To truly combat human trafficking we must choose and use images wisely.
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“We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images.” -Salvador Dali
Google search “human trafficking” and then select Images. Now do the same for the term “sex trafficking.” Notice anything different? Not really.
And therein lies the problem.
The campaign against human trafficking has propelled itself into international conversations, in part, thanks to its brilliant use of imagery. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these images involve nearly naked young women with their mouths covered or their ankles chained to beds or their wrists wrapped in duct tape. The photos are shocking and are the types of crisis imagery used in campaigns to save diseased elephants in Thailand or help children with cleft lips in Rwanda. They work by stirring our emotions, quenching our thirst for concrete images and making us hungry to help. Unfortunately, and as it relates to the anti-slavery movement, it seems these images are also severely limiting our definition of one of the world’s most complex crimes.
“Such images are designed to pull at the heartstrings of the general public – and one could argue are very successful at doing that, generating millions of dollars – but they invariably fail to reveal and explore the complexities of many issues surrounding exploitation,” said Alastair Hilton of First Step Cambodia, an NGO dedicated to ensuring that male survivors have access to services for healing and recovery. “They essentially disguise the reality of abuse in many situations, especially where the sexual abuse of boys and young men is concerned. This ‘feminisation of victimisation’, reinforces the notion that males cannot be victims and marginalises what most male victims experience, which further renders them invisible, voiceless – and we know the consequences of this all too well.”
Missing the complexities can have disastrous consequences, such as spurring on the creation of laws in which those convicted of trafficking may have to register as sex offenders even if their crime had nothing to do with sex.
Christiaan Bosman, founder of Open Hand India, a café and textile chain that works to end human trafficking through ethical business and responsible supply chains, believes that charities operating like big brands is skewing our image of human trafficking as well.
“If for a moment the person who acts against slavery and sex trafficking did not need money from anyone I believe that even the very nature of what is reported and how it is reported would change. The public would finally get a truer glimpse into the immensity of this problem.”
The impact of money and branding has created anti-slavery organizations whereby the CEO’s are essentially wealthy rockstars. They generate large sums of money for the cause, and for themselves. In many cases, superstardom has rolled over the cause like thick fog.
Bosman echoed Hilton’s comments when he said, “Not only do these images misrepresent human trafficking by overemphasizing sex, but they’re actually distorting the sex trafficking picture as well. For example, when I speak about sex slavery very few people are informed as to how big the problem is for young, vulnerable boys and men. For a variety of reasons, it’s simply not a narrative that sells as well as the stories about girls for sale.”
Helen Sworn is the International Director & Founder of Chab Dai, a Cambodia-based group committed to addressing human trafficking through facilitation of cross-sector and multi-organization collaboration. She has studied what she calls the “stages of images” within the anti-slavery movement and she broke it down like this:
“The first stage is emergency response and it’s important to note how the imagery at this stage focuses on the individual and is shocking – dead bodies, devastated community members, traumatised individuals, etc. This is often the catalyst for public response, and, of course, donations.
“The next stage sees the shift from relief to recovery. The imagery here makes a transition to seeing hope and life beyond the trauma – of families being reunited, lives being turned around for the better, people working together, etc.”
The message here seems to be that the evolution of survivor services and even awareness campaigns within the anti-slavery sector demands a concurrent evolution of representational imagery and media.
Sworn summarized this need beautifully when she said, “We can no longer solve today’s problems with yesterday’s mindsets, images, solutions. We must challenge ourselves to broaden the discourse and framework of response if we are ever to create a more sustainable and empowered structure for the future.”
In what ways can we – as modernist poet Ezra Pound advocated – “make it new?” In what ways can we expand our collective definition of human trafficking? And how can the imagery we associate with this crime develop in such a way as to support a broader, more intricate discourse?
See Also:
Never To Be Sold Again: Breaking the Cycle of Child Sex Slavery
Until There’s Blood: The Sexual Abuse of Boys in Cambodia
Human Trafficking: The Other 20%
The Misconceptions of Human Trafficking
The image problem is but a symptom of larger societal issues.The bias at the root of it extends well past the boundary of gender.Nonetheless,we fool ourselves into believing that we live in a free society.Worse yet,progressives don’t see their own contribution to this cycle.This presumption leads to denial and eventual paralysis by analysis.In a free and equal society,there would be no need for VAWA to include anyone as the law would be inclusive.Boys would not be suffering in schools so that girls could have equality.Robbing Peter to pay Paul has always been our response to rectifying inequalities.We mistakenly believe that… Read more »
I think the real problem is emphasizing the victimhood of both sexes. After the days of Germane Greer, I believe the feminism has more and more stressed the ways in which women are disadvantaged. These are mostly true, but the stance has reified “victimhood,” in ways that Paglia and Roiphe, for example, have pointed out. Yes, we need to use some policy to deal with this, but we need to help women become more strengths-based, not more victim-like. All the emphasis on uncomfortableness or offendedness has the unintended consequence of making women seem passive, and convincing them that they are.… Read more »
The simple fact of the matter is that men are not as cute, cuddly or as innocent as women and girls. Our relative lack of sympathetic characteristics rubs off on boys. Such is life.
Well, as we all know, no one really cares about men or boys. Them’s the facts.
Sad, but meh, whatever. That’s life.
They show us those images as if it is something healthy for us to see. Instead, those images just churn up the demons of many women and rubs every nerve until it hurts. Sex trafficking hurts, but so does that culture of fear! There are two other things I can point out about all those “save the women” ads; 1) They are often used as excuses for racism! Whenever someone wants to justify racism against the “pimp n*ggers”, the “outdated” muslims, the latinos or asians, they say “Look at how they treat their women!”. Think of the last action movie… Read more »
Now do the same for the term “sex trafficking.” Notice anything different? Not really. Well now that’s not a surprise When I ran that search the only males that came up were images of men who had hired child prostitutes and that shaming campaign about how “Real men don’t buy girls” from a year or so ago. Definitely a problem. In the conversation on sex trafficking males have two places. They are either perps or they “real men” that fight against it. For a variety of reasons, it’s simply not a narrative that sells as well as the stories about… Read more »
As shocking and uncomfortable as the images of women are, I think people are even more uncomfortable seeing men and boys in the same situation. So uncomfortable in fact, that perhaps they wouldn’t respond as readily and would instead turn away and not look back…That’s just my own opinion, but it’s something I have thought about for a long time. We have a much harder time seeing and accepting the vulnerability of men, but we are accustomed to seeing women in those situations so as horrible as it may be we are conditioned to respond “appropriately” when we see those… Read more »
As shocking and uncomfortable as the images of women are, I think people are even more uncomfortable seeing men and boys in the same situation. So uncomfortable in fact, that perhaps they wouldn’t respond as readily and would instead turn away and not look back…That’s just my own opinion, but it’s something I have thought about for a long time. While I agree that people have a problem with being uncomfortable with seeing men and boys in such situations I’m of the mind that at least part of that discomfort comes from a starting point that casts males as perps.… Read more »
Yeah, you might also be right.
But, majority of people are not aware of, or indifferent to, the fact that males are also victims when it comes to trafficking. Because when most people hear a human trafficking, they have limited ideas: organ or sex trafficking like that??
In fact, even I didn’t know the gravity of the trafficking around the world before I frequent Cameron’s postings
What I mean is people might be ignorant of the essence of this crime