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The article, based on original research from 246 villages, discusses contemporary marriage migrations of poor women from India's development peripheries to rural North Indian men. Anti-trafficking activists and organizations in India assert that migrant brides are trafficked into sexual slavery through 'coerced' alliances. Employing a postcolonial feminist lens, this article challenges hegemonic anti-trafficking discourse with its gendered presumptions about widespread 'bride-trafficking' by showing that the processes of cross-region marriage mediation and motives are replete with contradictions and ambiguities. Fieldwork reveals a range of actors, including the migrant brides, involved in marriage mediation while poverty and heightened dowry compromise women into such matrimonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survivors of child sex trafficking (SCST) experience high rates of adverse health outcomes. Amidst the duration of their victimization, survivors regularly seek healthcare yet fail to be identified. This study sought to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to identify SCST and describe the elements of their healthcare presentation. An AI-supported keyword search was conducted to identify SCST within the electronic medical records (EMR) of ∼1.5 million patients at a large midwestern pediatric hospital. Descriptive analyses were used to evaluate associated diagnoses and clinical presentation. A sex trafficking-related keyword was identified in.18% of patient charts. Among this cohort, the most common associated diagnostic codes were for Confirmed Sexual/Physical Assault; Trauma and Stress-Related Disorders; Depressive Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; and Suicidal Ideation. Our findings are consistent with the myriad of known adverse physical and psychological outcomes among SCST and illuminate the future potential of AI technology to improve screening and research efforts surrounding all aspects of this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA self-report survey was administered in 2022 to measure experiences of sex trafficking victimization among a national sample of adults using the federal legal definition and behaviorally specific language. A total of 1,462 respondents were included in the final sample, with data weighted to increase the representativeness of the population. Approximately 2.5% of respondents could be classified as experiencing sex trafficking victimization at some point in their lives. More respondents experienced sex trafficking as a minor only (1.5%) compared to as an adult only (0.6%) or as both a minor and adult (0.4%). A small portion of respondents who experienced sex trafficking as an adult reported their experiences to anyone (38.9%). Although some sex trafficking victims shared vulnerability factors with known victims in high-risk groups, not all victims reported experiencing these challenges. Research should continue to measure sex trafficking in the general population to inform individual and community interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India is home to 14 million survivors of human trafficking, with most being trafficked for sexual exploitation. Trafficking constitutes crimes that violate the rights of survivors, and despite its psychological consequences, there is little evidence-based guidance to meet the needs of these individuals. Aim: The current study aimed to examine the outcome of narrative exposure therapy (KIDNET) among adolescent survivors of sex trafficking in improving trauma-related symptoms, along with psychological distress, dissociation, depression, and anxiety. Methods: A pre-post study design was used with 20 adolescent female survivors of trafficking aged 13 to 17 years, with ten participants in the KIDNET group and ten participants in a waitlist control group. Trafficking Victim Identification Tool and Standard Progressive Matrices were administered as screening measures. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Children and Adolescents, Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale, Shutdown Dissociation Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, and Beck Anxiety Inventory were administered as outcome measures. Fourteen sessions of KIDNET were conducted for the clinical group, while sessions were conducted for the control group post delivery of intervention for the clinical group. Results: Findings suggest an overall improvement in the severity of trauma-related symptoms in the KIDNET group, with significant improvement in psychological distress, depression, and anxiety. Conclusion: Results indicate that KIDNET may be a promising and acceptable treatment for adolescent survivors of sex trafficking, and this intervention module may be safely delivered in further randomised controlled trials to ensure that the holistic needs of this vulnerable group are appropriately addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we argue that the reports of conductresses accompanying female migrants shed new light on the nature of interwar labour migration. As they mitigated the anxiety and insecurity that women faced during the process of migration, they fulfilled a crucial role in the highly restrictive post-1918 international migration regime. The Polish government introduced conductresses in 1925 to respond to news of the mistreatment and sexual exploitation of Polish women working in France. Developed in close collaboration with international organizations and the League of Nations, the work of these conductresses on land and sea routes was framed as those of 'moral guardians' protecting female migrants from the dangers of sex trafficking. However, we argue that their main function was to mitigate the uncertainties of the post-war international order, as traditional routes of migration were ruptured and both dispatching and receiving countries attempted to control and restrict migration. Female migrants had no networks with existing diasporas, were often illiterate, and mistrusted both Polish and French institutions. By addressing these challenges, the conductresses took on roles far beyond their function as moral authority: they acted as translators, knowledge imparters, mediators, and network forgers. Both in Poland and at the international level, the Polish conductress scheme was regarded a success, as they managed to provide a relatively 'secure' migration experience within a migration regime designed to walk a fine line between demands for foreign labour on the one hand and the rising ideal of economic protectionism on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the HIV/AIDS epidemic gripping the world in the 1990s and the resurgence of the antitrafficking discourse in the 2000s, the sex work/abolitionist debate took center stage. Proponents of sex work uphold the labor and livelihood paradigm based on consent; the abolitionists, on the other hand, dismiss sex work as work to posit prostitution as the paradigmatic example of patriarchal violence toward women. The latter routinely conflate sex work with trafficking, and the former sharply demarcates them. Above all, this debate poses a stubborn ideological divide among feminists with serious policy implications for both the worker and the victim, nationally and globally. Therefore, to imagine a pathway beyond this divide, this review centers on mobility and migration vis-à-vis labor and livelihood. Sex work offers insights into migration broadly speaking because it highlights the intersecting issues of labor, agency, gender, sexual mores, and displacement, all embedded within the global flows of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful identification