October 27, 2011
Melissa Farley, Nicole Matthews, Sarah Deer, Guadalupe Lopez, Christine Stark, Eileen Hudon

A research study about the prostitution and trafficking of 105 Native Women produced by Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition and Prostitution Research & Education has found that:

• The women were prostituted and trafficked in multiple locations including indoor (strip cubs, private homes, hotels, bars, escort) and street prostitution.


• About half of the women had been trafficked, almost all engaged in prostitution in order to survive, often under pimp or gang control.


• Extreme and frequent violence was committed against these women over the course of their lives. 79% had been sexually assaulted by an average of 4 perpetrators. 92% had been raped. 84% had been physically assaulted in prostitution. 72% had suffered traumatic brain injuries from violence in prostitution.


• Racism was linked to sexism in prostitution and caused the women great emotional distress.


• A majority of the women had symptoms of PTSD and dissociation as a result of sexual violence.


• 98% of the women were currently or previously homeless; 92% wanted to escape prostitution but did not have other options.


• Many women expressed a need for counseling, health care, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, homeless shelters, and substance abuse treatment centers that


• Incorporated Native cultural traditions into the healing services provided.


• The authors of the study stress that the women's strengths as well as their vulnerabilities must be seen in the context of a history of colonial harm on Native people, racism, poverty, and a lack of housing, lack of equitable healthcare, and lack of job/educational opportunities.

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October 22, 2011

This 2011 article by Catharine A. MacKinnon in Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review Volume 46, pages 271-309, takes on the challenging issues currently being debated regarding prostitution and supporting the Nordic model, which she and Andrea Dworkin conceived.

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Download 2-page statement

February 18, 2011

There are points of agreement between abolitionists and non-abolitionists regarding
trafficking. There is agreement that trafficking is harmful and that it is a gendered component of economic globalization. There is no argument about how to prevent trafficking for prostitution. All agree that sex discrimination, race discrimination, and economic injustice are at the root of women's inability to avoid prostitution. A solution to the
problem of trafficking arising out of this consensus would be to implement programs that promote sex, race, and economic equality, offering women alternatives to prostitution.

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Myths and Facts about Trafficking for Legal and Illegal Prostitution (March 2009)

1. MYTH: Legalizing prostitution gets rid of its criminal elements - pimps and traffickers.
FACT: Legalizing prostitution benefits pimps and traffickers. It also benefits johns.

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Thomas Dart, Sheriff of Cook County Illinois sued Craigslist, Inc. for pimping and trafficking of women and children on its "Adult Services" and "Erotic Services" sections of its advertising website. The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) submitted an Amicus Brief in support of Sheriff Dart.

Amicus Brief

Craigslist benefits financially from the advertisements on its website, profiting from an integral role in sex trafficking, taking a pimp's cut.

By creating a special place for those seeking to buy and sell prostituted sex, craigslist has dedicated a portion of its website to johns and pimps. This controlled space provides an extraordinary opportunity for coordinating domestic and international sex trafficking.

Sexually exploited elite, socially invisible harms, denied harms. There is a pyramid-like hierarchy in prostitution. At the top are a very few women - only about 2% of all those in prostitution - who service a few men for a lot of money in a short period of time in their lives - and then they get out, or are bought by one man who supports them.

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Book released May 2007

From a conference sponsored by Captive Daughters and DePaul University in Chicago

Essays by: Catharine MacKinnon, Esohe Aghatise, Julie Bindel, Robert Jensen, Gail Dines, Anna Agathangelou, Neil Malamuth, Eileen Pitipan, Melissa Farley, Christopher Kendall, Diana Russell, Vednita Carter, Chris Stark, Annalisa Enrile, Chyng Sun, Ken Franzblau, Michelle Dempsey, Janine Benedet, Rebecca Whisnant, Rus Ervin Funk. Edited by David E. Guinn with Julie DiCaro

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Marisa B. Ugarte, Laura Zarate, and Melissa Farley 2003

In this article, researchers describe the historical background of sex trafficking from Mexico to the United States. Researchers summarize two case examples that illustrate the complexity of providing physical and emotional safety, as well as immigration protection to victims of trafficking into prostitution. Researchers emphasize the importance of understanding the varied cultural contexts in which sexual exploitation, rape, prostitution and trafficking occur.

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Melissa Farley (editor) 2003

With 32 contributors, this book offers an analysis of prostitution and trafficking as organized interpersonal violence. Even in public health and criminal justice, prostitution is often misunderstood as "sex work." The book includes clinical examples, analysis, and original research that counteract common myths about the harmlessness of prostitution to those in it. Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress documents the violence that runs like a constant thread through all types of prostitution including escort, brothel, trafficking, strip club, and street prostitution. International in scope, the book�s contributors include clinical experts in traumatic stress, attorneys and advocates who work with trafficked women and children and prostituted women.

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Lara Fergus, June 2005

Report on Australian sex trafficking for the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault.

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Onnie Wilson 2000

Brief article that makes the connections between globalization and the exploitation of women in prostitution.

Donna Hughes 2000

Discussion of trafficking with emphasis on Ukrainian women's experiences.

Click here to continue reading article (PDF format).

Amy O'Neill Richard 1999

US intelligence estimates of the extent of (and profits from) trafficking of women and children into the US. Summary of countries where victims come from and descriptions of organized crime syndicates that sell humans.