Producing the ‘Trafficked Woman’: Canadian Newspaper Reporting on Eastern European Exotic Dancers During the 1990s
Keywords:
Eastern Europe, Exotic dancer, Temporary work permit, Immigration, Canada, Human TraffickingAbstract
Abstract
This article explores the emergence of discourses of “human trafficking” in Canadian newspapers during the 1990s, focusing on the depiction of Central and East European migrant women. The period saw much debate over a work permit exemption in federal immigration policy that allowed for the migration of workers into the exotic dance sector. We argue that debates over the exemption were often framed through an ethnosexualizing discourse that enabled narratives of victimization and legitimated repressive border security and policing practices.
Résumé
Cet article explore l’émergence des discours sur la « traite des personnes » dans les journaux canadiens durant les années 90, et se penche sur la représentation des femmes migrantes d’Europe de l’Est. Cette période a connu de nombreux débats au sujet d’une exemption de permis de travail dans la politique fédérale sur l’immigration, qui permettait la migration des travailleuses dans le secteur de la danse exotique. Nous affirmons que les débats sur l’exemption étaient souvent imprégnés d’un discours de sexualisation ethnique qui permettait des récits de victimisation et légitimait des pratiques répressives de sécurité frontalière et de maintien de l’ordre.
Metrics
References
Andrijasevic, Rutvica. “Beautiful Dead Bodies: Gender, Migration and Representation in Anti-trafficking Campaigns.” Feminist Review 86 (2007): 24-44.
Beare, Margaret E. Critical Reflections on Transnational Organized Crime, Money Laundering and Corruption. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
Berman, Jacqueline. “Biopolitical Management, Economic Calculation and ‘Trafficked Women’.” International Migration 48, no. 4 (Aug 2010): 84-113.
Bernstein, Elizabeth. “Militarized Humanitarianism Meets Carceral Feminism: The Politics of Sex, Rights, and Freedom in Contemporary Antitrafficking Campaigns.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 36, no 11 (2010): 45-71.
Brent, Bob, and Tony Wong. “Influx of Soviet Strippers Could Be Start of Trend.” Toronto Star, April 3, 1991.
Canada Gazette, Vol. 146, No. 28, July 14, 2012. URL: http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-
pr/p1/2012/2012-07-14/html/notice-avis-eng.html
Conroy, Pat. “11 Soviet ‘Models’ Arrested for Stripping Without Visas.” Toronto Star, April 1, 1991.
Department of Justice Canada. (2014). Technical Paper: Bill C-36, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act. URL: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/protect/protect.pdf
Diaz, Gloria Patricia Barrero. “Dancing Here, ‘Living’ There: Transnational Lives and Working Conditions of Latina Migrant Exotic Dancers,” In Organizing the Transnational: Labour, Politics, and Social Change, edited by Sailaja Krishnamurti and Luin Goldring, 145-156. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007.
Doezema, Jo. Sex Slaves and Discourse Masters: The Construction of Trafficking. New York: Zed Books, 2010.
Fairclough, Norman, Jane Mulderring, and Ruth Wodak. “Critical Discourse Analysis,” In Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, 2nd ed., edited by Teun Adrianus van Dijk, 357-378. London: Sage Publications, 2011.
Gallagher, Anne. “Human Rights and the New UN Protocols on Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling: A Preliminary Analysis.” Human Rights Quarterly 23, no. 4 (2001): 975-1004.
Gülçür, Leyla, and Pinar Îlkkaracan. “The ‘Natasha’ Experience: Migrant Sex Workers From the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Turkey.” Women’s Studies International Forum 25, no. 4 (2002): 411-21.
Hughes, Donna M. “The ‘Natasha’ Trade: Transnational Sex Trafficking”. Journal of International Affairs 53, no. 2 (Spring 2000): 8-15.
Jimenez, Marina and Stewart Bell. “650 Charges in Canadian Sex Slave Trade.” National Post, April 14, 2000.
Kempadoo, Kamala. “Introduction: From Moral Panic to Global Justice: Changing Perspectives on Trafficking,” In Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights, edited by Kamala Kempadoo with Jyoti Sanghera and Bandana Pattanaik, vii-xxxiv. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2005.
