The Lenient Social and Legal Response to Trafficking in Women

Abstract

Trafficking in women for prostitution remains a modern form of slavery. Paradoxically, governments and legal systems tend to target the victims (trafficked women) instead of the criminal traffickers. The present study attempted to investigate the roots of such a lenient social response. Following a consensus perspective, it was first hypothesized that this offense was considered by the public to be a relatively nonserious offense because it involved prostitutes, and second, as in other cases of male violence against women, it was hypothesized that the public views toward this offense were affected by traditional gender-role attitudes toward women. To this end, respondents from a national sample were asked to evaluate hypothetical short crime scenarios representing cases of trafficking in women and other offenses. The findings indicate that the public perceives such criminal acts as serious, both for egalitarian and traditional respondents. This finding challenges the consensual basis of the lenient approach toward traffickers in women. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Scientometric analysis of research from a feminist perspective.

“…Additionally, a Japanese male author (Yohei, 2000) and a man from Israel (Herzog , 2007(Herzog , , 2008 published studies by themselves with a feminist perspective.…”

The Influence of Rape Myth Acceptance on Self-Reported Perceptions of Prostitution and Human Trafficking Among College Students

“…Individuals in the sex trade, like sexual assault and rape victims, are particularly sensitive to negative social reactions, victim-blaming, and whore stigma (Franklin & Menaker, 2014;Herzog, 2008). Victims of sexual assault, victims of rape, and prostitutes are more likely to suffer from poor psychological adjustment, have an unwillingness to disclose future episodes of sexual violence to others, and have a sense of self-blame when met with negative responses from the criminal justice system and informal social supports (Franklin & Menaker, 2014).…”

“…Nevertheless, this finding is important as perceiving sex workers as offenders could compound the stigma they experience as being immoral in addition to being a criminal. Without the criminal stigma attached to sex workers, they may have a greater chance at desisting from the lifestyle and breaking the cycle of victimization and offending (Cotton et al, 2002;Franklin & Menaker, 2014;Halter, 2010;Herzog, 2008;Menaker & Miller, 2013). In an effort to explain more of the variance in perceptions, full models were also run.…”

“…This study controlled for participants' sex, race/ethnicity, age, class standing, major and minor course of study, whether the participant has taken a victimology course, religiosity, frequency of consumption and primary source of news, and previous victimization experienced by the participant or a participant's loved one (see Appendix C for survey items and how items were coded; See Table D-1(a) for demographic survey items) (Cunningham & Cromer, 2016;Herzog, 2008;McMahon & Farmer, 2011;Suarez & Gadalla, 2010;Weitzer, 2010). These items appeared at the end of the survey to avoid influencing previous answers and to effectively enable comparisons between groups of respondents (Mirzaee, 2014).…”

“…Quantifying the extent of "whore stigma" (Herzog, 2008), which is attached to those who work in the sex industry and applies to those forced-known as human trafficking victims-and those who choose to be a sex worker-known as prostitutes-is imperative in identifying victims and creating a safe environment for victims to recover from the trauma they have endured.…”