Blog

KTD LGBTQ

Towards action research with trans women sex workers: Policy, space and social challenges

Authors: Anna Zoli Katherine Johnson Giorgio Cingolani Gianmarco Pulcini

Published: 22 January 2021, Journal of Community Psychology. Available here.

Abstract

Trans women face multiple social, economic and health inequalities and the impact of gender oppression and violence is even more profoundly experienced by trans women sex workers, although in culturally specific ways. This paper presents a pilot study conducted to explore and engage with the context of trans women sex workers in Lido Tre Archi, Italy. In line with the community psychology values of social justice, social change and participation, we outline our engagement process and key challenges observed when attempting action research with such a highly marginalised group. Data were collected in the form of ethnographic notes from informal consultations with different stakeholders and participant observations, and of documents (newspaper articles, picture captions) and were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings are organised in three themes relating to the social, policy and physical context in Lido Tre Archi demonstrating evidence of the contextual challenges and how they intertwine to generate a spiral of marginalisation and social exclusion for the participants. We take a collaborative and reflexive stance in our work and conclude with recommended steps and potential limitations to initiate an action research project.

KTD Migration and Migrants, Public Health

How are Asian and migrant workers in spas, holistic centres, massage parlours and the sex industry affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Author: Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network)

Published January 2021 by Butterfly, available here.

From the Summary

When COVID-19 was first announced in January 2020, Asian workers received the brunt of discrimination and rampant racism. Asian and migrant women working in massage parlours* and the sex industry also faced increased racism and discrimination, and Asian communities are often blamed for the virus itself. Despite sex workers being experts of addressing the pandemic in its early days, they have been left out of emergency responses and government aid.

This report provides a summary of the results from the 106 participants who responded to the survey, detailing how they are affected by COVID-19 and their challenges with accessing government financial supports. Respondents are based in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding areas.

KTD Labor, Trafficking, Youth

The Prevalence and Correlates of Labor and Sex Trafficking in a Community Sample of Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Metro-Atlanta

Authors: Eric R. Wright, Ana LaBoy, Kara Tsukerman, Nicholas Forge, Erin Ruel, Renee Shelby, Madison Higbee, Zoe Webb, Melanie Turner-Harper, Asantewaa Darkwa and Cody Wallace

Published in Social Sciences, January 2021

Abstract

Research suggests that runaway and homeless youth (RHY) in the United States are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. In this paper, we report and analyze estimates of sex and labor trafficking collected as part of the Atlanta Youth Count 2018, a community-based field survey of RHY between the ages of 14 and 25 in the metro-Atlanta area. A total of 564 participants were recruited and completed a survey that included questions about their backgrounds as well as the Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST). We found that 39.9% experienced some form of trafficking while homeless. While 15.6% of the youth reported commercial sexual exploitation while homeless, coerced labor (29.3%) or fraud (25.2%) were even more common experiences. Women, transgender, and gender nonconforming youth, as well young people who had prior system involvement and those who had been homeless for more than a year were the most likely to report having been trafficked. The significance of these findings for research and policy on RHY and trafficking are discussed.

KTD Technology and 230

The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230

Author: Eric Gold

The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230

Technology and Law, May 6 2019

Abstract:

In 2018, Congress passed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (“FOSTA”), designed to attack the online promotion of sex trafficking victims, in part, by reducing Section 230’s scope. FOSTA represents new ground for Congress and the Internet; it peels back Section 230 to create some new legal exposure for online services for the first time in over two decades.

Unfortunately, FOSTA almost certainly will not accomplish Congress’ goals of protecting sex trafficking victims and reducing their victimization. This essay explains why Congress passed FOSTA, how FOSTA modified existing law, why FOSTA has little chance of succeeding, and what FOSTA signals about the future of Section 230 and the Internet.

KTD Technology and 230

All Sex Workers Deserve Protection: How FOSTA/SESTA Overlooks Consensual Sex Workers in an Attempt Protect Sex Trafficking Victims

Author: Heidi Tripp

All Sex Workers Deserve Protection: How FOSTA/SESTA Overlooks Consensual Sex Workers in an Attempt Protect Sex Trafficking Victims

Penn State Law Review, Vol 124, Issue 1. Article 6.