of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) remains challenging. Laypersons could play a significant role in identifying victims, but only if laypersons recognize trafficking situations as such and do not incorrectly attribute responsibility to victims. In the current study, we examined laypersons' perceptions of situations highly suggestive of DMST. Participants (N = 320), recruited from an internet-based crowd-sourcing platform, read a vignette describing a highly suspicious situation involving a minor and adult in a hotel room with cash on the minor's person. Participants answered questions about what they thought was happening and about their general knowledge of trafficking. The vignette systematically varied the age (13, 15, 17 years) and gender (boy, girl) of the victim to include the most common ages and genders of known DMST victims. Overall, just over half (61%) of participants recognized that a crime occurred, more often with younger (70%) than older (55%) minors. Participants tended to place some responsibility on older minors for their situation, as did participants who exhibited lower levels of general knowledge of trafficking. Overall, the results reveal substantial limitations in laypersons' understanding of DMST, including who is responsible, highlighting the need for targeted educational campaigns to improve that understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mary Bergstein's book, "Visual Culture in Freud's Vienna: Science, Eros, and the Psychoanalytic Imagination," explores the visual materials and texts that circulated in Vienna around 1900. Bergstein argues that popular visual mediums, such as photography and film, played a significant role in constructing the psychoanalytic visual environment. The book examines topics such as X-ray photography, the power of hypnosis in cinema, and the classical representation of nudity in Vienna. Bergstein demonstrates how these visual representations influenced Freud's thinking and contributed to the formation of psychoanalytic thought. This book provides valuable insights into the role of representation in psychoanalysis and is a must-read for those interested in the psychoanalytic formation of representation. [Extracted from the article]

The case of Mary Masako Akimoto illuminates how carceral systems based on immigrant criminalisation, known as crimmigration, intersected with gendered notions of decent and indecent work in 1930s America. Mary Akimoto was deported from the USA in compliance with US anti‐sex trafficking law for the crime of selling sex in a brothel (indecent work). Yet, as part of her rehabilitation or as a requirement of her release in the months and years that followed her initial arrest, she regularly found herself in coerced labour situations engaging in vocations gendered as decent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatial distribution of commercial sex activities (CSA) in urban environments is important in addressing the harms against sex workers and identifying sex trafficking operations. Guided by crime pattern theory, using Census data and New York Police Department (NYPD) prostitution-related arrests data (N = 29,075) from 2010 to 2019, this study examines the "hot spots" of CSA in New York City. Local Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis (LISA) identified distinctive spatial clusters of CSA, whereas logistic regression explained their significant congregation in immigrant and racial-ethnic enclaves. The heterogeneity of clusters by boroughs portrays the convergence of activity space of sex workers, patrons, and sex business opportunities reflecting the high-demand locations of CSA and human trafficking in NYC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent calls have been made to investigate the lived experience of migrant sex workers, to broaden the scope and inclusivity of macro-level conceptualizations, and to develop contextually grounded forms of understanding. Our ethnographic study sought to explore the lived perspectives of an under-researched occupational group: migrant women working as irregular streetwalkers in a European city. Nineteen Nigerian Edo women working as prostitutes and Madams in Spain participated in an ethnographic, longitudinal study spanning five years of data collection. In this article, we focus on some of the key challenges, including ethical considerations, of undertaking ethnographic work in a hazardous fieldwork setting that presents psychological and physical dangers to both participants and researchers, including threats of violence, and researcher burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes mass media coverage of The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Online Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), two landmark 2018 bills that changed how sexual content is moderated by internet service providers in the United States. Using critical discourse analysis, I compare the framing of 101 news stories about FOSTA-SESTA published in mainstream U.S. newspapers, feminist media, and LGBTQ magazines over the course of 7 years. Findings describe coverage of online sex work, online child sexual exploitation, and free speech concerns that preceded and followed the landmark ruling from 2017 to 2023. I show FOSTA-SESTA's progression as a topic of discourse during the 2020 presidential election and compare differences between coverage in ideologically diverse U.S. media. While mainstream news originally supported FOSTA-SESTA's efforts to restrict the tech industry and prevent online child sexual exploitation, alternative media tended to present skeptical arguments that supported sex workers and other marginalized communities. Journalism industry interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the risk of child (commercial) sexual exploitation (C(C)SE) contains limited reference to victim-related factors in the victimisation process. Similarly, the possible links between these factors and adolescence have rarely been considered. However, there is agreement that the age at which most victimisation occurs is between 11 and 14 years. This study seeks to demonstrate how a psychoanalytical approach to adolescence can clarify sexual victimisation behaviours (including sexual exploitation) observed in young girls and enable social workers to deal effectively with these paradoxical behaviours, which appear incomprehensible and discouraging. After presenting the epistemological assumptions of psychoanalytical theories, this study illustrates how early phases of adolescence are considered vulnerable. This study refers to the resurgence of Oedipal fantasies, which, actualised by adolescents’ sexual maturity, threaten family homoeostasis and can lead adolescents to act out. These include risky sexual behaviours leading to multiple victimisations (including sex trafficking), often with irreversible consequences. Based on diverse situations, including that of a young female victim of sexual exploitation, this study attempts to highlight sexual trajectories with multiple victimisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, Corban Addison exposes the harsh reality of child sex trafficking in India and across borders with his first-hand experiences with victims, survivors, and activists. Addison has written books on human rights, injustice in the world, and its culture. His works include A Walk Across the Sun (2012), The Garden of Burning Sand (2013), The Tears of Dark Water (2015), A Harvest of Thorns (2017), and Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial (2022). Addison, being an engineer, lawyer, and author, began experimenting with writing at the age of fifteen years. He has used his profession as a lawyer in his writing to depict human atrocities, provide validity to