Melissa Farley
The Prostitution and Trafficking of American Indian/Alaska Native Women in Minnesota
No Amnesty for Women
In August 2015, Amnesty International voted to support pimps and sex buyers rather than people in prostitution – 90% of whom are not “voluntary sex workers” but people who ended up in prostitution as a last-ditch survival alternative and who urgently want to escape it. Please support groups that provide for and advocate for what […]
Pornography, Prostitution, & Trafficking: Making the Connections
Opinion: Why Spitzer Should Be Prosecuted
The state of New York has comprehensive anti-trafficking laws, prosecuting buyers of prostituted women. Melissa Farley and Norma Ramos outline why New York Governor Eliot Spitzer should be held legally responsible for buying sex.
Prostitution, Liberalism, and Slavery
This article critiques the liberal “prostitution-can-be-fixed-or-improved” perspective of liberals and defends an abolitionist approach that views prostitution as slavery or slavery-like practices.
Prostitution and Trafficking – Quick Facts
Introductory facts and descriptive summaries for those wanting to get more involved and have a deeper understanding of the issues. Carefully documented.
Indoor Versus Outdoor Prostitution in Rhode Island
“Nobody really wants to be sold,” a woman in a Nevada legal brothel explained to me. Even if you know that simple fact — that prostitution is an abusive institution for any human — maybe you still think it can be made not so bad. Maybe you think that if prostitution happens under a roof, […]
Trafficking: Theory vs Reality (2009) Women’s Studies International Forum
This article presents evidence for the links between prostitution and trafficking, using examples of New Zealand, USA, and India. Men’s demand for trafficked women cannot be distinguished from the demand for prostitution. The same qualities in women that are sought by men who buy sex are also risk factors for trafficking, for example, young age, […]
Intelligence Squared Debate “It’s wrong to pay for sex”
Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Myths & Facts About Nevada Legal Prostitution
A new fact sheet on legal prostitution in Nevada is available on the Nevada Coalition Against Sex Trafficking (NCAST) web site.
No Decriminalization of Traffickers – NoonK.net
PRE has documented the harms of decriminalized prostitution on this website for many years. Now, San Francisco voters face a real risk of across-the-board decriminalization of the sex industry. Melissa Farley recently wrote this op-ed piece (October 17, 2008)
Prostitution Policy Recommendations to the City of San Francisco
Strongly criminalizing johns is the most effective legal approach to date to the harms of violence and exploitation that prostitution inflicts on those used in it. Many countries, some states, and international law support this approach, which San Francisco could readily adopt, along with other legal and social initiatives building on existing law, policy, and […]
Human Trafficking and Prostitution
Brief overview of human trafficking and prostitution written for Psychologists for Social Responsibility.
Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections
A 2-year research study of Nevada legal and illegal prostitution and sex trafficking reveals human rights violations against women in the Nevada legal brothels. This book explains how the multibillion-dollar illegal sex industry in Las Vegas works. Making connections between legal and illegal prostitution, prostitution and sex trafficking, advertising for prostitution, political corruption, pornography, and […]
Renting an Organ for 10 Minutes:’ What Tricks Tell Us About Prostitution
This article explores the perspective of a “trick”, the perspective of a woman in prostitution, research on the effects of pornography on women in prostitution, and where the tricks/customers/buyers/predators are despite their attempts to remain invisible and anonymous.
Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order To Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly
This article discusses and analyzes empirical data on the harms of prostitution, pornography and trafficking. This information has to be culturally, psychologically, and legally denied or ignored because to know and acknowledge it would interfere with the business of sexual exploitation.
Unequal
This article responds to Debbie Nathan’s “Oversexed” (Nation, August 29, 2005). Nathan sympathizes with those on the Left who consider prostitution a form of labor rather than violence against women. Nathan criticizes abolitionist feminists who think that women in prostitution deserve more in life than a condom and a cup of coffee. We feminists think […]
Prostitution Harms Women Even if Indoors
This article describes the social invisibility of indoor prostitution, points out the lack of evidence suggesting that indoor prostitution is “safe,” and summarizes the testimony of women who reported violence in strip club prostitution and warnings about violence from groups promoting indoor prostitution.
‘Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart': Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Decriminalized
With examples from a 2003 New Zealand prostitution law, this article discusses the logical inconsistencies in laws sponsoring prostitution and includes evidence for the physical, emotional, and social harms of prostitution. These harms are not decreased by legalization or decriminalization. The article addresses the confusion caused by organizations that oppose trafficking but at the same […]
Prostitution and the Invisibility of Harm
The harm of prostitution is socially invisible, and it is also invisible in the law, in public health, and in psychology. This article addresses origins of this invisibility, how words in current usage promote the invisibility of prostitution�s harm, and how public health perspectives and psychological theory tend to ignore the harm done by men […]
Prostitution and Trafficking of Women and Children from Mexico to the United States
A description of the historical background of sex trafficking from Mexico to the United States and summaries of two cases illustrating the complexity of providing physical and emotional safety and immigration protection to victims of trafficking into prostitution. Emphasis on understanding the varied cultural contexts in which sexual exploitation, rape, prostitution and trafficking occur.