Search results

Sex work migration involves a huge number of females from Nigeria, and has attracted concerns within and across the country. To add to ongoing conversations about responsible migration, our review underscores the prevalence of sex work migration in Edo State, Nigeria, the drivers and interventions.

The review adopted exhaustive search terms coined with the aid of “Boolean Operators”. Search terms were entered into several search engines and databases to elicit peer-reviewed and grey literature within sex work migration and human trafficking for commercial sex. An output of 578 studies was recorded with 76 (43 academic papers and 33 grey literature) meeting the inclusion criteria.

The study acknowledged wide-spread prevalence of sex work migration involving Nigerian females who are largely from Edo State. It achieved a prioritization of the factors that drive sex work migration based on how frequent they were mentioned in reviewed literature: economic (64.4%), cultural (46%), educational (20%), globalization (14.5%) and political factors (13.2%). Several interventions were highlighted together with their several limitations which include funding, absence of grass-roots engagement, dearth of appropriate professionals, corruption, weak political will, among others. A combination of domestic and international interventions was encouraged, and social workers were found to be needful.

Our systematic review is the first on this subject, as none was found throughout our search. It seeks to inform policy measures and programmes, as well as horizontal efforts poised to tackle the rising figures of sex work migrants and attendant consequences in Nigeria.

This paper aims to explore the dark side of the relationship between gender, mobility, migration and tourism. Specifically, the paper looks at one form of human trafficking, the global sex industry and the relationship between sex trafficking and sex tourism. More particularly, the paper examines the global sex industry (Goh, 2009; Sasse, 2000, 2001) and the impact of migration and human rights aspects (Voronova and Radjenovic, 2016) of sex trafficking and sex tourism, as well as the emotional dimensions of trauma, violence and vulnerability (Heaslip, 2016).

The paper is an interdisciplinary discussion paper combining socio-economic perspectives (Goh, 2009; Brooks and Devasayaham, 2011), human rights perspectives (Cheah, 2006), migration perspectives (Voronova and Radjenovic, 2016), tourism perspectives (Carolin et al., 2015) and health perspectives (Cary et al., 2016; Matos et al., 2013; Reid and Jones, 2011). The contribution of these intersecting perspectives to an understanding of sex trafficking and sex tourism is explored.

The paper highlights the moral and ethical responsibility of the tourist industry to counteract sex trafficking and sex tourism, an issue which tourism studies have failed to fully engage with. In presenting the human costs of trafficking from a gender perspective, the paper considers the ways in which the tourism industries, in some countries, are attempting to respond.

The originality of the research is the focus on the dark side of the relationship between gender, mobility and tourism through sex trafficking and sex tourism drawing on an interdisciplinary perspective.

The paper looks at the individual and social implications of sex trafficking and sex tourism for different countries and states and for the individuals concerned. In addition, it looks at the ways in which the tourism industry is responding to sex trafficking and sex tourism and the social impact of this.

In theorising the relationship between gender, migration, sex trafficking and tourism from an interdisciplinary perspective, exploring the societal and individual impact, this paper provides a framework for further empirical research or policy changes with regard to the intersection of sex trafficking and tourism.

This paper is a part of a series of papers seeking insight into a holistic perspective into the lives, experiences and vulnerabilities of male-to-female transgender persons (from here on referred to as “transgender persons”/“Ladyboys”) within the sex industry in Southeast Asia. “Ladyboy” in Thai context specifically refers to the cultural subgroup, rather than the person’s gender identity and is not seen as an offensive term. Among the minimal studies that have been conducted, the majority have focused on sexual health and the likelihood of contracting or spreading HIV/AIDS, while often ignoring the possibility of other vulnerabilities. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The study interviews 60 transgender persons working within red light areas of Bangkok. The final research instrument was a questionnaire of 11 sub-themes, containing both multiple choice and open-ended questions.

This study found that 81 percent of participants had entered the sex industry due to financial necessity. There was also a high vulnerability among transgender sex workers to physical and sexual violence. This includes nearly a quarter (24 percent) who cite being forced to have sex and 26 percent who cite physical assault within the last 12 months.

