These days it seems you cant move an inch without running into something or someone debating trafficking in the sex industry. The latest event to spark the interest of x:talk is ‘Sex Traffic’ on 11 March 2009 at the ICA. The speakers line up has sex workers, advocates and activists (ignoring the one cop) from the sane side of the debate – a refreshing change from the near hegemonic ‘all migrant sex workers are victims of trafficking’ line being pushed by government types and abolitionist feminists.

From the ICA website:

”The media and NGOs have raised awareness of sex trafficking in recent years, but does it serve the interests of migrant sex workers to suggest they have been trafficked, or does it collude in their criminalisation and deportation? Should our priority be to give migrant women in the sex industry more control over their own lives, or to stop the traffic?

Speakers:
Laura María Agustín, author of Sex at the Margins and a former educator working with expatriate sex workers;
Georgina Perry, service manager for Open Doors, an NHS initiative which deliver outreach and clinical support to sex workers in east London;
Catherine Stephens, sex worker;
Jon Birch, inspector, Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit.
Chair: Libby Brooks, deputy Comment editor, The Guardian.

£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members.”