victims, and advocate the abolition of modern slavery through his narratives. In this conversation, Addison talks about how he ended up writing A Walk Across the Sun while discussing sexual slavery, his background research, and how he was able to understand the experiences and trauma of sexual violence. He shares anecdotes of his journey to tsunami-affected areas, brothels, and meetings with victims and activists and how he portrays the sexual violence, trauma, and redemption from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her 2002 book Taboo: The Hidden Culture of Red Light Area, Fouzia Saeed explains how patriarchal norms in Pakistani society rigidly categorise women into 'pure' and 'polluted', shaping perceptions of prostitution and human trafficking. This article argues that patriarchy has its roots in materiality, and plays an indispensable role in pushing many women into the dreadful practice of prostitution or trafficking for sexual slavery through the structural and institutional flaws threaded within Pakistani culture. Women in Pakistan yet also have internalised the deep-rooted patriarchal ideologies and sexism that lead to a holistic understanding of what this patriarchal culture entails. Focusing on Heera Mandi - Lahore's traditional red light district as depicted in Saeed's ethnographic book, this textual cum descriptive analysis contributes to unveil the dilemmas of women engaged in prostitution who are constantly under threat from patriarchy and other institutions. While unfolding men formulated cultural norms through radical feminist analysis of Taboo, this article concludes that the patriarchal metamorphosing of women into valueless commodities perpetuates the practice of prostitution and trafficking in Heera Mandi. The study also suggests that, to eliminate female inferiority, feminist activism in Pakistan requires measures to restructure patriarchy together with consciousness-raising and political education of women in all respects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vrushali Patil's book, "Webbed Connectivities: The Imperial Sociology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality," challenges the Euro-centric perspective of gender and sexuality studies. Patil argues that the transnational turn in the field has produced knowledge beyond Euro-American borders but has displaced the transnational itself. She proposes the concept of "webbed connectivities" to rewire common concepts in the sociology of sex, gender, and sexuality. The book explores the historical connections between race, colonialism, and imperialism in shaping sex, gender, and sexuality. Patil's work aims to connect seemingly disparate histories and geographies and offers a blueprint for transforming contemporary field formation. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a review of Cynthia Enloe's book "Twelve Feminist Lessons of War." The reviewer praises Enloe for her wisdom and fearlessness in advocating for feminist scholars and activists. The book condenses Enloe's lessons learned through her research and work with women impacted by war and militarism. Each of the twelve lessons covers various topics related to gender inequities during wartime, military recruitment, women as soldiers and insurgents, wartime rape, and post-war reconstruction. The reviewer highlights Enloe's meticulous documentation and feminist approach. The document recommends the book as a valuable resource for feminist readers and researchers interested in studying the relationship between gender and militarization. [Extracted from the article]

Sex trafficking of minors is a significant problem across North America, with sizeable numbers of youth being directly or indirectly manipulated into being exploited or trafficked. Identification of these youth remains difficult, in part because of a lack of knowledge about common characteristics and in part because of victims' reluctance engaging with and trusting law enforcement enough to disclose their experiences. Given that many youth are trafficked during school‐aged years, school settings may represent an ideal location to target prevention and identification efforts, especially by health‐related school professionals, whose training, professional duties, and often positive relationships with youth may make the professionals trustworthy disclosure recipients. Whether such professionals are effective, though, depends on their knowledge of who is at risk for trafficking, characteristics that distinguish trafficking from other forms of harm, and effective questioning approaches to elicit disclosures from victimized youth. To document whether this knowledge exists, we surveyed 361 school‐based professionals concerning their ability to identify trafficking and knowledge of trafficking, adolescent development, and interviewing youth. Although nearly all (97%) school professionals recognized general student risk in the vignettes, only 18% identified that risk as trafficking. Professionals who had prior experience with trafficked youth were more likely to recognize trafficking than those without such experience. Finally, professionals evidenced some general knowledge about the existence of trafficking, adolescent development, and interviewing, but demonstrated more limited knowledge in the most common characteristics of trafficked minors and nuanced aspects of best‐practice questioning approaches. Results highlight important directions for training of school‐based professionals to improve prevention and identification of a highly vulnerable and often overlooked population of victims, namely trafficked minors. Practitioner Points: Practitioners should seek out training about sex trafficking in youth, particularly about how signs may manifest in youth, given that the majority of professionals in our study did not recognize the signs of sex trafficking in our vignettes.Practitioners should also seek out training, or ensure they have received training, on how to ask questions and engage youth in discussions (e.g., motivational interviewing, building rapport) particularly when they may be resistant or when discussing sensitive topics.Few professionals in our study made reference to external resources for youth and despite practitioners' best efforts, some youth may still not disclose being sex trafficked. Thus, practitioners should also familiarize themselves with local (e.g., local child welfare or police resources) and national (e.g., national human trafficking hotline) resources that can be shared with youth, empowering them to act once they are ready. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined the relationship between right-wing beliefs and problematic attitudes towards victims of sex trafficking (ST). Study one used a cross-sectional survey (N = 444) to study the relationship between political orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and beliefs about sex trafficking within US and UK populations. Results demonstrated that participants who were right-wing and participants from the US were more likely to report problematic attitudes towards victims of sex trafficking. Study two (N = 126) used a vignette-design to examine whether the relationship between right-wing beliefs and negative attitudes towards a ST victim was mediated by conservative biases such as just world beliefs and sexism. Findings indicated that hostile sexism, but not benevolent sexism or just world beliefs, mediated the relationship between right-wing beliefs and negative ST victim attitudes. Implicationshighlight the need for public organisations to ensure that members of the criminal justice system are educated around common ST misconceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women and girls remain substantially overrepresented in