Socioeconomics of Sex Trafficking

A pointer to a fairly abstruse analysis of the contemporary discourse surrounding sex work and trafficking.

… UN Special Rapporteur, Sigma Huda, remarked in her latest report that regular prostitution falls within the category of trafficking, and stated that the most efficient means to reduce the demand for trafficking is to criminalize the purchase of sexual services. More generally, in international policy circles, it is increasingly common to hear talk of the need to address “the demand-side of trafficking”, and a number of research studies on this phenomenon have recently been commissioned. Though the idea that “sex trafficking” is stimulated by the demand for commercial sexual services has a certain commonsense appeal, this paper argues that questions about the relationship between exploitative and abusive labour practices in the sex sector and the demand for commercial sexual services are rather more complicated than is allowed in dominant anti-trafficking discourse.

The demand side of “sex trafficking”