The pimp serves as an iconic ghetto hero who stands in street cultures as a figure that represents defiance, anti-establishment angst, and victorious criminality (Funches & Marriott 2002; Horton-Stallings, 2003). The American pimp has been brought into mainstream American culture through 1960’s literature, 1970’s Blaxploitation films, 1980’s hip hop and more recently, documentaries, films, books, music and television. The word ‘pimp’ has found its way into mainstream usage and popular caricatures of the pimp can be found in everything from Halloween costumes to ‘pimp and ho’ themed college parties. Despite being highly visible within mainstream culture, this character is still enigmatic as pimps are an underresearched population. Thus this thesis aims to uncover and unveil the lives and experiences of pimps involved in illegal prostitution to produce a more panoramic understanding of prostitution and an unexplored segment of major players within it. This thesis investigates the experiences and narratives of pimps involved in illegal, predominately street, prostitution in the USA. This research project stands to offer in-depth insight into the experiences of pimps in the United States within this unique subcultural context. In order to fill that literature gap, this research interviewed pimps and gathered data that explored how and why individuals become pimps, their personal histories, how they maintain their position as pimps, how pimps pimp, and the motivations for exit and/or retirement from The Game (the world of prostitution and pimping). More than just a managerial position, the role of the pimp also embraces a lifestyle with special rules, fashions and activities that create a unique and complex underground, criminal community. Rather than just presenting pimps as violent exploiters or ghetto heroes, this thesis examined the language of pimping, their orientation to their roles, the relationship between pimping and the surrounding communities and mainstream society, and explored this criminal career as a social role as well as career. With their childhood experiences of life in American ghettos leading to regular exposure to pimps and favorable impressions of illicit, underground careers, respondents came to ‘choose’ pimping as their career trajectory in their teens. Once dedicated to becoming pimps, many pimps underwent training with older pimps and later gained acceptance within the street community to earn their positions and status as pimps. When established within The Game, they started to practice ‘pimpology’ (pimp ideology) and to firmly establish their skills and methods of pimping. Two substantive chapters within this thesis are dedicated to addressing pimpology: pimpology covers the core processes, social connections and methods of management that are vital for a pimps success and survival in The Game. The aim of these chapters is to explore how pimps function as individuals, with the women who work for them, within their peer networks, and within their communities while they are actively pimping. And finally, exit from pimping will be explored. Issues such as age, exhaustion, family, health, drug addiction, trauma, imprisonment, law enforcement crackdowns and social betrayal all also act as further incentives for pimps to ‘hang up their pimp hat.’ This research has uncovered new themes and trends within the narratives of this hidden, underground subcultural population and offers great insights into the ‘career cycles’ of pimps. This project stands to fill a major gap within prostitution research as current literature lacks the perspectives and voices of pimps themselves. Within this research, a nuanced approach offers a unique view of the pimp and their complex roles and relationships within The Game. As an understudied population, pimps have rarely been the focus of academic inquiry; thus this research stands to contribute new perspectives, insights and data on a population that has remained enigmatic and well hidden from academic exploration for decades.

The goal of this thesis is to provide insight as to why the number of trafficking cases and convictions is still relatively low compared to the total volume of trafficking occurring, even though the trade is increasingly addressed by international law. Through a study of trafficking itself, a summary of current international legislation, and an analysis of the implementation of said legislation this thesis will show that the gap between legislation and enforcement can be partially accounted for by a widespread failure by states to adequately address the demand for trafficked persons in their national legislation. While this is far from a complete explanation of the problem it is an important piece of the puzzle.

Although human trafficking was not a new concept, it gained increased attention across the United States and Canada in the first two decades of the 21st century. To better understand the Canadian anti-trafficking movement, this thesis analyzed the discourse on the topic in six local and national daily newspapers between 2008 and 2018. The goal of this thesis was to investigate the emergence of human trafficking as a social problem. Using social constructionism as a point of departure, a critical discourse analysis was conducted in NVivo of the quotes made by human trafficking experts in Canadian media. The results of this analysis suggest that an Unofficial Christian Coalition emerged in Canada, which – assisted by the media – led a moral crusade against human trafficking and pushed for the adoption of restrictive sex work legislation in Canada.

No description available.

