Law Commons^™

Researching Trafficked Women: On Institutional Ressistance And The Limits Of Feminist Reflexivity, Michelle Dempsey, Mary Bosworth, Carolyn Hoyle

Michelle Madden Dempsey

This article exposes methodological barriers we encountered in a small research project on women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and our attempts, drawing on feminist and emergent methods, to resolve them. It critically assesses the role of institutional gatekeepers and the practical challenges faced in obtaining data directly from trafficking victims. Such difficulties, it suggests, spring at least in part from lingering disagreements within the feminist academic, legal, and advocacy communities regarding the nature, extent and definition of trafficking. They also reveal concerns from policy makers and practitioners over the relevance and utility of academic research. While feminist …