the commercial sex industry. While a number of outcomes have been linked to childhood abuse and involvement with the commercial sex industry, there exists a gap in understanding the unique impact of child abuse on child custody outcomes among adult women involved in the commercial sex industry. Drawing from data collected from 107 case files of adult women with a history of commercial sex industry involvement, the aim of the current study was to understand the link between child abuse history, commercial sex industry involvement, and child custody outcomes. Results indicated that among women who reported a history of child sex trafficking, 91.7% reported having endured child abuse. Further, 82.4% of women reported that their children were not under their custody. Dysfunctional family dynamics, substance abuse, and economic and structural barriers endured by these women are explored further, and intergenerational continuity of such traumagenic precarities is considered as a prolonged implication of such issues. Through a trauma-informed perspective, implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnam has long eluded the geography of comfort women studies, yet its status as the first Southeast Asian territory and the first European colony occupied by Japan makes it a vital missing link in understanding how the comfort women system was adapted to Southeast Asian contexts. Drawing on French and Dutch colonial archival materials, this article presents the first documentary evidence of the comfort women system in Vietnam, using an empirical approach to construct a chronology of the establishment and development of the system there. Providing a detailed chronology outlining how the system developed in Vietnam offers a point of comparison for understanding how the system developed in other territories occupied by the Japanese Empire. Furthermore, this article employs the analytical frames of race and gender, unpacking how the Japanese Empire's racial ideology and gender norms shaped, and were shaped by, the development of the comfort women system in a Southeast Asian context. This investigation of the comfort women system in Vietnam thus provides a framework for better understanding its subsequent implementation and development in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia while calling attention to wartime atrocities in Vietnam that have gone largely unnoticed in historical scholarship and public memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thousands of youth are sexually trafficked each year in the United States. In order to address this concern, anti-trafficking advocates often emphasize the importance of uniform screening protocols to assist with the identification of survivors. Unfortunately, an oft-overlooked component of sex trafficking identification is what to do once a victim has been identified, and how to best meet survivors' complex needs. In this article, the authors provide social work practitioners and other advocates with best practice guidelines for how to design and evaluate anti-sex trafficking advocacy programs for children and youth. These guidelines include considerations related to direct services with clients, community partnerships, and organizational capacity, as well as recommendations for how to begin and then evaluate programming. Regardless of the form selected for the program, all anti-sex trafficking programs should be designed to provide effective, client-centered follow-up and advocacy once a positive identification is made in the community. The recommendations included in this paper are based upon extant literature, the authors' practice experience with survivors, and insights from anti-sex trafficking program evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates how the social construction of gender shapes women's migration choices and post‐migration experience using the example of Ugandan women migrants in Istanbul, Türkiye. Building on an ethnographic case study, we reveal how Ugandan women negotiate and find agency within oppressive structures that force them into debt, into "illegality", and limit their opportunities for safe and dignified work. Our discussion critiques international regulations – the Palermo Protocol – and local structures including the Istanbul Police and Turkish policy on migration and prostitution. We show the complexity of relationships that impact women's lives and show how institutions fail to protect women leaving them vulnerable to harassment and sexual violence. We reflect on the experience of women of colour in Istanbul, simultaneously visible on the street yet invisible in voice and agency. Our work highlights the importance of an intersectional lens in the study of migration, il/legality, workplace abuse and trafficking into prostitution. It has broad implications for understanding how gender, class and racialization define migrants' options for mobility and self‐determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractHuman trafficking training involving didactic sessions supplemented by problem-based learning methods took place with youth services specialists in a southern state. Data were collected confidentially and voluntarily using descriptive and bivariate statistics and qualitative responses. Outcomes from the training compared knowledge attainment and differences between regional perspectives. The authors anticipated the pre- and post-training survey data would show significant learning of human trafficking concepts after the first didactic session, with the second session reinforcing these lessons through problem-based learning exercises utilizing a case study. The authors also expected there to be resulting changes in participant (n = 19) attitudes and responses to youth who were at risk of or experiencing human trafficking. Although participants learned concepts of human trafficking, the lessons were not equally accepted or internalized. Comments gathered from participants through post-training interviews revealed a range of responses. The participant’s employer lacked an agency-wide response protocol and, thus, without external guidance, participants struggled with personal biases regarding youths’ consent and choice. This exploratory study highlights the need for agency-wide human trafficking response protocols that incorporate screening tools. Future research should focus on reviewing agency interactions with youth and developing comprehensive response protocols that include screening and universal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article thinks with Chika Unigwe's On Black Sisters' Street (2009) to conceptualise "Afrofeminist conviviality" as a form of resistance that enables repair on two levels. Afrofeminist conviviality offers the possibility of preventing the trafficked sex worker's social death. It also gestures however provisionally towards the possibility of flourishing for the subaltern subject outside the liberal moralist binaries of free will and coercion. On Black Sisters' Street interweaves stories by four undocumented West African women trafficked from Lagos Nigeria to Antwerp Belgium. Afrofeminist conviviality can capture something of both the historical weight of resistance and the open-ended trajectory for the undocumented African sex worker towards less violent futures. It thus communicates a sense of becoming that is caring affirmative and recuperative while also being incomplete irregular and irreverent. On Black Sisters' Street allows for accounting the reparative possibilities for trafficked sex workers against the sheer cruelty of the global sex market. At the same time On Black Sisters' Street remains resolute in its hope for the thriving of the trafficked women in their undocumented futures however unauthorised