Social service responses to human trafficking

The making of a public health problem

Bibliographic Data

ID15098709
AuthorsA De Shalit (0000-0003-0743-2722, Policy Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, corresponding author), Emily Van Der Meulen (0000-0003-0618-8262, Toronto Metropolitan University), Adrian Guta (0000-0002-1380-2016, University of Windsor)
Year2021
Volume23
Issue12
Pages1717-1732
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2020.1802670
PMID32896219
OpenAlexW3084367763
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited38

Human trafficking has received considerable attention from policymakers, researchers and service providers globally, with resulting interventions often positioning trafficking as something that simply exists. Drawing on Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' approach, this article proposes that trafficking is continually made through efforts designed to eradicate it. We conducted 22 interviews with representatives from social service organisations funded by the government of Ontario, Canada, for anti-trafficking programming. These interviews provide insight into how trafficking is being represented and with what effects. Our findings suggest that organisational initiatives often rely on individualised health-related interventions, such as trauma-informed counselling and other mental health support, to address trafficking. In the process, various sex work activities are deemed 'symptoms' of trafficking, and perceived pathways to engaging in sex work (such as drug use/dependence, a history of trauma and low self-esteem) are produced as 'causes' or 'risk factors'. We contend that by pathologising sex work and sex workers, organisations are employing a contradictory neoliberal paternalism to advance a public health representation of human trafficking that simultaneously responsibilises and disenfranchises purported victims

Business · Criminology · Family medicine · Government (linguistics · Human trafficking · Mental health · Paternalism · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Public health · Public relations · Service (business · Service provider · Sex trafficking · Sex work · Social issues · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Work

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