Poli 328 Blog 2

This week in Poli 328 we discussed several subjects. The most interesting was the Sullivan article about trafficking in human beings. It seems silly to think that people only associate trafficking with sex trafficking, though it is understandable. The image of a young woman forced into prostitution has a much stronger impact than that of a human being of any age forced into some other form of labour. However, as the article notes, trafficking with the intent to prostitute is a minority of the cases. This leads to troubling questions about the silence surrounding the other forms of trafficking. This article reminded me of a great movie I watched last summer. It was called "Human Trafficking", starring Donald Sutherland. It was a movie following three different trafficking victims: one was tricked by her new boyfriend, one was tricked by a fake modelling agent and the third was a little girl kidnapped while on vacation in Asia with her family. It was an eye-opening movie for me and it horrified my mother. As much as I enjoyed the movie, I found two problems with the situation. First of all, it did not address the victims who are trafficked for other reasons. Although they are not being physically violated the way sex trafficking victims are, does not mean that they are not suffering. They deserve just as much attention as the sex trafficking victims. Secondly, the movie pointed out that, even if they are lucky enough to be rescued, trafficking victims are often treated as criminals. They can be treated as illegal immigrants and sent back to their home country to be indicted. They can also be arrested for prostitution. Not only does this perpetuate their suffering but this also makes victims very hesitant to approach law enforcement. Of course, this was a Hollywood movie so it is not entirely trustworthy, but at least it was much more realistic than most movies about the subject.
This week we also watched the Ross Kemp movie about human trafficking. In this, he made a common mistake in talking to those women. He made it sound as though they were too trusting or that they made a mistake or did something wrong. In the Donald Sutherland movie that I watched, the victims are presented in a similar way. However, both of these movies are perpetuated the misconception that these women are tricked or duped or make a mistake. But what about the women who are simply looking for a better life? What about the women who immigrate to another country with the intention of joining the sex trade? Many studies leave out the majority of the victims, and yet no one seems to notice this massive gap in the literature. It is a disturbing thought to say the least.