Abstract:

The internet provided consensual sex workers with a sense of safety and community not available on the streets. Screening clients before meeting them, sharing information about dangerous clients, and finding work without relying on pimps turned a historically dangerous profession into a safer, more reliable way to earn a living.

Unfortunately, the internet also provided sex traffickers with a more efficient way to advertise sex trafficking victims without detection by law enforcement. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, websites hosting advertisements of sex trafficking victims were often immune from liability. Section 230, which meant to promote free speech on the internet, repeatedly left these victims without remedy. Congress recognized a need to hold someone responsible for online advertisements of sex trafficking victims. FOSTA/SESTA removed
website immunity under Section 230 to encourage websites to diligently monitor and remove sex trafficking posts or otherwise be held responsible for facilitating the unlawful action. To avoid the work of monitoring content under FOSTA/SESTA, websites removed posting capabilities
previously used by consensual sex workers. Congress failed to consider how the internet protects consensual sex workers and how this protection would be stripped from them in the wake of FOSTA/SESTA.

KTD Criminalization, Technology and 230

Craigslist’s Effect on Violence Against Women

Authors: Cunningham, Scott, Gregory DeAngelo, and John Tripp

Craigslist’s Effect on Violence Against Women

University of West Virginia, 2017.

Description:

Female prostitution is both illegal in most American cities and extremely dangerous, as prostitutes face risks of violence from the environment and clients. Previous studies suggest that prostitution has the highest homicide rate of any female intensive occupation in the United States by several orders of magnitude. Policies that can efficiently minimize these hazards are therefore of prima facie importance. Between 2002 and 2010, Craigslist provided an “erotic services” section on its front page which was used almost exclusively by prostitutes to advertise illegal sex services. The company opened this service in different cities at different points in time. We use a differences-in-differences strategy to identify its causal effect on female safety and find that Craigslist erotic services reduced the female homicide rate by 17.4 percent. We also find modest evidence that erotic services reduced female rape offenses. Our analysis suggests that this reduction in female violence was the result of street prostitutes moving indoors and matching more efficiently with safer clients.

KTD Technology and 230

Erased: The Impact of SESTA-FOSTA & the Removal of Backpage

Authors: Blunt, Danielle, Ariel Wolf and Naomi Lauren

Erased: The Impact of SESTA-FOSTA & the Removal of Backpage

Hacking//Hustling and Whose Corner Is It Anyway. 2020.

Abstract:

Erased is the findings of a community-based, sex worker-led survey that asked sex workers about their experiences since the closure of Backpage and adoption of FOSTA. It shows that the financial situation of the vast majority of research participants has deteriorated, as has their ability to access community and screen clients. It concludes that FOSTA is just the latest example of the US government using anti-trafficking policy and restrictions on technology to police already marginalised people.

KTD Migration and Migrants, Trafficking

Behind the Rescue: How Anti-Trafficking Investigations and Policies Harm Migrant Sex Workers

Authors: Lam, Elene

Behind the Rescue: How Anti-Trafficking Investigations and Policies Harm Migrant Sex Workers

Butterfly Asian Migrant Workers’ Support Network. April 2018.

Abstract:

Behind the Rescue: How Anti-Trafficking Investigations and Policies Harm Migrant Sex Workers details the far-reaching effects of Canadian anti-trafficking investigations and policies on migrant sex workers, their families, and their communities. This report consists of 18 stories told by migrant sex workers to Butterfly. They describe human rights violations migrant sex workers have experienced due to their encounters with Canadian law enforcement agencies.

KTD Migration and Migrants

Briefing Paper: Migrant Sex Workers

Briefing Paper: Migrant Sex Workers

Global Natwork of Sex Worker Projects. 2017.

Description:

This briefing paper explores the human rights barriers that migrant sex workers encounter as a result of their mobility and type of labour. It highlights their lack of access to services, as well as the increased precariousness and exclusion they face due to legal restrictions on cross-border
movement, employment in the sex industry and on sex work itself. This paper also places migrant sex work in the context of international labour migration, as opposed to the paradigm of human trafficking, taking regional and country-level consultations with NSWP member organisations as its starting point.