United States of America

Running from the Rescuers: New US Crusades Against Sex Trafficking and the Rhetoric of Abolition

Citation:

Soderlund, Gretchen. 2005. "Running from the Rescuers: New US Crusades Against Sex Trafficking and the Rhetoric of Abolition." NWSA Journal 17 (3): 64-87.

Author: Gretchen Soderlund

Abstract:

This article analyzes recent developments in U.S. anti-sex trafficking rhetoric and practices. In particular, it traces how pre-9/11 abolitionist legal frameworks have been redeployed in the context of regime change from the Clinton to Bush administrations. In the current political context, combating the traffic in women has become a common denominator political issue, uniting people across the political and religious spectrum against a seemingly indisputable act of oppression and exploitation. However, this essay argues that feminists should be the first to interrogate and critique the premises underlying many claims about global sex trafficking, as well as recent U.S. -based efforts to rescue prostitutes. It places the current raid-and-rehabilitation method of curbing sex trafficking within the broader context of Bush administration and conservative religious approaches to dealing with gender and sexuality on the international scene. 

Keywords: accountability, feminist perspectives, national interest, sex trafficking, prostitution, Bush administration

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Justice, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, Sexuality, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2005

Breach: The National Security Implications of Human Trafficking

Citation:

Rizer, Arthur, and Sheri R. Glaser. 2011. "Breach: The National Security Implications of Human Trafficking." Widener Law Review 17: 69-94.

Authors: Arthur Rizer, Sheri R. Glaser

Keywords: national security, human trafficking

Annotation:

This essay discusses the connection between human trafficking and national security. The authors provide a brief history of trafficking law and a definition of “national security,” and explain how human trafficking is a threat to national security through its origins in unstable countries (on military, economic, and diplomatic levels). Finally, they recommend proper labeling and education about the issue, a unified approach between those whose goal is catching traffickers and those whose goal is national security protection, and a focus on identifying the root of trafficking in unstable country’s inability to protect its citizens.

Topics: Gender, Security, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2011

Sexual Orientation Disclosure, Concealment, Harassment, and Military Cohesion: Perceptions of LGBT Military Veterans

Citation:

Moradi, Bonnie. 2009. "Sexual Orientation Disclosure, Concealment, Harassment, and Military Cohesion: Perceptions of LGBT Military Veterans." Military Psychology 21 (4): 513-33.

Author: Bonnie Moradi

Abstract:

From the perspective of 445 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) U.S. military veterans, the present study examined hypothesized relations of sexual orientation disclosure, concealment, and harassment with unit social and task cohesion. Findings indicated that sexual orientation disclosure was related positively, whereas sexual orientation concealment and harassment were related negatively to social cohesion. Also, through their links with social cohesion, each of these variables was related indirectly to task cohesion. When the set of predictors was examined together, sexual orientation disclosure had a positive direct relation with social cohesion and a positive indirect relation with task cohesion, whereas sexual orientation–based harassment had a negative direct relation with social cohesion and a negative indirect relation with task cohesion. These data provide useful groundwork for evaluating military policies and practices regarding sexual orientation.

Topics: Combatants, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2009

Transgender Discrimination in the Military: The New Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Citation:

Kerrigan, Matthew  F. 2011. "Transgender Discrimination in the Military: The New Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 18 (3): 500-18.

Author: Matthew F. Kerrigan

Abstract:

With the recent repeal of the “Don't Ask Don't Tell” (DADT) policy, gay rights groups celebrated a new victory for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. However, most people do not realize that DADT did not apply to transgender persons. Transgender persons are banned from serving by various regulations within each division of the armed forces and a Department of Defense directive imposing certain psychological and medical restrictions. The restrictions are automatic and do not leave room for case-by-case evaluation of readiness to serve. This paper first examines a study conducted by the Palm Center of the University of California, Santa Barbara, which provides new insight into the plight of transgender service members and veterans. It then discusses the broad-reaching impact of certain military regulations that threaten not only transgender rights, but the rights of all LGBT persons in the military. It then examines the limited case law pertaining to transgender rights and discrimination in the military. Finally, this paper argues that if regulations targeting transgender persons are not reexamined, the repeal of DADT might not truly protect all lesbian, gay and bisexual persons, as the existing regulations leave room for arbitrary discrimination. (PsycINFO)

Keywords: LGBTQ rights, discrimination, Transgender

Topics: Combatants, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Rights, Sexuality Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2011

Significant Steps or Empty Rhetoric? Current Efforts by the United States to Combat Sexual Trafficking near Military Bases

Citation:

Parsons, Brian. 2005. "Significant Steps or Empty Rhetoric? Current Efforts by the United States to Combat Sexual Trafficking near Military Bases." Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights 4 (3): 567-89.