These findings can aid the development of programs and social services that address the needs of ladyboys, looking beyond gender expression and social identity to meet needs and vulnerabilities that often go overlooked.

This survey provides deeper understanding of the vulnerability of transgender sex workers, including their trajectory into sex work and potential alternatives.

Trafficking in women is among the most serious human rights challenges. Extant studies of the media images of trafficked women suggest that these images emphasize women’s victimization and contribute to the reproduction of existing gender inequalities and power relations. In this case study of Moldovan media and scientific discourse, the authors sought to identify the images of trafficked women that are presented in the print media, on the one hand, and the scientific discourse, on the other. The authors also asked whether those images portray trafficked women in a stereotypical manner. The findings of this chapter revealed that the most prevalent images in both discourses are trafficked women as victims, commodities, and slaves. Both media and scientific discourses include gender oppression, domestic violence, and poverty as dimensions of the victim image. However, these three aspects of the victim image are treated more comprehensively by the scientific discourse. Some of the most prominent differences between the two types of discourses are the absence of women’s agency in the media discourse and absence of the men’s nature as a dimension of the victim image in the scientific discourse. The authors conclude by suggesting that, despite these differences, the images present in both types of discourse could be used to justify policies that would limit the migration of women but fail to effectively address the root causes of sex trafficking in women.

This paper aims to contribute to sex tourism literature by placing it into a contemporary context of globalisation, harm reduction and disease migration.

The paper takes a public health and social science approach to map sex tourism, drawing on sex worker and tourist situations alongside global forces including technology, human rights, law enforcement and health.

A new, holistic conceptual model is presented, containing interacting, multi level associations. Whilst the separate micro, contextual, meso and macro levels are versatile, decision makers and practitioners will be equipped to understand sex tourism in its entirety.

The paper’s originality is found in the proposed conceptual model.

全球化、减害和疾病迁移时代的性旅游：一种新的概念模型

该论文采用公共卫生和社会科学方法, 利用性工作者和旅游者的情况以及包括技术、人权、执法和健康在内的全球力量, 分析了性旅游的状况。

本文将性旅游文献置于全球化、减少危害和疾病迁移的当代背景下, 为性旅游文献做出了贡献。

本文提出了一个新的、整体的概念模型, 包含相互作用的多层次关联。虽然单独的微观、背景、中观和宏观层面是多变的, 但决策者和从业者将可以全面的了解性旅游。

该论文的独创性体现在提出的概念模型中。

El turismo sexual en la era de la globalización, la reducción de daños y la migración de enfermedades: un nuevo modelo conceptual

Este artículo contribuye a la literatura sobre el turismo sexual situándolo en el contexto contemporáneo de la globalización, la reducción de daños y la migración de enfermedades.

El documento adopta un enfoque de salud pública y ciencias sociales para delimitar el turismo sexual, basándose en las situaciones de los trabajadores del sexo y los turistas junto con las fuerzas globales, como la tecnología, los derechos humanos, la aplicación de la ley y la salud.

Se presenta un nuevo modelo conceptual holístico que contiene asociaciones interactivas de varios niveles. Mientras que los niveles micro, contextual, meso y macro separados son versátiles, los responsables de la toma de decisiones y los profesionales estarán equipados para entender el turismo sexual en su totalidad.

La originalidad del artículo se encuentra en el modelo conceptual propuesto.

Investigación

Drawing on ethnographic field research on female sex workers and male clients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s global sex industry, this paper complicates our understanding of human trafficking in two ways. First, introducing the term perverse humanitarianism, the paper extends work on carceral feminism by offering concrete examples of interagency commitments between NGOs and the police. Second, my ethnography reveals that women framed their relationships with male clients as mutually beneficial because the men provided them with alternate pathways to economic mobility outside of sex work. Drawing on the same tropes of victimhood employed by the NGOs, sex workers elicited sympathy from male clients that they leveraged into gifts of money. Using men’s charitable gifts, many women became small entrepreneurs who opened local businesses and empowered other sex workers far beyond what NGOs were able to provide.

