The Italian Public Policies Frame on Prostitution and the Practical Overlapping with Trafficking: an Inevitable Condition? (original) (raw)

Excesses and double standards: Migrant prostitutes, sovereignty and exceptions in contemporary Italy

Modern Italy 17(4): 419-432, Special Issue on Sexual Politics in Contemporary Italy, 2012

In this paper, I propose an analysis of the apparently contradictory attitudes towards transactional sexual exchanges, as they have emerged in public debate and informed legislation and policies in Italy over the past few years. The ambiguity towards commercial sex is linked to a specific dynamic of power, which denies sexual labour the status of work and makes it the object of repressive and criminalising policies, whilst at the same time habitually demanding sexual services in exchange for money, gifts or favours. The article shows how criminalisation functions as a prominent form for the control of subjects, related to the workings of sovereignty. In particular, I consider the ways in which the criminalisation of prostitution and of undocumented migration, which compound in the figure of the migrant prostitute, represents a means for the exertion of sovereignty and relates to the centrality of desire, transgression and their disciplining in the contemporary context. However, closer examination of the subjective experiences of those who are supposedly excluded and criminalised, such as undocumented migrant sex workers in detention centres, reveals the incompleteness of disciplinary mechanisms.

Considerations on foreign prostitution in Italy. A background picture

Papers. Revista de Sociologia, 2000

This study shows a descriptive work on the rellevance of foreign prostitution in Italy in the last years. It starts by addressing the various admission phases into prostitution and quantitative data on the issue. Secondly, it covers the definition and the typologies of foreign female prostitution. Thirdly, it addresses the ways of quitting prostitution and the future prospects of social intervention in this field.

Considerations of foreign prostitution in Italy. A background picture

2000

This study shows a descriptive work on the rellevance of foreign prostitution in Italy in the last years. It starts by addressing the various admission phases into prostitution and quantitative data on the issue. Secondly, it covers the definition and the typologies of for- eign female prostitution. Thirdly, it addresses the ways of quitting prostitution and the future prospects of social intervention in this field.

Gender Victims and Cultural Borders: The Globalizationof Prostitution in Italy

Dialectical Anthropology, 2005

In this article I will try to analyse the transformation regarding the italian regulation of prostitution on the grounds of another issue, that is the building up of cultural borders for the definition of “national” and “european” gender identities. The creation of cultural borders allows to outline the differentiation traits between social groups, while escaping plurality and internal contradictions which on the other hand could only show continuity and vicinity traits. In my point of view, the italian current debate on prostitution is a discoursive process that produces a “western” pattern of relation between men and women, while referring internal tensions and contradictions to other cultures. The following analysis will use data and information coming from national official statistics on immigration, estimates on prostitutions and findings from national researchers on prostitution carried out by the research group called “Migration & Prostitutions” based at the Department of Sociology of the Padua University.

’DO UT DES’ - An anthropological study on the agendas of ’anti’-trafficking measures in Italy

Trafficking in human beings is a topic that has received a lot of attention the last ten years. It has been referred to as a modern form of slavery and a crime against humanity. There is a flood of actors working to fight trafficking and save its victims, occupied with different forms of victim assistance. At the same time the European Union is augmenting restrictions on visas and asylum legislation, border controls and deportations, which makes migrants from certain countries who wish to travel to Europe despite these restrictions vulnerable to exploitation. Italy has been acknowledged for providing the best practice of protection for ‘victim of trafficking’, since it offers a residence permit developed especially for identified ‘trafficking victims’. Claiming victimhood is often the only way for irregular migrant women in the sex industry to obtain a legal status in contemporary Italy. However, the category and its legal and social benefits are out of reach to many. It is not possible to just claim to be a victim but one must do so by surrendering to certain ideas about what constitutes a ‘victim of trafficking’ and provide what it expected. This study will examine the interconnection between migration management and trafficking anthropologically, with a focus on ‘anti’-trafficking measures in Italy and the concept of victimhood in the practices who take on the women who are in the process of obtaining the legal status of ‘victims of trafficking’ and the following residence permit. By looking at trafficking from a structural perspective I will show how the ‘victim of trafficking’ is created, and how it is connected to the state and its migration policies.

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Italy

This chapter focuses on human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Italy. Two Italian case studies are analyzed, applying the crime script approach. They have been provided by state prosecutors of two Italian provinces (Campobasso and Ancona) and are referred respectively to indoor and outdoor prostitution. Starting from the literature on this topic, the different stages of this crime (recruitment, transportation, exploitation and aftermath) are identified. From the analysis of the two arrest warrants, information on the actions and decisions of both traffickers and victims is linked to the stages of the crime. The added value of this work is the application of a methodological tool (script) not often used to examine human trafficking. This allows a concrete analysis of the vulnerabilities associated with the crime-commission process and the search for situational crime prevention measures that might target these vulnerabilities. Both research and policy implications are drawn at the end of the chapter.

Prostitution and the New Penal Ethic in Italy: An Autoethnography of Repression

This autoethnography discusses the arrest of a researcher engaged in the study of female street prostitution. The event becomes a way to reflect on the nature of the recently implemented measures for dealing with commercial sex in Italy, and the consolidation process of a new penal ethic based on prevention and new powers for the police forces. Within this framework, popular journalism and police activism become intertwined, creating a lethal combination that produces authoritarian scenarios in the government of security.

Demand in the Context of Trafficking in Human Beings in the Domestic Work Sector in Italy

While both the topics of domestic work (DW) and trafficking human beings (THB) have received increased attention in scholarship, there is very limited research on the nexus of these two issues in Italy, i.e. on cases of THB in the DW sector. This paper investigates the forms of severe exploitation and THB in DW in Italy and examines the factors affecting the demand-side in this sector. Moreover, it analyses the gaps in current legal and political responses.