Wish I could go, but I can’t. If you can, please do. She’s excellent, and needs support in case NOW sends hecklers.

Trafficking, migration and the sex industry: Framing the questions, Providing the proofs

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
6:45pm – 9:00pm
Rockefeller University, Weiss Building Room 305
York avenue at 66th St: Enter the campus at 66th Street

Subway: Lexington Avenue Local #6 to 68th Street/Lexington Avenue Station; walk east
Buses: M31 (York Avenue/57th St crosstown) and M66 (68th St crosstown)

Laura Agustín is author of Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry (Zed Books 2007). Laura Agustín studies cultural, sexual and postcolonial issues linking commercial sex, migration, informal economies and feminist theory. Her research amongst migrants and social helpers challenges several contemporary myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work; that migrants who sell sex are always passive victims; and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest.

Agustín argues that the label ‘trafficked’ does not describe migrants’ lives and that a Rescue Industry disempowers them. Frequently, says Agustín, migrants prefer to work in the sex industry to their other options, and, despite being treated like a marginalised group, they form part of a dynamic global economy. Her blog Border Thinking | Migration | Trafficking | Sex Industry | Prostitution is visited by 1500 people daily.