This chapter considers the impetus for the inclusion of labour rights and secure work rights, with a particular focus on countering human trafficking and what is now widely known as ‘modern slavery’ in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs comprise 17 goals and 169 targets set to assist nation states in achieving sustainable development in the ‘five P’ areas: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. In this chapter we analyse goals and targets that focus on modern slavery and adult human trafficking (in particular sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labour), and review the SDGs in the context of existing international counter-trafficking and slavery mechanisms. We consider what this novel framework has to offer when it comes to addressing these forms of exploitation. In so doing, the chapter considers the likely impact of the SDGs to preventing and countering these exploitative practices, and its potential usefulness within the broader spectrum of counter-trafficking/slavery mechanisms. We suggest that the SDGs are yet another international instrument that makes strong rhetorical commitments to the intersections of labour, migration and exploitation, but lacks clarity and operational strength it needs to lead the path in reduction, if not elimination of such exploitative practices. Finally, we analyse the extent to which this instrument continues to ignore the factors that contribute to or sustain the conditions for exploitation, namely the impact of migration policies and the gendered nature of the issue.

This paper aims to examine, from a global macro perspective, the relationships between commercial sex, regulatory system and shadow economies.

The paper draws on eight years of research in the sex industries and literature from other sources that explore the nuances of the economic and social organisation of the sex markets in different countries.

First, a four point continuum is presented, based on the following types of economies: legal formal; legal informal; illegal informal and illegal criminal. Second, challenging principles that the sex industry is only “demand” driven, this paper looks at the nature of the sex industry, examining the dynamics of supply in the context of a prolific global shadow sex economy. Third, the concept of “supply” is broadened out to refer not only to women involved in selling direct and indirect sexual services but the legitimate and illegitimate service industries that are ancillary to the sex industry: namely: advertising, marketing, leisure industries, security, policing and welfare.

Contributing to the cultural analysis of the sex industry and drawing on original ethnographic observations, this paper stresses the relevance of the “supply” side of the sex industry, including ancillary industries that support the sex markets in the shadow economies.

This chapter develops analytical and comparative approaches on the advance of the sexual exploitation industry in Eurozone countries, addressing specific regulations and norms on what is called sex work (when regulated by the state) or prostitution (countries with abolitionist normative frameworks). Indeed, in scenarios of economic and health recession due to Covid-19, this issue is controversial and of urgency in the public agenda due to the scarcity of statistical records that can account for the impact of the sexual exploitation market on women and feminized bodies and in relation to gender equality and equity indexes, as well as public policies. As a working assumption, it is proposed that there is a “sociological erasure” on the impact of the sexual exploitation industry on populations of high social vulnerability. Methodologically, on the one hand, a comparative analysis of indicators relevant to gender equality and human rights is developed, using second-order data to compare European countries with antagonistic legal regulations on the sex market. On the other hand, the perceptions, discourses and representations of experts in the field and key informants related to the sex market are analyzed. Finally, it is concluded that coercive prostitution affects feminized corporalities, especially migrant and poor women. Therefore, prostitution should be considered a violation of human rights and should be evidenced as an emergent of gender violence. Information and analysis regarding this industry are required to know how to intervene and contribute to reach new levels of gender equality, and to provide timely assistance to those who need it, according to the objectives for the Eurozone established in agreement with UNICEF’s global Goal 5.

Human trafficking for sexual purposes is a significant human rights violation, as well as a crime of international proportions. Albania has been identified as an important source of individuals who are trafficked as well as an entry point from Eastern Europe and Russia into Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature of this problem and governmental and societal responses.

An examination of data sources regarding sex trafficking in Albania seen through the lens of the Albanian context and feminist legal perspective helps provide an understanding of the complexity of the issue and the nature of appropriate approaches.

Recommendations are given for a more effective anti‐sex trafficking campaign, incorporating socio‐economic factors that might be linked to sex trafficking.

The lack of available data from victims of sex‐trafficking and Albanian government limits the ability of researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of anti‐sex trafficking response by Albanian government.

This is the first theoretically based attempt at analyzing governmental and societal responses to sex trafficking in Albania.