led consumers to demand prostituted children at increasingly younger ages 3. Johns demand prostitutes act out what the they have viewed in porn Rhode Island Accidentally Legalized Prostitution…. • Here's What Happened When Rhode Island Accidentally Legalized Prostitution ... (12 min) International Political Arena • The International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons 1949 was both anti -trafficking as well as anti -prostitution, and the first abolitionist attempt. Many states did not ratify it because it conflated trafficking and prostitution. • UN Vienna Declaration (1993) marked clear distinction between trafficking and prostitution • Palermo Protocol (2000) included wording “abuse of a position of vulnerability” International Political Arena cont’d • The U.N. moved away from abolitionism , in part due to heated debates • Many European nations adopted legalization policy • Changing more recently in some countries • This is in part due to influx of migrants seeking work, xenophobia and anti -immigrant sentiments, in part due to increased sex trafficking/ awareness of exploitation Liberal / Intersectional Feminism in the International Political Arena • GAATW (G lobal A lliance A gainst T raffic in W omen), draws a line between sex work and trafficking, trafficking is forced, sex work is voluntary. Abolish trafficking but not sex work (based in Thailand) • ICPR (International C ommittee for P rostitutes’ R ights) - Legalize prostitution for the benefit of sex workers.Eradicate trafficking while working to support sex workers’ rights simultaneously Radical Feminism in the International Political Arena CATW (C oalition A gainst T rafficking in W omen) - abolitionist, wish to abolish both trafficking and prostitution as they believe they are inherently intertwined.
International Organization based in the US
