Trafficking - A balanced View

[Lucy Chambers]

I found this article and thought it might interest some of you

http://harlotsparlour.wordpress.com/...ficking-myths/


''We are left with a set of farfetched claims about trafficking, claims that hardly lend themselves to evidence-based policy-making. The available evidence does not allow us to draw any conclusions about the magnitude of the problem. There are no reliable statistics on trafficking in any one nation, let alone worldwide. Even ballpark estimates are guesswork, given the clandestine nature of the sex trade. But precisely because the asserted numbers, trends, and proceeds cannot be verified, they can easily gain a life of their own and a veneer of credibility when repeatedly cited by the media and in government reports. And such grandiose claims certainly have shock value. They alarm the public, generate sensationalized media coverage, and are used to justify huge government expenditures to fight a problem that may have been blown way out of proportion.''



"

[Patricia]

Good article. We need more balanced reporting on trafficking. Sensationalist news coverage doesn't help anyone, other than anti prostitution organisations.

[Lucy Chambers]

Good article. We need more balanced reporting on trafficking. Sensationalist news coverage doesn't help anyone, other than anti prostitution organisations.

Weeelllll, now you mention it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14333370


I'm on a little research mission today

[Apollo1]

Just read the article as regards Trafficking Lucy and it still wouldnt change my mind about the subject of the said article....trafficking is one of the worst things another human being could do to another whether it be the trafficking of one person or a hundred for the monetary gain of the trafficker...i mean the only thing the article referred to were some myths about the abundance of trafficking and it being linked to sex work but this in my opionion is an extremely week argument..it almost seems from the article he is trying to justifying or put trafficking in a good light but it still doesnt matter..people are still being trafficked around the world..

[Sexy Sandy 69]

Good article. The problem with the media is that 'sensationalist journalism' sells newspapers, gets high tv ratings, you would never see headlines such as 'trafficking figures only ???' or 'polictians admit they got trafficking figures wrong'. This wouldn't sell many newspapers, they want to portray the sex industry as full of trafficked, young, vunerable young women. The wider, real life picture doesn't interest them.

I watched a tv programme years ago about the sex industry in London, the undercover reporter was talking to girls he'd met in the massage parlour, who knew when they agreed to go the UK, that they would be working in the sex industry & that they would have to repay the debt to those people who'd brought them over. Now to play devils advocate, to some these girls would be referred to as 'trafficked' but they knew the score & were willing to accept to work in the sex industry. Would you still class these girls as 'trafficked?'

Sandy of Newcastle x

[Stephanie]

“funding for studying trafficking is enormous – in 2009, it was funded worldwide to the tune of nearly a billion US dollars. This is a total greater than the amount of grant money awarded to study lung cancer, which of course, is also devastating, and affects far more people. And spending on trafficking since 2000 has dwarfed the grant awards on such important international health concerns as malnutrition, malaria, or tuberculosis – conditions that kill millions of people worldwide every year, and affect hundreds of millions more.”

If that is so, it is shocking.. Of course every trafficed person is a tragedy in itself, but that the funding would be so skewed, is

shocking.. Worldwide malnutrition (an enourmous problem even in the US), malaria, TB (which by the way now is more and more

difficult to treat due to the emergence of resistant bacteria. The old reliable TB drugs no longer work. It is feared that TB once

again will become an untreatable disease, a de facto death sentence..) .. To think that these very real and pressing health issues

that do in fact cost millions of lives each year, would be pushed aside for an unquantifiable and possibly unmanagable

social ill.. Gives me pause..

On just a moment's reflection, I think trafficking will always be around as long as there are such enourmous differences in

opportunities and wealth between countries/regions.. If one cannot make a decent living where they live, they will be vulnerable

to trafficking either by coercion or deceit... Just a thought.

[Lucy Chambers]

Just read the article as regards Trafficking Lucy and it still wouldnt change my mind about the subject of the said article....trafficking is one of the worst things another human being could do to another whether it be the trafficking of one person or a hundred for the monetary gain of the trafficker...i mean the only thing the article referred to were some myths about the abundance of trafficking and it being linked to sex work but this in my opionion is an extremely week argument..it almost seems from the article he is trying to justifying or put trafficking in a good light but it still doesnt matter..people are still being trafficked around the world..

I don't think anyone is trying to change minds about the horror of trafficking. Merely pointing out that the scale of the problem may not be quite what the likes of Ruhama are trying to tell you.

I keep my own council on these issues. I do believe that economic migration should be considered a greater cause, but then again I have worked in the Industry


http://www.independent.ie/opinion/an...y-2859814.html

[Apollo1]

But dont you think if there was a drive towards only letting true independents advertise within the industry that other organisations will take it more seriously???..and you have also worked in the industry as an independent who wasnt trafficked

[Patricia]

Just read the article as regards Trafficking Lucy and it still wouldnt change my mind about the subject of the said article....trafficking is one of the worst things another human being could do to another whether it be the trafficking of one person or a hundred for the monetary gain of the trafficker...i mean the only thing the article referred to were some myths about the abundance of trafficking and it being linked to sex work but this in my opionion is an extremely week argument..it almost seems from the article he is trying to justifying or put trafficking in a good light but it still doesnt matter..people are still being trafficked around the world..

Of course trafficking is abhorrent, I don't think any right minded person would argue otherwise. This is precisely why it needs to be taken seriously, not be an issue that is sensationalised to sell newspapers and drive anti-prostitution feeling.

[Lucy Chambers]

But dont you think if there was a drive towards only letting true independents advertise within the industry that other organisations will take it more seriously???

Oh for gods sake, I see naivety is catching. I very much doubt the Magdalene Sisters will embrace me if they think I am independently selling my stash as it were old chap
Im not in the mood for silly discussions about the responsibility of Advertising Companies towards the Sex Industry, it's a bit if a non starter when you advertise goods on the Interwebz, ask Ebay.