Victims, perpetrators, and the limits of human rights discourse in post-Palermo fiction about sex trafficking

Abstract

This article explores the figure of the perpetrator in fictional and testimonial representations of sex trafficking, situating its analysis in the context of broader conversations about the figure of the perpetrator within human rights discourse; of feminist debates about victimisation and agency in the trafficking scenario; and of discussions in literary and cultural studies about how cultural representations contribute to understandings and treatment of victims and perpetrators of sex trafficking. We demonstrate that, rather than depending upon a single criminal figure or syndicate, a range of perpetrators from all walks of life manifest the trafficking of persons for sex. Investigating the broad spectrum of responsible parties to or beneficiaries of the sex trafficking scenario, the article argues for a more complex understanding of culpability which will, in turn, intervene in debates about trafficking that are built upon and recapitulate reductive terms of responsibility, agency, and victimhood.