The US issues “report cards” resulting in exportation of anti-prostitution ideologies. The TIP report is primarily told in footage from “Trading Women” by anthropologist David A. Feingold. A summary of impact of US strategies is offered by Professor Kamala Kempadoo, and United Nations High Commissioner in Human Rights (Nepal) Jyoti Sanghera. (work-in-progress)

Project Description: This series includes short segments of a history focusing on the impact of anti-trafficking campaigns on sex workers within the last century, and the role of the US in a campaign to further the criminalization of sex work around the globe.

Anti-trafficking is a sacred cow, but behind this humanitarian concern is a century-old movement that historically reflects xenophobia and prostitution abolitionism. This project offers a historical review of  early 20th century anti-trafficking campaigns, a survey of trafficking portrayals in the media and a discussion of sex worker rights in these contexts. “When I first heard about the resurgence of the white slavery/trafficking framework, I knew that I had to show how this moral panic has historically resulted in discriminatory immigration policies, increased criminalization of sex work and few solutions for individuals who are victims of forced labor.”