Holding the Unwanted: A Talk on Women's Trafficking
This event looks really interesting, if anyone can make it?WARWICK CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN AND GENDER
GRADUATE STUDENT SEMINAR SERIES Milena Stateva
(University of Warwick)
Holding the unwanted: is there a place in gender studies for a psychodynamic approach towards women’s trafficking?Wednesday 21st November, 5pm
R3.25(Ramphal)
All welcome
ABSTRACT: Holding the unwanted: is there a place in gender studies for a psychodynamic approach towards women's trafficking?
Milena Stateva[1]'You have left me alone, all in tears - you are heartless!' This text message sent by a trafficker to his ex-victim in an attempt to bring her back and one that has recently been publicly presented by a representative of the Danish persecution office is the starting point of the proposed paper. It illustrates that more and more often traffickers' strategy to subdue and exploit their victims is not brutal violence. Rather, it can be argued that traffickers nowadays predominantly use – consciously or unconsciously - societal incapacity in both countries of origin and those of destination to emotionally hold those who feel unwanted and unwantable. Exploring such an approach towards victimhood and agency, the paper challenges the predominant in gender studies portrayal of voiceless children and powerless women caught in a trap of violence and exploitation behind human trafficking. Is this a line that worth to be in pursuit of when informing prevention and reintegration policies?
13 Nov 2007 19:20
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Hero
Interesting in the sense that the paper (and most studies of traffiking, pimping and prostitution) ignores the highly develped social and psychologically manipulative skills of the traffiker/pimp in keeping a dependant relationship going in the absence of any real power, and of the acceptance by traffiked women of the illogical but emotionally attractive idea that the traffiker or pimp is an emotionally dependent (on them) protector.
19 Nov 2007, 23:59
Interesting thought. I think that you underestimate the situation when you say that there is no ‘real power’ though. Do you mean that women stay in traffiking of their own will? I hope not. I’ll pass this thought on to the speaker though.
20 Nov 2007, 13:05
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