exploitation

Corinne Schwarz, Oklahoma State University The idea that sex trafficking is an urgent social problem is woven into American media stories, from reports of Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s alleged trafficking of teenage girls to debunked QAnon conspiracy theories about a sexual slavery ring run through online retailer Wayfair. The common perception of sex trafficking involves a young, passive woman captured by an aggressive trafficker. The woman is hidden and waiting to be rescued by law enforcement. She is probably white, because, as the legal scholar Jayashri Srikantiah writes, the “iconic victim” of trafficking usually is depicted this way. This is essentially the plot of the “Taken” movies, in which teenage Americans are kidnapped abroad and sold into sexual slavery. Such concerns f...

The mixed martial arts pay-per-view event UFC 261 features two bouts that would have been unheard of just 10 years ago. Russian-born Valentina Shevchenko will fight Jessica Andrade, a Brazilian and an out lesbian, for the women’s flyweight title on April 24, 2021. That same night, Rose Namajunas, an American of Lithuanian descent, will square off against Zhang Weili, who has caused the popularity of the UFC to surge in her native China, for the women’s strawweight title. The rise of women in mixed martial arts – which the late Sen. John McCain once derided as “human cockfighting” – is remarkable, and reflects the diversity and global appeal of the sport. But as I write in my new book, “Fighting Visibility: Sports Women and Female Athletes in the UFC,” it’s important for fans and spectat...

Tag: exploitation

1 real-world way to prevent sexual exploitation – 4 myths debunked – Sex trafficking isn’t what you think

Obscures Profound Exploitation, Inequality – The Rise Of Female UFC Fighters