Traffic Violations: Determining the Meaning of Violence in Sexual Trafficking Versus Sex Work

In her discussion of international sex trafficking and migrant sex work, the author argues that trafficking, prostitution and violence are often and mistakenly considered to be synonymous. She notes that a dominant international discourse that is based in White slavery narratives is one cause of this conflation, and she advocates a new discourse about sex work and violence that conceptualizes trafficking as an occupational hazard for migrant sex workers. She argues that such a discourse would allow migrant sex workers' experiences to not be defined solely by the issue of trafficking, but also by issues of health and human rights. [Descriptors: Migration - Trafficking, International]