(De)Constructing Stereotypes: Media Representations, Social Perceptions, and Legal Responses to Human Trafficking

Examining Social Service Providers’ Representation of Trafficking Victims: A Feminist Postcolonial Lens

“…Previous studies have documented the pervasiveness of certain “ideal victim” stereotypes constructed and reinforced through multiple mainstream sources of knowledge (Rodríguez-López, 2018; Sanford et al, 2016; Wilson and O’Brien, 2016). Specifically, in addition to being a woman trafficked for sexual exploitation, an “ideal” trafficking victim is characterized as someone constantly victimized by multiple other forms of abuse and violence, as being weak and lacking agency, and in need of a rescue to break the cycle of victimization (Baker, 2014; Pajnik, 2010).…”

“…Additionally, various forms of media coverage of trafficking have contributed to constructing certain stereotypes about human trafficking and trafficking victims; these dominant narratives are often oversimplified and not grounded in the complex realities of trafficking and lived experience of trafficking victims (Baker, 2014). For instance, studies found that, compared with labor and other forms of trafficking, trafficking for sexual exploitation in women or children has been disproportionately overrepresented in many mainstream sources of knowledge such as press media, films and television, international reports, and material used in anti-trafficking campaigns (Andrijasevic, 2007; Cheng, 2008; Pajnik, 2010; Rodríguez-López, 2018; Uy, 2011; Wilson & O’Brien, 2016). Victims of trafficking have been overwhelmingly portrayed as ignorant, weak, incompetent, and in need of a heroic rescue (Baker, 2014; Leon, Shdaimah, & Baboolal, 2017; Rodríguez-López, 2018; Sanford, Martínez, & Weitzer, 2016; Wilson & O’Brien, 2016).…”

“…Anti-trafficking social service providers (SSPs) have been taking on the critical task of providing victim support and services, such as victim identification, mental health counseling, case management, and housing (Heffernan & Blythe, 2014; Limoncelli, 2016; Schwarz et al, 2019; Steiner, Kynn, Stylianou, & Postmus, 2018). Mainstream media such as press and television have been playing a key role in disseminating trafficking-related news, reports, and victim stories, all of which can contribute to the public and stakeholders’ perception of human trafficking (Rodríguez-López, 2018). Meanwhile, given their direct contact and professional engagement with the victims, anti-trafficking SSPs are often considered as having great expertise in understanding trafficking victims and their lived realities, and they have also been participating in the knowledge dissemination of trafficking through numerous ways such as delivering educational workshops (e.g., Coalition To Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, n.d.) and offering expertise through interviews with journalists (e.g., Kulish, Robles, & Mazzei, 2019).…”

New media clues and old journalistic habits: Representing the refugees in Romanian media

“…Thus, as the existing literature on moral panic and fear of crime has stressed (Carrabine, 2014; Cohen, 2011; Garland, 2008), we can assess that the association of the refugee with crime leads to stigmatization of the refugees and to their rejection from the society in which they attempt to integrate. But, as the studies on violence against children and trafficking of persons showed (Rodríguez-López, 2018; Weatherred, 2015), the public debate of such topics leads to the increase of general knowledge of the population regarding the risks that refugees are facing and about violations of human rights in their cases.…”

Problematizing the Educational Messaging on Sex Trafficking in the US “End-demand” Movement: The (Mis)Representation of Victims and Anti-Sex Work Rhetoric

“…In these mis/overrepresentations, certain group identities, such as women, children, foreign migrants, and racialized groups, have been mobilized and woven into the prominent narratives of trafficking victimization, and particularly the trafficking that takes place in sex work industries (Bromfield, 2016). These narratives can be found across various “mainstream” platforms, such as news media, trafficking reports, and movies (Cheng, 2008; Pajnik, 2010; Rodrıguez-Lo ´pez, 2018; Uy, 2011; Wilson & O’Brien, 2016). For instance, by examining the representation of trafficking in the annual Trafficking in Persons Reports , Wilson and O’Brien (2016) revealed predominant “ideal” victim images of “weak” and “naïve” young women and children from “the global south” as well as an overrepresentation of victims migrating to be trafficked for forced commercial sex (p. 37).…”