Sex/Trade/Work in the Caribbean—Challenging Discourses of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking across the Caribbean (like other regions) elicits a dichotomous response, depending on the perceived purpose, and the kind of work people who are "trafficked" end up doing. Sex work and domestic work are often separated, while both kinds of work are further divided between perceptions of 'forced' or 'voluntary', which creates a false dichotomy and a troubling discourse of who is most deserving of protection and empathy. Moreover, the sex trade is complicated and the division between sex and domestic work does not capture the realities of trafficking nor the choices people have to make. To be clear, "realities of trafficking" refers to the complexity of what may actually be happening on the ground, as opposed to the reporting mechanisms and discourses of trafficking that get circulated in media and international human rights agencies. Here, Nixon examines the discourses of trafficking and how the language used does not fully explain the complex landscape that is known as human trafficking. More specifically, she draws attention to what many scholars have argued for years--that a 'forced' versus 'voluntary' dichotomy does not capture what goes on in the sex trade.