Frequently the subjects of erotic media, lately sex workers have taken center stage in a lurid tale designed to put them in jail and out of business. Anti-trafficking groups are using culture's fear of (and fascination with) sex and love of casting women as the victims in a tragic yet sexually charged story to give the mainstream media a narrative they can't resist.
Policies such as California’s Prop 35 are pushed to combat the alleged growing threat of human trafficking while threatening the privacy, safety, and dignity of those in the sex trade. Sex worker and advocate Alex (Sabrina) Morgan will uncover mainstream media’s fascination with sex slavery, how it impacts current policy and thought on sex work, how the sexualization of trafficking harms both sex workers and the coerced or trafficked, and how responsible journalists and sex workers’ rights advocates can effectively promote a message of consent and sexual justice to a media that discards nuance in favor of a juicy story.