informal and outlawed those may be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sex trafficking of persons, a pervasive public health issue disproportionately affecting the most marginalized within society, often leads to health as well as social consequences. Social service provision to meet the resulting needs is critical, however, little is known about the current pandemic's impact on providers' capacity to deliver requisite care. Method: To examine social service providers' perspectives of care provision for domestically sex-trafficked persons in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 providers and analyzed these using Braun and Clarke's analytic framework. Results: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on social service care provision were connected to individuals' increased vulnerability to trafficking, difficulties safely and effectively providing services to sex-trafficked persons amid pandemic restrictions, and reduction in in-person educational activities to improve providers' capacity to serve this client population. Securing safe shelter was particularly difficult and inappropriate placements could at times lead to further trafficking. Conclusion: The pandemic created novel barriers to supporting sex-trafficked persons; managing these sometimes led to new and complex issues. Future efforts should focus on developing constructive strategies to support sex-trafficked persons' unique needs during public health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the high levels of social service usage by women who are sex trafficked. Fifty (N = 50) women who were sex trafficked were surveyed using purposive and snowball sampling methods. The ACEs score for respondents ranged from 2 to 10 with an average score of 7.4 (SD = 2.3). Emotional and sexual abuse tied at 88 percent as the most frequently cited ACEs among the women in this sample. The prevalence of ACEs was significantly higher in this sample compared with known estimates in similar populations, ranging from 20 percent to 54 percent (p <.001). Considering the well-established link between ACEs and poor health outcomes, these findings point to the need for innovative and targeted social service provisions to women who were formerly sex trafficked that take into consideration the high level of ACEs of the women. Given the sociodemographic diversity of this sample, there is a need for services that are trauma-informed, innovative, and culturally sensitive in a variety of social service settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of precarity have emphasized workplace isolation, worker vulnerability and a lack of control over key features of work. Migration status has been viewed as an attribute that can exacerbate worker precarity, and sexual violence and bodily injury are viewed by feminist scholars including Violence Against Women scholars as sources of such precarity as well. Nevertheless, how the interaction of workplace conditions, migration status, gender and sexual violence impact migrants needs more attention. A new evidence base, the Migrant Worker Rights Database, explores workplace violations against migrants in 907 tribunal and court cases brought by migrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States over a 20‐year period. The data collected for this project demonstrates that female migrants experience higher rates of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual servitude, and sex trafficking when compared with men. Further, while such collectively termed “sexual violence” offenses comprise a small percentage of cases in the Database (1.3%), they are characterized qualitatively by key features that present a heightened form of sexual precarity when compared with citizens: misuse by employers of visa conditions, debt bondage, live‐in arrangements, entrapment and slavery, and the combination of sexual violence with economic infringements such as wage theft and physical assault. Sexual precarity, this paper argues, should be viewed as an overlapping and reinforcing form of workplace precarity that has distinctly sexual and bodily dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking poses a global humanitarian and public health concern, particularly affecting women and migrants in many countries. This article assessed existing policies and laws addressing human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women in the Caribbean nations of the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. It identified the legislative frameworks and procedures for anti‐trafficking efforts in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago through a comprehensive review of academic literature and policy documents. The analysis focused on evaluating the successes and challenges in implementing these policies. Findings revealed that while both countries had established anti‐trafficking laws, several structural, economic, social, and political barriers prevented effective interventions catering to the needs of vulnerable populations. Based on the analysis, recommendations were made to mitigate country and regional human trafficking, with a focus on the protection of women. Key recommendations include enhancing economic opportunities, strengthening social protections, and improving the criminal justice system's capacity to combat trafficking. A reduction in trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago requires comprehensive policy implementation strategies aimed at protecting and supporting at‐risk native and migrant populations, providing sound economic opportunities and social protection, and strengthening effective legal responses to combat trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To systematically map the extent, range and nature of qualitative studies that explored female sex workers' own perspectives on barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare services. Design: A scoping review of the literature utilizing Arksey and O'Malley's method. Data Sources/Review Methods: A search of the electronic databases MEDLINE/ PubMed, PsycNET, Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, HeinOnline, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar was conducted for items published in English between 2001 and 2021. Results: Twenty‐one studies were included in the review, the majority of which were conducted in lower‐middle‐income countries. RHC themes studied were diverse, with a few more studies focusing on STI/HIV, contraceptive use and pregnancy than those focusing on childbirth and postnatal care. The findings indicate barriers in four main domains: socio‐legal barriers, health services‐related barriers, interpersonal barriers and personal history‐related barriers. Stigma was a major multifaceted barrier. Conclusion: Female sex workers experience exclusion in utilizing reproductive healthcare services globally. As such, healthcare services are advised to adopt a nonjudgemental approach, to enhance physical accessibility and to train nurses and other healthcare professionals on reproductive health needs of female sex workers. Finally, knowledge production processes on the RHC of FSW should adopt a holistic view of FSW, by exploring their needs and barriers related to childbirth and maternity care and by including the perspectives of FSW in high‐income countries. Impact: The review offered an in‐depth understanding of female sex workers' own perspectives regarding needs and barriers in utilizing reproductive healthcare services.Findings indicated socio‐legal barriers, health services‐related barriers, interpersonal barriers and personal history‐related barriers.The review could inform the training of nurses and other healthcare professionals in reproductive healthcare services