Melissa Ditmore, Ph.D., was the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Board of the Sex Workers Project and is a consultant on issues of sex work, mobility and migration, HIV and sexual health. She edited the Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work (Greenwood Press, 2006). She has also written about sex work, migration and trafficking for The Lancet and SIECUS Report and has contributed to Sex for Sale (Routledge, 2010), Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered (Paradigm, 2005), and Affective Turn (Duke, 2007.) Dr. Ditmore has spoken about prostitution, migration rights and research ethics at the United Nations, the International Conference on HIV/AIDS, Columbia University, Cornell University, Hong Kong City University and numerous academic and political conferences.
We continue to push President Barack Obama to recognize trafficking for what it is and not get mixed up in the politics of advocates who are not as focused on addressing the climate of fear and coercion endured by so many workers around the world.
Trafficking in persons is often referred to as “modern-day slavery.” Historical grounding confirms that the reference to slavery, while not exactly on point, is relevant.
A Human Rights Watch report documents police abuse of Cambodian sex workers, including rape, beatings, and deprivation of medical care. US policy is making the situation worse.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is important because violence against anyone is unacceptable, no matter their gender.
I reviewed Siddarth Kara’s book. He is strong on structural issues but his book turns to salacious material and hero fantasies.
Research for Sex Work 11 is online. It’s the only journal of its kind, with contributions from sex workers, health workers and NGO staff. Articles from India, Mali, Spain, the UK and the US, illustrated with beautiful photographs by Mathilde Bouvard, discuss pleasure and sex work, the failures of raids to help trafficked persons, violence against sex workers and more.
The State Department’s new Trafficking in Persons report suggests that the Obama administration will opt for evidence-based responses to trafficking over putting restrictions on women "for their own good."
Researchers investigating online access to information about sexuality find out that the service they use to communicate has a policy prohibiting adult content. Will it affect them beyond being part of the study?
Around the world, people turn to sex work in the hopes of earning a living wage – and maybe even to support their families. But misguided policies routinely deny them that right.
Sex workers’ health care is often sacrificed on the altar of U.S. funding.
