Citation

Flavin RMC. J. Church State 2015; 57(1): 177-179.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, J. M. Dawson Studies in Church and State, Baylor University, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/jcs/csu118

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Yvonne C. Zimmerman's thesis is that the United States' federal antihuman trafficking policies are premised on Protestant Christian conceptions of freedom, gender, and morality, and that this religious grounding is problematic theoretically and practically, as it limits victims' autonomy and fails to address adequately the causes and consequences of trafficking. Zimmerman's analysis centers on the development and implementation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), the primary vehicle through which the United States addresses international and domestic human trafficking. Like most international trafficking laws and general discussions in the media, the TVPA equates human trafficking with female sexual slavery. Zimmerman argues compellingly that this emphasis on sex and women frames the issue too narrowly, ignoring other forms of trafficking such as forced labor and discounting recent evidence refuting the assumption that women and girls are trafficked at significantly higher rates than men and boys. The main focus of her analysis is not to dispel gender stereotypes, but rather to examine the …

Language: en