After reading chapters 4-7, I chose to focus on chapter 5 which is called “Digitizing Desire”. This chapter is about all the ways in which digital technology affects different aspects of sex. I knew that the internet played a huge role in the mainstreaming of pornography for instance, but I never thought about how it aided sex trafficking. