1. Demonizing tales<\/strong> Eden<\/em> is a feature length film directed by Seattle filmmaker Megan Griffiths derived from the allegedly true story of Chong Kim. The protagonist (actress Jamie Chung) \u2013 a na\u00efve 17 year old girl with hard working, Korean immigrant, Christian parents \u2013 is kidnapped and brought to a warehouse\/jail with dozens of thin, young, feminine, cisgender, and (mostly white) girls who are forced to stand obediently in line wearing identical white underwear-tanktop sets. The protagonist\u2019s (now renamed \u201cEden\u201d) first assignment is on a BDSM porn set; she sobs as her hands are handcuffed and pulled upward. At her next job Eden attempts a dramatic escape; bloody and screaming she runs into a suburban backyard with white women drinking white wine (they don\u2019t call the police and Eden is recaptured). We learn that Eden\u2019s best friend in the prison\/brothel was stolen at age 13, and when her friend gets pregnant and gives birth, her baby is also stolen and sold. A message portrayed in Eden<\/em> is that when girls disobey or simply grow too old for the work (20+ years of age) they are executed. The film also implies that this sex trafficking operation is part of an international network directed from outside the US. Although the external controller is never named, there are Russian men working for the operation and Dubai is frequently mentioned. This includes a scene where the drug-addicted supervisor (Vaughn\/Matt O\u2019Leary) threatens Svletlana (Naama Kates), a blonde Russian woman with being sent back to Dubai, where she \u201ccan get dicked by donkeys all day.\u201d<\/p>\n If these themes are not enough to convince the average American viewer that the world of sex work is pure evil (relying on enslaved cisgender girls enacting forced BDSM porn and probably dictated by an international network of men from Russia and the Middle East who have sex with donkeys), the film hits home the message with multiple Biblical references and metaphors.<\/p>\n This includes the obvious metaphor about the Garden of Eden. It also includes a scene where God appears in the body of a tall white deputy named Ron Greer (Tony Doupe). When Greer questions the corrupt, murderous federal marshal Bob Gault (Beau Bridges) about his possible role in a double homicide, Gault\/Bridges looks upward with fear in his eyes and says: \u201cLord. How are your leads coming<\/em>?\u201d When Greer informs him that his cell phone activity was picked up near the scene of the crime, Gault replies: \u201cI\u2019ll be damned.\u201d<\/em> Greer responds: \u201cWell I surely hope not.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n What Eden<\/em> viewers may not be aware of is that there are many counter-narratives to the \u201ctruth\u201d claims of such messages. For example:<\/p>\n Initial mainstream responses to Eden<\/strong> Even mainstream\/secular journalists converted to Eden<\/em>\u2019s cause, infusing their reviews with Judeo-Christian language and imagery. David Schmader of the progressive Seattle based periodical The Stranger<\/em> called Eden \u201ca miracle.\u201d[vi] James Rocchi of MSN Entertainmen<\/em>t described Eden<\/em> as \u201ca rewarding, righteous example of how fiction can tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Anti-sex work apologists may try to explain away the embarrassment around Eden<\/em> (as well as other high profile \u201csex trafficking\u201d stories)[vii] as just an anomaly, or as a few people stretching the truth for a good cause. But Eden<\/em> is just the visible cultural iceberg of a story that has already become embedded into U.S. policing practices.<\/p>\n 2. Context of U.S. policing & criminalizing policies<\/strong> The dynamics between the rescuers\/rescued and capturers\/captured can also underscore racist power relations. To borrow from Gayatri Spivak\u2019s famous phrase, \u201cwhite men are saving brown women from brown men\u201d[viii]: Anti-sex trafficking crusaders are often white men and women saving (all cisgender) women from (black and brown) men.<\/p>\n However, we are now in a cultural moment \u2013 thanks in part to the Black Lives Matter movement \u2013 where many white middle class people are collectively and finally having an epiphany around the reality of police brutality, mass incarceration, and criminalization of everyday life for poor communities and communities of color.[ix] But what many people have not yet made the connection on is how these same principles need to be applied when evaluating the war on trafficking.[x] This war combines many of the same strategies from the \u201cwar on drugs\u201d and the \u201cwar on terror\u201d (targeting \u201curban gangs,\u201d people of color and immigrants) to create even more invasive policing and surveillance mechanisms of marginalized people\u2019s everyday lives.<\/p>\n This brings me to the current legislative climate in Washington State: the location where Eden<\/em> was produced. Washington is currently facing several new state legislature bills intending to create more criminal penalties for clients of sex workers[xi]. The bills are largely generated and coordinated from the desk of Washington State senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who is a long time supporter of state level anti-trafficking legislation.<\/p>\n An earlier anti-trafficking bill (also sponsored by Kohl-Welles) resulted in harsh felony punishment for domestic \u201ctraffickers\u201d in Washington State. The first individual sentenced under this new law in 2009 was a 19-year-old African American man working as a pimp\/manager\/boyfriend to a group of young African American women in West Seattle.[xii] He sits now with many other young men of color in prison, many of whom were first incarcerated under the failed and racially discriminatory \u201cwar on drugs,\u201d and now also increasingly incarcerated in the name of the war on \u201csex trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n With Federal and State punishments now locked in for \u201ctraffickers\u201d in Washington State, the new set of proposed state laws are now set on the clients as part of the \u201cend the demand\u201d approach (AKA the \u201cNordic Model\u201d). The idea is that if men are given harsh enough criminal and social punishments for buying sex, then they will stop trying to buy it. This is a popular idea with contemporary anti-sex work activists despite the fact that:<\/p>\n Is there a connection between sensationalist \u201csex trafficking\u201d stories such as Eden<\/em> and policies that hyper-criminalize the sex industry? I think there is. Not only do these stories serve as a popular master narrative around the sex industry; in this case the critical acclaim for Eden (and its director, Megan Griffiths) is also intertwined with the success of Kohl-Welles\u2019s push for increasingly harsh anti-sex trafficking legislation in Washington State. At a May 2013 screening of Eden<\/em>, Kohl-Welles was featured as an expert on sex trafficking; Kohl-Welles subsequently supported the Motion Picture Competitiveness Bill in Washington State, which directly benefits filmmakers like Griffiths. In October 2014 Griffiths spoke in support to Kohl-Welles\u2019 re-election.<\/p>\n 3. Work with sex workers, not against them<\/strong> Because of the harms of criminalization:<\/p>\n If you care about improving the lives of people in the sex trade it is time to advocate for a greater diversity of sex worker stories and perspectives on how to first discuss and then solve coercion and abuse in the sex industry. There may certainly still be space for religious beliefs and metaphors in this wider diversity of stories and plot lines. However, if one truly listens to the bottom line perspectives of sex workers around the world, it will become clear that we need to look beyond the criminal punishment system for solving social justice issues.<\/p>\n ————<\/p>\n References and further readings:<\/strong><\/p>\n This essay is an extension of an argument that I made in an earlier publication, which was featured as a dialogue\/debate amongst experts on human trafficking: Lerum, K. 2014 (Winter). “Human Wrongs vs. Human Rights.”\u00a0Contexts<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n Does it matter when popular stories about \u201csex trafficking\u201d are based on half-truths, junk science, and\/or religious beliefs? Given that many people are interested in the issue of human trafficking in general and human trafficking in the sex industry in particular, it is critical that we face the consequences of stories told in the name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4407,15,245,2734,668,461,14,665,12885,1948,2020,1978,1,190,1008],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-justice","category-culture","category-feminism","category-film","category-glbt","category-human-rights","category-race","category-science","category-sex-work","category-sexual-health","category-sexual-rights","category-trafficking","category-uncategorized","category-women","category-workplace"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6769"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7067,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6769\/revisions\/7067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhile there are a plethora of sensationalized media stories about coercion, abuse, and trafficking in the sex industry one recent story \u2013 Abduction of Eden<\/em> (AKA Eden<\/em>, released 2012) \u2013 provides a powerful blend of Hollywood and Biblical tropes. This in combination with the promise that Eden<\/em> is a \u201ctrue\u201d story makes it a productive one for understanding the relationship between American cultural storytelling and political policies about sex work and human trafficking.<\/p>\n![\"Beau](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/sexuality\/files\/2015\/03\/BeauBridges.jpg\")
<\/a>
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beau_Bridges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\nEven before its official release, mainstream (non-sex worker and non-allied) audiences and critics went wild over the story of Eden<\/em>. While many found the performances impressive and the action-adventure storyline gripping, what sealed Eden<\/em>\u2019s critical success was that people believed that this story was true. Feminist and women\u2019s groups, churches, and film festivals sponsored screenings; awards were given, local anti-sex work\/trafficking politicians were featured, people became enraged en masse and were motivated to join the crusade. The text of Eden<\/em> folded seamlessly into the curriculum of U.S.-based anti-sex trafficking efforts with its images of taped mouths, chained wrists risen toward the heavens, \u201cin our own backyard\u201d and \u201cstolen innocence\u201d messages, and the idea that the average age of sex trafficked girls in the U.S. is age 13. The true story of Eden<\/em> appeared to be an American anti-sex trafficking activist\u2019s dream come true.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nPart of the reason for the success of Eden<\/em> is that it was preaching to an American choir that already had the why and the how part of the story in place. It also complemented dominant approaches to end trafficking in the sex industry that feature coercive \u201claw and order\u201d methods where participants are either forced to be rescued\/reprogrammed or captured\/incarcerated. The rescue side is led predominantly by well-meaning (and mostly white) middle-class women and men (Christians, social workers, feminists) attempting to \u201csave\u201d cisgender girls and women from sex work. The capture side is directed by (predominantly white) men in policing agencies (police, FBI, Homeland Security) who capture girls and women for rescue and men for punishment.<\/p>\n\n
\nMany progressive individuals and communities aspire to support the war against trafficking, and want to trust that laws that criminalize men actors will help girls and women who are coerced, abused, or trafficked in the sex industry. However, evidence from global health and human rights researchers consistently show that more criminalization hurts all sex workers across the continuum of privilege and oppression.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n[ii] See: M Segrave, S Milivojevic, et al., Sex Trafficking: International context and response, Willan Publishing, Devon, UK, 2009, pp. 9\u201410.
\n[iii]http:\/\/traffickingroundtable.org\/2011\/01\/fact-or-fiction-what-do-we-really-know-about-human-trafficking\/<\/a>
\n[iv] http:\/\/reason.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/12\/eden-sex-trafficking-fable-falls-apart<\/a><\/li>\n
\n[viii] Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. 1993. \u201cCan the Subaltern Speak?\u201d In Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, eds. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester, p. 93.
\n[ix] Texts such as Michelle Alexander\u2019s (2011) The New Jim Crow have also been helpful for filling in many white middle class people\u2019s consciousness around how the \u201cwar on drugs\u201d not only completely failed to reduce drug abuse but in the process also demolished the lives of millions of people of color who were imprisoned for non-violent offenses.<\/li>\n
\n[xi] http:\/\/swop-seattle.org\/resources\/summery-of-proposed-end-demand-bills\/<\/a><\/li>\n
\n ourlivesmatter_20080724\/Our%20Lives%20Matter%20%20Sex%20Workers%20Unite%20for%20Health%20and%20Rights.pdf<\/a>;
\nSee also: J Huckerby, \u2018United States of America\u2019 in Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (ed.) Collateral Damage: The impact of anti-trafficking measures on human rights around the world, GAATW, 2007, p. 231, http:\/\/www.gaatw.org<\/a>.;
\nSee also: Sex Workers Project, Use of Raids to Fight Trafficking in Persons, SWP, 2009, http:\/\/www.urbanjustice.org\/pdf\/publications\/Kicking_Down_The_Door_Exec_Sum.pdf<\/a>.<\/li>\n