ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that contemporary discourses on trafficking, including migration and crime control, fail to adequately acknowledge unequal gender orders that form conducive contexts for prostitution and trafficking, domestically and internationally. It presents the key themes from life story interviews with a small sample of women in prostitution and digital arts images created in arts workshops with women on the theme of 'My Body Myself', using a methodology developed by Maggie O'Neill to represent women's lived experience. This book provides a detailed analysis of how social and criminal framings of prostitution influenced law and policy formulation. It analyses the representation of prostitution in contemporary Western sexualized popular culture, and suggests that many constitute a form of what philosopher Pierre Bourdieu refers to as 'symbolic violence', concealing gendered power relations.
