Dividing women: the framing of trafficking for sexual exploitation in magazines

Each year thousands of women are trafficked for sexual exploitation. To understand how the mass media represent trafficking, a qualitative framing analysis of magazines, published from 2000 through to 2010, was conducted. Results showed magazines presented complementary frames of victimization and benevolence. Magazine articles shed light on trafficking, which operates in society’s shadows and is far removed from many people’s lives, but articles reinforce hierarchies and divisions: between women and men; among women; and among “good” prostitutes who deserve help and “bad” prostitutes who do not. Articles imply that the problem of trafficking is one of individual vulnerability, which can be remedied by charitable efforts, and ignore the larger cultural, political, economic, and educational systems of sex discrimination. Traffickers and men who buy sex were largely absent from magazine stories, and focus on the sale of sexual services, rather than the purchase, emphasized women’s role in the trafficking process while making men’s roles invisible. Because the mass media can shape public opinion and public policy, such incomplete reports may lead to ineffective policies.