globally.Researchers should adopt a holistic view of female sex workers, by exploring their family planning needs, including barriers related to childbirth, maternity and postpartum care. Reporting Method: We adhered to the EQUATOR guidelines PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR): Checklist and Explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian law prescribes 'protective custody' for sex workers, placing them in carceral shelters after police and NGO-initiated raids and rescues. Frequent allegations of abuse and incidents of escape are followed by media and judicial scrutiny, leaving shelter detention itself unquestioned. This article situates shelter detention in two ways. It examines its legal prescription in the Indian socio-legal context and its connections to global anti-trafficking and anti-immigration contexts. It also engages with Foucauldian concepts and feminist, socio-legal, historical, and anthropological work on India to analyze the power shelter detention instantiates. Next, the article critiques shelter detentionby drawing upon my ethnography at a Mumbai shelter and reflections on methods and ethics, and by tracking how the media and judiciary responded to an escape. Through these methods, approaches, and findings, I argue that shelter detention curtails sex workers' mobilities and impedes their livelihoods through: 1) Its legal prescription, authorizing multiple forms of governance; 2) Its implementation, shaped by challenges of governance delaying sex workers' release; and 3) Media exposés and judicial interventions further intensifying surveillance. The article shows, further, that sex workers' escapes and acts of resistance illuminate not just 'exceptional' abuse, but the routine, ever-expanding forms of governance animating shelter detention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the rise of performance metrics in various aspects of life and their impact on individuals, organizations, and society. The authors argue that while performance metrics are believed to increase transparency and effectiveness, they also have negative effects. They connect the proliferation of metrics to the expansion of neoliberalism and the decline of the public sector. The article critically examines the book "Audit Culture" and raises concerns about its use of scandals as evidence, as well as its limited geographic and cultural scope. The author also challenges the argument that performance metrics always reinforce a neoliberal agenda, highlighting historical and counter-hegemonic uses of metrics. While acknowledging the importance of exposing the negative effects of quantification, the author suggests that further discussion is needed on the relationship between quantification and neoliberal governance. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the history of sexuality during the time of slavery in the United States, with a focus on the experiences of enslaved women and the sexual violence they endured. The author argues that the history of sexuality should include the role of slavery and its use of sexual exploitation as a means of control. The text explores the theories of sexuality developed by enslaved people, the limited possibilities for sexual autonomy and consent, and the impact of slavery's sexual culture on both enslaved and free individuals. It also calls for a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to studying sexuality in the context of slavery and colonialism. [Extracted from the article]

The study of resilience has largely relied on definitions and conceptualizations of resilience produced by academia, with little of the knowledge produced being grounded in the experience and perspectives of those outside academia. The voices of marginalized and stressed populations are particularly rarely integrated into sanctioned institutional discourses of knowledge, reproducing inequality where these institutions have influence. Specifically, little research has explored the ways in which survivors of sex trafficking define and conceptualize resilience. Thus, academic inquiry into survivor resilience may risk missing what is important to survivors themselves regarding the issue. Using thematic analysis, this study explored survivors' responses to the question "What does 'resilience' mean to you?", which resulted in five themes: resilience as (1) resistance, (2) transition, (3) a sustained force over time, (4) transformation, and (5) resources. Participants defined resilience as being primarily a person-centered phenomenon, rather than a process-centered phenomenon, that was the output of their inherent and enduring personal power to survive or overcome and adversity, and to shape their lives in preferred ways despite adversity. Differing from academic definitions of resilience in several significant ways, participants conceptualized resilience as being promoted by external resources and opportunities but existent even in the absence of such resource and opportunities. Findings suggest that for resilience inquiry to resonate with survivors, it must first acknowledge the inherent power of survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the impact of illicit markets on global peace, development, the environment, health, and justice. It identifies various factors that have enabled the growth of illicit markets, including technology, globalization, demography, mobility, inequality, and conflict zones. The article emphasizes the need for a multilateral solution to combat organized crime and illicit activities. It also highlights the importance of research and analytics methodologies, such as behavior analysis, criminal profiling, and sentiment analysis, in disrupting illicit markets. The article concludes by presenting four primary domains of research in this field: digital drug markets, network interdiction models, human trafficking analytics, and maritime piracy analysis. [Extracted from the article]

We consider a new class of multi-period network interdiction problems, where interdiction and restructuring decisions are decided upon before the network is operated and implemented throughout the time horizon. We discuss how we apply this new problem to disrupting domestic sex trafficking networks, and introduce a variant where a second cooperating attacker has the ability to interdict victims and prevent the recruitment of prospective victims. This problem is modeled as a bilevel mixed integer linear program (BMILP), and is solved using column-and-constraint generation with partial information. We also simplify the BMILP when all interdictions are implemented before the network is operated. Modeling-based augmentations are proposed to significantly improve the solution time in a majority of instances tested. We apply our method to synthetic domestic sex trafficking networks, and discuss policy implications from our model. In particular, we show how preventing the recruitment of prospective victims may be as essential to disrupting sex trafficking as interdicting existing participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonprofits must navigate a unique tension—meeting the financial demands of the market while pursuing a social mission. As a result, market and mission concerns are often framed in a competitive, dualistic relationship. However, organizational communication scholars argue that the mission-market tension is a natural, even ontologically defining feature of nonprofits. Thus, rather than seek to resolve these tensions, scholars should examine how organizational members construct the market-mission relationship, as these understandings are essential to strategically navigating market-mission concerns. This study examines how organizational members construct the market-mission relationship at 18 organizations that serve survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, 15 of which operate social enterprises. The findings indicate that organizations frame "the market is the mission but much more," positioning mission and market in a synergistic relationship that births creative possibility and organizational third space. This article charts the local-level tensions organizational members experience, identifying how they are discursively framed and pragmatically navigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The given document is a collection of letters from the board members of the DePaul Journal for Social Justice, expressing their gratitude and reflections on their experiences working on the journal. The letters highlight the passion and dedication of the board members in advocating for social justice and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities. The journal focuses on a range of topics, including wrongful convictions, U.S. citizenship, restorative justice, and immigrant stereotypes. The board members emphasize the importance of promoting change and advancing equity and fairness in the legal system. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Although there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that persons who have been sex trafficked can suffer devastating health consequences and often face challenges accessing suitable care that addresses their health and overall well-being, little existing research has adopted a survivor-informed approach. Centering the voices of sex-trafficked women in this research will provide valuable insights into their health-related experiences and can help lay the foundation for survivor-centric healthcare responses. Methods and analysis: Using a semi-structured interview guide, we will interview women who have been domestically sex trafficked in Ontario; recruitment will continue until data saturation is reached. Interview questions and prompts will elicit information about women's experiences prior to, during, and after their trafficking ordeal, with particular attention paid to their encounters with healthcare providers. Intersectionality theory will inform strategies for recruitment, data collection, and data analysis. Data will be analyzed deductively as well as inductively using Braun and Clarke's six phases of reflexive thematic analysis. The study's design was informed by the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ), which ensures a comprehensive and robust reporting of interview data. We will continue to adhere to the COREQ checklist throughout the data collection, analysis, and findings write-up phases, helping to ensure methodological accuracy and transparency. Discussion: To our knowledge, this will be the first Canada-specific investigation to apply intersectionality theory to explore the experiences of well-being, health, and healthcare from the perspectives of women who have been domestically sex trafficked. The results of this study hold the potential to improve responses to trafficking within the healthcare sector. Specifically, the findings could be used to inform the development of education materials and curricula for medical students and continuing professional education for health and allied healthcare providers. They could also inform the creation of patient experience surveys and intake forms for sex trafficked patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Security Council has adopted Resolution 2653, establishing a targeted sanctions regime to address gang-related violence and arms trafficking in Haiti. The situation in Haiti is dire, with food insecurity, social disruption, and a cholera outbreak exacerbating the crisis. The sanctions regime includes expanded listing criteria, a permanent humanitarian exemption, and the potential involvement of the UN Office of the Ombudsperson in the de-listing process. The regime aims to restrain individuals and entities engaged in criminal activities, violence, human rights abuses, and hindering humanitarian aid delivery. The inclusion of sexual and gender-based violence as a stand-alone criterion is a positive development. The sanctions include a travel ban, assets freeze, and a targeted arms embargo. The regime also provides a comprehensive humanitarian exemption to ensure the timely delivery of aid. The establishment of a Sanctions Committee and the consideration of involving the Ombudsperson in the de-listing process are notable developments. However, it is important to supplement sanctions with other tools such as capacity-building, targeted prosecutions, and multilateral cooperation to achieve lasting peace and security in Haiti. [Extracted from the article]

The article provides a critical review of the film Girls to Buy (Dziewczyny z Dubaju) (2021) by Maria Sadowska in the context of the Polish Dubai-gate scandal and the discourse of the sex trade and trafficking. The intersection of gender, ethnicity and class guides this inquiry into the ways in which both the conservative Polish nationalist agenda and the neo-liberal opposition to such an agenda rely on the phobic Orientalist tropes that configure the Arab world as the main culprit and the 'face' of the kleptocratic capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though much is known about children's sexual abuse disclosure, less attention has been directed towards disclosure in other types of youthful victims, especially those who may be reluctant to tell due to either normative development or victims' specific experiences. Trafficked youth, particularly those who are adolescents, represent one such group. Understanding how suspected youth trafficking victims are questioned by authorities, especially with respect to establishing rapport and trust, is important for informing professionals how to effectively question this unique population of victims to overcome their reluctance. We examined transcripts of interviews conducted by federal interviewers (n = 12,653 question‐answer turns across 33 interviews) and police (n = 4,972 question‐answer turns across 14 interviews) with trafficked youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Interviews were reliably coded for the length of pre‐substantive questioning, provision of instructions and ground rules, and use of rapport building and supportive strategies. Federal interviewers used pre‐substantive instructions and built rapport with potential victims more often than police did. Also, and although infrequently used overall, supportive interviewing strategies were evident more often by federal interviewers than police. Results provide much‐needed knowledge about how law enforcement investigators interview and elicit disclosures from vulnerable populations of adolescent victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homicide is a prevalent cause of death among sex workers, given their increased risk of violence due to proximity to criminal activities such as drug trade and human trafficking. This study analyzes homicide data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) covering 49 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico from 2012 to 2020. Case inclusion criteria included: (1) manner of death of homicide, and (2) sex work‐related circumstance. Descriptive analyses examined victim and injury characteristics, suspect information, and circumstances. The study identified 321 sex work‐related homicides (54% female, 41% male, 6% transgender). Among female victims, 94% were sex workers, and 54% of their suspects were clients. Money conflicts (23%) and other crimes (30%), most often in progress, commonly precipitated homicides of female victims. Substance use problems were reported in 49% of female victims, with 25% of their suspected perpetrators