Author: Brian Parsons

Keywords: prostitution, education, sex trafficking, US military bases, activism

Annotation:

This paper examines the sexual trafficking that commonly occurs near U.S. military bases and the legal steps being taken by the U.S. to deal with this issue. Parsons discusses the history of the U.S. military’s involvement with prostitution near its bases, as well as international efforts to combat trafficking, and the strengths and weaknesses of the measures being taken to combat sexual trafficking near military bases. The recommendation is made for better education about the effects of sex trafficking for military personnel, as well as more aggressive policies that will stop civilian contractors from both engaging in trafficking activities and soliciting prostitutes. 

Topics: Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2005

The US Approach to Combating Trafficking in Women: Prosecuting Military Customers. Could It Be Exported?

Citation:

Noone, Michael. 2005. "The US Approach to Combating Trafficking in Women: Prosecuting Military Customers. Could It Be Exported?" Connections: The Quarterly Journal 4 (4): 81-9.

Author: Michael Noone

Abstract:

This paper discusses changes to the US "Manual for Courts Martial" with respect to prostitution. Whereas previous guidelines targeted suppliers rather than customers as part of an anti-trafficking effort, recent changes call for the criminalization of the patronage of a prostitute. The author discusses whether the US model could be transferred to other countries and concludes that before doing so, the respective countries should consider the peculiar legal environment in which the US proposal was developed.

Keywords: prostitution, accountability, military sexual assault, sex trafficking

Annotation:

Noone discusses the U.S. military’s approach to combating human trafficking by criminalizing the customers of a prostitute, rather than focusing on the suppliers. Under this law, a member of the U.S. military would be subject to criminal prosecution even if seeking sex from a prostitute in a country where prostitution is legal. Noone questions whether this same policy could be adopted by other countries, and advises that “before other countries propose similar laws, they should consider the peculiar legal environment in which this proposal was developed, and they should reflect on the difficulties that they would face if they were to try to transplant it” (82).

Topics: Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2005

Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in US-Korea Relations

Citation:

Moon, Katharine H. S. 1997. Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in US-Korea Relations. New York: Columbia University Press.

Author: Katharine H. S. Moon

Abstract:

Drawing on a vast array of data - archival materials, interviews with officials, social workers, and the candid revelations of sex industry workers - Moon explores the way in which the bodies of Korean prostitutes - where, when, and how they worked and lived - were used by the United States and the Korean governments in their security agreements. Weaving together issues of gender, race, sex, the relationship between individuals and the state, and foreign policy, she shows how women such as the Korean prostitutes are marginalized and made invisible in militarily dependent societies both because of the degradation of their work and because of their importance for national security.

Keywords: prostitution, governance, military sexual assault, national security, sex trafficking

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Race, Security, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea, United States of America

Year: 1997

Monitoring the Status of Severe Forms of Trafficking in Foreign Countries: Sanctions Mandated under the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act

Citation:

Mattar, Mohamed Y. 2003. "Monitoring the Status of Severe Forms of Trafficking in Foreign Countries: Sanctions Mandated under the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act." Brown Journal of World Affairs 10: 159-78.

Author: Mohamed Y. Mattar

Abstract:

This article discusses human trafficking from a U.S. foreign policy perspective and examines its growing recognition as a human rights issue. Mattar’s article examines the use of sanctions against countries that do not meet “minimum standard” to combat trafficking. The report makes brief contextual references to the link between armed conflict and trafficking of persons:

Instability, hostile occupation, armed conflict, and civil unrest create social vulnerability of an insecure population that becomes disintegrated, displaced, and easily subjected to trafficking for illicit sexual purposes or forced labor. The collapse of the Soviet Union in particular led to an increase of trafficking activities. Women are trafficked from the former Soviet Union to countries of Western Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Children are being trafficked for military purposes, and recruited to engage in armed forces as young as eight years old, and become subject to forced labor and sexual abuse. (USAID 2004)

Keywords: child soldiers, conflict, global governance, human trafficking, human rights, U.S. foreign policy

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Globalization, Governance, Livelihoods, Militarized Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Rights, Human Rights, Security, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2003

On Torture: Abu Ghraib

Citation:

Puar, Jasbir K. 2005. "On Torture: Abu Ghraib." Radical History Review 93: 13-38.

Author: Jasbir K. Puar

Keywords: prisons, Torture

Topics: International Law, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Rights, Human Rights, Terrorism, Torture, Sexual Torture Regions: MENA, Americas, North America, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq, United States of America

Year: 2005

Abu Ghraib: Arguing Against Exceptionalism

Citation:

Puar, Jasbir K. 2004. "Abu Ghraib: Arguing Against Exceptionalism." Feminist Studies 30 (2): 522-34.

Author: Jasbir K. Puar

Topics: Gender, Men, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, SV against Men, Sexual Torture Regions: Africa, MENA, Americas, North America, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq, United States of America

Year: 2004

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