This article examines the complex arrangements within which women working in prostitution in South Africa find themselves, and documents their resilience in a hazardous work environment. Findings are drawn from a survey and in-depth interviews with sex workers in Cape Town that investigated the nature and extent of human trafficking in the sex industry, and from a separate survey of sex workers during the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The findings provide the basis for a critique of Western rescue missions and the larger antitrafficking movement.
CockburnAnnette. 2005. Situation analysis on the commercial sexual exploitation of children and child trafficking: Western Cape. Johannesburg: Community Agency for Social Enquiry, on behalf of the project Towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
2.
DickensonSandra. 2004. Sex in the city: Mapping commercial sex across London. London: Poppy Project.
3.
FarleyMelissa. 2006. Prostitution, trafficking, and cultural amnesia: What we must not know in order to keep the business of sexual exploitation running smoothly. Yale Journal of Law and Feminism18:101–36.
4.
Global Alliance against Traffic in Women (GAATW). 2011. What is the cost of a rumor? A guide to sorting out the myths and the facts about sporting events and trafficking. Bangkok: GAATW.
5.
GouldChandré. 2011. Trafficking? Exploring the relevance of the notion of human trafficking to describe the lived experience of sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Crime, Law, and Social Change56:529–46.
6.
GouldChandréFickNicolé. 2008. Selling sex in Cape Town: Sex work and human trafficking in a South African city. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. Available from www.issafrica.org (accessed 11 August 2013).
7.
HughesDonna. 2001. The Natasha trade: Transnational sex trafficking. National Institute of Justice Journal (January):9–15. Available from www.ncjrs.gov (accessed 11 August 2013).
8.
KinnesIrvin. 2000. From urban street gangs to criminal empires: The changing face of gangs in the Western Cape. Monograph 48. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. Available from www.issafrica.org (accessed 11 August 2013).
9.
MartensJonathanPieczkowskiMaciejvan Vuuren-SmythBurnadette. 2003. Seduction, sale, and slavery: Trafficking in women and children in Southern Africa. Pretoria: IOM. Available from http://www.unicef.org.mz (accessed 11 August 2013).
10.
Molo Songololo [MS]. 2000a. The trafficking of women into the South African sex industry. Cape Town: MS.
11.
Molo Songololo [MS]. 2000b. The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation: South Africa. Cape Town: MS.
12.
National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa. 2010. Tsireledzani: Understanding the dimensions of human trafficking in South Africa. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council.
13.
O’Connell DavidsonAngela. 1998. Prostitution, power and freedom. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
14.
PinnockDon. 1997. Gangs, rituals and rites of passage. Cape Town: African Sun Press.
15.
RaymondJaniceD’CunhaJeanDzuhayatinSitiHynesPatriciaRodriguezZoraida RamirezSantosAida. 2002. Comparative study of women trafficked in the migration process. New York, NY: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.
16.
RichterMarliseDelvaWim. 2010. Maybe it will be better once this World Cup has passed: Research findings regarding the impact of the 2010 soccer World Cup on sex work in South Africa. United Nations Population Fund. Available from http://www.nswp.org/ (accessed 11 August 2013).
17.
StandingAndre. 2006. Organized crime: A study from the Cape Flats. Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies. Available from http://www.issafrica.org/ (accessed 11 August 2013).
18.
ZhangSheldon X.2010. Sex trafficking in a border community: A field study of sex trafficking in Tijuana, Mexico. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University. Available from www.ncjrs.gov (accessed 11 August 2013).