LaFleche, Grant. “2 Deportees in Sex Slave Trade: Police: Hungarians Among 17 Dancers Arrested,” National Post, March 11, 2000.
Law, Tuulia. “Cashing in on Cachet? Gender and Ethnicity in the Strip Club.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 24, no. 1 (2012): 135-153.
Macklin, Audrey. “Dancing Across Borders: ‘Exotic Dancers,’ Trafficking, and Canadian Immigration Policy.” The International Migration Review 37, no. 2 (2003): 464-500.
Marttila, Anne-Maria. “Desiring the ‘Other’: Prostitution Clients on a Transnational Red-Light District in the Border Area of Finland, Estonia and Russia.” Gender, Technology and Development 12, no. 1 (Jan-Apr 2008): 31-51.
McDonald, Lynn, and Natalya Timoshkina. “The Life of Trafficked Sex Workers from the Former Eastern Bloc: The Canadian Dimension.” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 31, no 2 (2007): 211-43.
McDonald, Lynn, Brooke Moore, and Natalya Timoshkina. Migrant Sex Workers from Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: The Canadian Case. Toronto: Centre for Applied Social Research University of Toronto, 2000.
Oziewicz, Estanislao. “Canada's Bare Essential,” The Globe and Mail, February 19, 2000.
———. “Ottawa Eyes Curb on Entry of Strippers Federal Letters Suggest Closing Loophole,” The Globe and Mail, February 7, 1997.
———. “Foreign Strippers Denied Job Permits,” The Globe and Mail, May 10, 1995a.
———. “Two Strip-Club Agents Charged with Extortion,” The Globe and Mail, September 23, 1995b.
———. “Exotic Dancer Hot Property for Broker: Flesh Trade,” The Globe and Mail, A18, October 12, 1995c.
———. 1991. “Foreign Strippers May Face Barriers: McDougall Wants End to Special Status,” The Globe and Mail, April 5, 1991.
Penttinen, Elina. Globalization, Prostitution and Sex-Trafficking: Corporeal Politics. London: Routledge, 2008.
Pheterson, Gail. The Prostitution Prism. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1996.
Public Safety Canada. (2012). National action plan to combat human trafficking. URL: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ntnl-ctn-pln-cmbt/index-eng.aspx
Rawlinson, Patricia. “Mafia, Media and Myth: Representations of Russian Organized Crime.” Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 37, no 4 (1998): 346-58.
Remmenick, Larissa, I. “‘Women with a Russian Accent’ in Israel.” The European Journal of Women’s Studies 6, no 4 (1998): 441-61.
Soderlund, Gretchen. “Running from the Rescuers: New U.S. Crusades against Sex Trafficking and the Rhetoric of Abolition.” NSWA Journal 17:3 (Autumn 2005): 64-87.
Stenvoll, Dag. “From Russia With Love? Newspaper Coverage of Cross-Border Prostitution in Northern Norway, 1990-2001.” European Journal of Women's Studies 9, no. 2 (May 2002): 143-62.
The Globe and Mail, “Niche Marketing: How Dancers Are Imported,” October 12, 1995.
Thobani, Sunera. Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2007.
Todorova, Maria Nikolaeva. Imagining the Balkans. New York: Oxford University Press. 1997.
Toronto Star, “Foreign Strippers Face Tighter Visa Rules: Immigration Officials Close Border Loophole,” July 31, 1998.
Toronto Star, “McDougall Wants to End Special Status for Strippers,” April 5, 1991a.
Toronto Star, “The Stripper Law,” April 7, 1991b.
Trickey, Mike. “Canada Closing the Curtain on Russian Strippers,”
The Gazette, June 28, 1995.
Watson, Paul. “Foreign Strippers’ ‘In Demand’ According to Federal Government,” Toronto Star, April 4, 1991.
Wolff, Larry. Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1997.
Woodiwiss, Michael. “Transnational Organized Crime: The Strange Career of An American Concept,” In Critical Reflections on Transnational Organized Crime, Money Laundering and Corruption, edited by Margaret E. Beare, 3-34. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are aware that articles published in Atlantis are indexed and made available through various scholarly and professional search tools, including but not limited to Erudit.
3. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
4. Authors are permitted and encouraged to preprint their work, that is, post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process. This can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Read more on preprints here.
