This paper presents preliminary findings from mixed methods research on Jamaicans’ experiences of working in the sex trade and in the formal and informal tourism economy. While sex worker research participants routinely face violence in the course of their work, the research found that they were not driven into sex work and are not prevented from exiting it by “human traffickers”, but rather by economic need and, in the case of male and trans sex workers, by anti-gay prejudice. Research participants view the criminalisation of sex work and of homosexuality as far more urgent and significant threats to their safety and well-being than human trafficking. Criminalisation and marginalisation were also pressing concerns for non-sex-worker interviewees. This paper critically interrogates the lines that are drawn between work, slavery, and freedom in dominant, Global North discourse.
Citation: Cruz, K., J. O’Connell Davidson and J. Sanchez Taylor (2019) ‘Tourism and sexual violence and exploitation in Jamaica: contesting the “trafficking and modern slavery” frame’, Journal of the British Academy, 7(s1), pp. 191-216.