Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress

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Summary: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Review: "Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress" is a must read! I am a law student and Melissa Farley's book came to me highly recommended by many academics and legal scholars as an important and in-depth look at the sex trade. It represents much of the best research about violence being done in the sex industry worldwide. The book's 32 contributors offer analysis, clinical samples, and research that comprehensively address the harms of prostitution and trafficking. It is grounded in broad and persuasive evidence, and features riveting accounts by advocates and attorneys who work with trafficked and prostituted persons. The book provides up to date analysis of many of the issues that form the basis of the current debates on human rights and the legal status of prostitution. This is an excellent work for anyone who would like to learn more about the economic and sexual exploitation of individuals, who are violated, dehumanized, and traumatized in the commercial sex industry.

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Summary: A MUST-READ FOR CLINICIANS AND RESEARCHERS
Review: (...)

The book provides a genuinely multicultural and international perspective on the extreme and pervasive forms of trauma experienced by women and men who are sexually exploited by the insidious business of prostitution, sexual slavery and trafficking, and pornography. A must-read for clinicians and researchers concerned about the complex forms that trauma and traumatic stress can take.

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Summary: I would like to give this book zero stars
Review: I am a public policy scholar, not a psychologist, so I cannot address the merits of this book from a clinical psychology perspective. However, it does very little to shed light in any meaningful or comprehensive way on the true problems and issues surrounding prostitution and trafficking. The articles support the editor's misognystic views on women in general and sex workers in particular. Melissa Farley clearly hates the women she pretends to want to help. Not convinced? See the "sarcastic" list of reasons she wrote on why a woman may have chosen (or was forced) to become a sex worker at: (...)
This book reflects the same bigoted and unhelpful views of its editor and does little to promote understanding or solutions to what is indeed a dire problem.

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Summary: It's about people.
Review: In an insighful anlysis of sexual exploitation, Farley never lets us forget the central issue that it is a human person being acted upon in systems of prostituion and trafficking and sexual exploitation. This issue is sadly often shrouded by divergent political, acedemic, or social beliefs. As Farley explicates the trauma suffered by women, the degredation of the human person in sexual violence becomes all too real.
It forces each one to consider how each of us and our very culture tolerates an acceptance of such violence. One must think about the sytems driving such inhumanity toward women.
A must read for all who want to challenge and expand their own critical thinking about human rights and human dignity.

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Summary: A Scholarly Masterpiece - Neda Najmi MFT
Review: Melissa Farley's editorial masterpiece is truly ground breaking work. The book is ideal for mental health professionals, social workers, law enforcement and government officials, and anyone who is genuinely interested in human rights and protection thereof. The exhaustive research studies presented in the text are extensive, and at times overwhelming, especially the graphic nature of the sex industry, prostitution and the long term implications of this heinous social ill. The book also captures multicultural and global perspectives, laws, effective mental and other health related care giving, and ultimately recovery and integration for victims. This book is one of a kind in the area of trafficking, prostitution and trauma, unique in creating awareness, and a source of unparalled information from which generations will benefit.

Rating:
Summary: A GROUNDBREAKING, EYE-OPENING, LANDMARK BOOK!
Review: Ronald F. Levant, EdD, ABPP, President-Elect, American Psychological Association; Co-Editor, A New Psychology of Men

A must-read for anyone interested in human rights, women's issues, and the psychology of exploitation. . . . A groundbreaking, eye-opening, landmark book that will forever change the way we view prostitution. Farley has assembled a dream team of contributors, including psychologists, psychiatrists, lawyers, and advocates. Shattering the myth that prostitution is harmless, this book not only addresses the physical violence and verbal abuse that prostitutes suffer, but even more importantly exposes the overwhelming psychological violence that occurs when a prostitute becomes, in seriatim, her john's masturbatory fantasies and the dehumanization that accompanies the preparation for a life of prostitution by the pimp or trafficker.