6 Comments »

1. Wow, synchronicity! I blogged about this in yesterday's column: http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/numerology/

   I guess we were all offended by CNN's Amber Lyon and her fake "report". :-(

   Comment by Maggie McNeill — January 25, 2011 @ 10:03 am

2. There apparently always is a "current outrage" that motivates this kind of non-facts-based activism -- from satanic ritual hysteria to recovered abuse memories hysteria, now pedophilia and sex trafficking... It makes the problem more difficult to assess by basing itself on overblown data.

   Nothing that does not look dispassionately at reality has much chance of improving things. If you don't do research before starting yet another activist movement, you're basically playing roulette about whether your actions will lead to good or evil; and there are more evil than good slots for that ball to fall into, since statistically speaking there always are more random ways of introducing chaos than introducing order.

   Comment by Asehpe — January 25, 2011 @ 2:28 pm

3. Maggie McNeill: I don't actually follow CNN, but the anti-trafficking people are always saying the same things. Of course - UNFORTUNATELY - it's not really about abused and oppressed immigrants, it's about trying to kill the consensual adult sex industry.

   Asehpe: There's a great book on such things called Harmful to Minors by Judith Levine, which covers and dedunks child-related hysterias.

   Comment by Furry Girl — January 28, 2011 @ 7:16 pm

4. I don't watch television, but I was sent a link to their website tie-in the day it aired, so I could read it rather than having to sit through it. :-(

   Comment by Maggie McNeill — January 29, 2011 @ 7:03 pm

5. i never really questioned the numbers, i thought legalized prostitution was how to stop human trafficking

   Comment by bsod — January 29, 2011 @ 8:37 pm

6. bsod: Decriminalization of sex work will certainly help, but it won't completely eliminate that there are some people who do buy and sell sexual slaves. Most human trafficking, however, is for agriculture and domestic labor, not sex. Check out a book called Sex at the Margins for more on the tricky and nuanced issue of trafficking.

   Comment by Furry Girl — February 4, 2011 @ 12:37 am

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