reportedly using substances in the preceding hours. For male victims, 54% were clients and 9% were sex workers. Suspects in male homicides were primarily sex workers (34%) or individuals engaged in sex work‐adjacent criminal activities (36%). Money conflicts (49%), other crimes (47%) most often in progress, and sex trafficking involvement (25%) commonly precipitated homicides with male victims. Transgender sex worker victims were mostly transfeminine (94%) and non‐Hispanic black (89%). Money conflicts (78%) most commonly precipitated homicides among transgender sex worker victims. These findings can inform prevention strategies addressing underlying risk factors for persons involved in sex work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexually oriented establishments across the United States often pose as massage businesses and force victim workers into a hybrid of sex and labor trafficking, simultaneously harming the legitimate massage industry. Stakeholders with varied goals and approaches to dismantling the illicit massage industry all report the need for multi-source data to clearly and transparently identify the worst offenders and highlight patterns in behaviors. We utilize findings from primary stakeholder interviews with law enforcement, regulatory bodies, legitimate massage practitioners, and subject-matter experts from nonprofit organizations to identify data sources and potential indicators of illicit massage businesses (IMBs). We focus our analysis on data from open sources in Texas and Florida including customer reviews and business data from Yelp.com, the U.S. Census, and GIS files such as truck stop, highway, and military base locations. We build two interpretable prediction models, risk scores and optimal decision trees, to determine the risk that a given massage establishment is an IMB. The proposed multi-source data-based approach and interpretable models can be used by stakeholders at all levels to save time and resources, serve victim-workers, and support well informed regulatory efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major challenges associated with applying Operations Research (OR) models to disrupting human trafficking networks is the limited amount of reliable data sources readily available for public use, since operations are intentionally hidden to prevent detection, and data from known operations are often incomplete. To help address this data gap, we propose a network generator for domestic sex trafficking networks by integrating OR concepts and qualitative research. Multiple sources regarding sex trafficking in the upper Midwest of the United States have been triangulated to ensure that networks produced by the generator are realistic, including law enforcement case file analysis, interviews with domain experts, and a survivor-centered advisory group with first-hand knowledge of sex trafficking. The output models the relationships between traffickers, so-called "bottoms", and victims. This generator allows operations researchers to access realistic sex trafficking network structures in a responsible manner that does not disclose identifiable details of the people involved. We demonstrate the use of output networks in exploring policy recommendations from max flow network interdiction with restructuring. To do so, we propose a novel conceptualization of flow as the ability of a trafficker to control their victims. Our results show the importance of understanding how sex traffickers react to disruptions, especially in terms of recruiting new victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex trafficking is one type of human trafficking, which involves scenarios where individuals are not paid and are forced to engage in forced sex, forced prostitution, and sexual slavery. Online advertising is increasingly used by traffickers as an anonymous and efficient method to exploit victims. Large sporting events have been linked to increases in sex trafficking, although there is limited empirical evidence to support this claim. The goal of this study is to answer the following question: What is the relationship between Super Bowls and potential online sex trafficking? Using time series Poisson analysis of secondary data on online sexual service advertisements in Florida during the 2020 and 2021 Super Bowls, which took place in Miami and Tampa, Florida, respectively, the result indicates an increase in online advertisements that exhibit indicators of sex trafficking during the two Super Bowls. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for federal, state, and local law enforcement for improving sex trafficking responses during large sporting events and outlines a future research agenda on the relationship between large sporting events and sex trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies the presence of human trafficking indicators in a UK-based sample of sex workers who advertise their services online. To this end, we developed a crawling and scraping software that enabled the collection of information from 17, 362 advertisements for female sex workers posted on the largest dedicated platform for sex work services in the UK. We then established a set of 10 indicators of human trafficking and a transparent and replicable methodology through which to detect their presence in our sample. Most of the advertisements (58.3%) contained only one indicator, while 3,694 of the advertisements (21.3%) presented 2 indicators of human trafficking. Only 1.7% of the advertisements reported three or more indicators, while there were no advertisements that featured more than four. 3, 255 advertisements (19.0%) did not contain any indicators of human trafficking. Based on this analysis, we propose that this approach constitutes an effective screening process for quickly identifying suspicious cases, which can then be examined by more comprehensive and accurate tools to identify if human trafficking is occurring. We conclude by calling for more empirical research into human trafficking indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and modern slavery have experienced an unprecedented boom over the past decade due to the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly in digital and networked environments. These developments have created new opportunities for human exploitation and illegal profiteering. Adult Services Websites (ASWs), online platforms on which sex workers post profiles advertising their services, are a key conduit for human traffickers to exploit their victims. Alongside profiles of independent sex workers, traffickers are posting false ASW profiles, advertising the forced services of their victims and camouflaging these false profiles amongst legitimate adverts. In response, police practitioners are proactively investigating ASWs to identify suspect profiles. A key obstacle for practitioners, however, is to distinguish between ASW profiles posted by independent, consenting sex workers advertising their services, and those posted by traffickers exploiting their victims. The exploratory study presented in this paper seeks to address this particular challenge. Working with a British police force, the researchers in this study gathered existing knowledge on the traffickers' use of ASW profiles to create a bespoke tool of analysis, the Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix (STIM). The aim of this tool has been to identify 'risk indicators' on ASW profiles and to flag these for potential police investigation. This paper presents the results of this exploratory study and its four stages. Furthermore, more broadly, it reflects on the use of evidence-based tools by law enforcement to tackle complex domains of offending such as those of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]