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The Media and Human Trafficking: A Discussion and Critique of the Dominant Narrative

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Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue

Abstract

Media shapes what we know, what we believe, what we prioritize, and ultimately how society confronts many problems. Media portrayals of human trafficking, which often depart from the actual experiences of trafficked persons, offer a singular narrative that lacks nuance. The impact of this is felt deeply in the anti-trafficking community, evidenced by jurors who cannot comprehend trafficking outside of the sex industry; funding allocations that emphasize raids and “rescues” which often lead to human rights violations; and policies which focus on criminal justice responses and inadequately support long-term services for survivors. This chapter offers a starting point for a deeper discussion about the way the public understands human trafficking in and through media portrayals. It examines the dominant narrative the media has created in contrast to the full picture of trafficking in the USA and offers recommendations for journalists, anti-trafficking advocates, and media consumers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Both the HHS and OVC data carry an important caveat: The HHS National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (TVAP) is only for foreign national survivors of trafficking. Hence, numbers of federally recognized labor trafficking survivors, who tend to be foreign nationals, are relatively high in comparison to sex trafficking survivors. The OVC programs serve all survivors, but unlike the TVAP program OVC services are not nation-wide.

  2. 2.

    The H2-B program allows certain US employers or US agents to hire foreign nationals to work in the USA, to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs.

  3. 3.

    The term “trading sex ” is used here to reflect the diversity of experiences and ages involved in the study, which included both youth under 18 and youth 18 and over. All youth under 18 involved in commercial sex are victims of trafficking under federal and many state laws.

  4. 4.

    In 2008, USA states began passing the so-called Safe Harbor laws, designed to recognize that youth under 18 involved in commercial sex are victims and not perpetrators, and should not be treated as perpetrators with arrest. Despite good intentions, rarely have these laws achieved such outcomes, and many jurisdictions still require arrest or detainment of youth for them to access services.

  5. 5.

    Cisgender: denoting or relating to a person whose affirmed gender conforms to the gender they were assigned at birth; not transgender.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. West Roxbury, MA, USA

    Erin Albright

  2. Sex Worker Project, New York, NY, USA

    Kate D’Adamo

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  1. Erin Albright
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  2. Kate D’Adamo
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Correspondence to Erin Albright .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Makini Chisolm-Straker

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Hanni Stoklosa

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Albright, E., D’Adamo, K. (2017). The Media and Human Trafficking: A Discussion and Critique of the Dominant Narrative. In: Chisolm-Straker, M., Stoklosa, H. (eds) Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47824-1_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47824-1_21

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