ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a narrative analysis of media coverage of sex trafficking, revealing how the media’s use of romance or boyfriending-in narratives perpetuates stereotypes and stigmatization of trafficking victims. Stories about how young women boyfriend-in to sex trafficking may share cultural scripts with news coverage of other forms of gendered violence such as rape and domestic violence. In contrast, young women were usually characterized in these boyfriending-in narratives as lacking power. Many victims are groomed by traffickers who present themselves as romantic suitors, and thus journalists and their sources have adopted the motif of the Romeo pimp to describe how young women can be lured into trafficking and become bonded to their trafficker. The media are a primary source of information about social issues, including sex trafficking. In the trafficking coverage, details about the relationship could mistakenly imply consent, and thus delegitimize claims of abuse and indulge victim-blaming.
