Sociology Commons^™

The exclusion of male victims from discussions of sex trafficking is pervasive. Here I detail the discursive dichotomisation of this framework, examining not only why men and boys have historically been excluded as victims of sexual trafficking, but also how this discourse acts as a gendered and gendering formation more generally. Following this I critically examine the recent turn toward the inclusion of boys as victims of DMST ("Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking"), arguing that the ‘sex trafficking’ frame is less useful – and more harmful – than it may appear.