Survivors of human trafficking experience trauma that causes profound, sometimes lifelong effects. The abuse experienced during a trafficking episode can result in physical injuries, emotional and psychological problems, and challenges with executive functioning skills (Gorman & Hatkevich, 2020). Current policies and resources focus on trafficking prevention and rescue, but there are few programs that address the survivors’ recovery needs after exiting the trafficking episode. This results in a gap in care that leaves survivors with few options as they try to regain their independence and engage in meaningful occupations. Occupational therapists are ideally suited to addressing this gap. This author developed a comprehensive, evidence-based program that demonstrates the vital role occupational therapy (OT) can play in post-trafficking recovery and rehabilitation. Pathways Nepal is a six-week OT program developed for the women living in the SASANE residential home in Pokhara. The program is grounded in well-established models of care and incorporates occupation-based activities, trauma-informed care, and the use of social support – approaches that have been shown to be effective in facilitating positive change for the post-trafficking demographic (Amadasun, 2022; Cerney et al., 2019; Edwards et al., 2023; Johnson, 2018; Hardy, 2013; Hopper et al., 2018; Rafferty, 2017). Findings from the initial iteration of Pathways Nepal will be used to facilitate the program expansion throughout Nepal and eventually, to other post-trafficking residential facilities globally. In doing so, Pathways Nepal serves to help define the role of OT in post- trafficking care, while also helping to establish the role of OT on the global healthcare stage.

No description available.

Over the past few years, with the rise of technology, human trafficking has transformed into one of the largest clandestine crimes globally. Though the relationship between human trafficking and technology has gained attention over recent years, the empirical research on this topic is still underdeveloped. As such, the relationship between technological developments and the rise of human trafficking remains unanswered. Within this frame of reference, this research aims to explore this relationship to better understand how human trafficking has flourished in cyberspace and is beginning to depend on technological advancements for predation by using a content analysis of newspaper articles. After outlining key terms concerning human trafficking in the context of sex trafficking, the present research then examines articles overtime to see the progression of human trafficking in cyberspace. News articles were chosen because they serve as the primary source of information about historical and current events.

Cambodia’s commercial sex industry has long been the subject of transnational concern, yet this enduring problematization has yielded little in the way of lasting ‘solutions.’ Central to constructions of Cambodia’s sex trafficking problem are stories – narrative and numerical – that are not entertainment or fact, respectively, but political and ideological discourses that structure social problems and their solutions while masquerading as unmediated. In this media ethnography, I thematically analyzed aid documentaries, websites, reports, and tax returns to explore how sex trafficking in Cambodia is constructed in aid discourses as a problem to be solved. I argue that anti-trafficking rhetoric, narrated over iconographies of Cambodia’s savagery, entangles notions of material and moral poverty. Documentaries construct Cambodian families as both broke and broken, and thus as giving rise to Cambodian sex trafficking’s central, archetypal dyad: the bad mother and the innocent daughter. I further articulate how the trope of the innocent daughter is contingent on her framing as a ‘sex slave.’ These reductive discursive constructions enable similarly oversimplified solutions. The solution to ‘bad mothers’ is ‘better parents,’ enacted through maternalistic and paternalistic interventions; the solution to ‘sex slavery’ is ‘freedom at all costs,’ articulated through raid and rescue interventions. I suggest that articulations of the civilizing mission run through anti-trafficking discourses and interventions, evidenced by their attempts to use numbers to render the complexities of sex trafficking knowable and therefore manageable, but also in their commitment to ‘developing' the Cambodian sex slave through rehabilitation programs that replace sex trafficking with more civilized, though still exploitative, forms of gendered labour. The ways in which sex trafficking in Cambodia is constructed in aid discourses as a problem to be solved therefore ensures the ongoing presence of the anti-trafficking apparatus in Cambodia and the ongoing exploitation and abuse of the Cambodian girls subjected to aid interventions. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

While commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is widespread, little research has been conducted regarding parents’ knowledge of, beliefs about, and protective actions against CSEC. Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model as a lens and a quantitative survey, this study explored four questions: how knowledgeable of CSEC are parents in Mississippi and the surrounding states; what beliefs do parents have toward CSEC; how are parents taking protective actions against CSEC; and how are parents’ knowledge, beliefs, and protective actions correlated? Results from 13 participants were examined for frequencies and correlations. Findings indicated that parents have a basic knowledge of CSEC, beliefs favorable to CSEC prevention and intervention, and parents take protective actions. However, gaps and inconsistencies existed. In future, practitioners should target parents and church staff for CSEC prevention and intervention education and training.

This qualitative phenomenological study considered the experience of a clinician working with victims and survivors of human sex trafficking and their families. In the overwhelming majority of cases, family members were not involved in the clinical treatment of human sex trafficking survivors. The clinicians primarily worked with the individual client. The data from phone interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis, which resulted in the following themes emerging: vulnerability to secondary trauma, impact on the clinician's life, and self-care strategies and resources. The work with human sex trafficking survivors impacted the clinicians' personal, family, and professional lives. Limitations, clinical implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Master of Science / This research study aimed to explore and understand how working with human sex trafficking victims and survivors impacted a clinician’s life in a personal and professional way. The results showed that clinicians did experience change or influence from this work on their personal and professional lives. This study could be used to train future clinicians who would work with human sex trafficking victims and survivors.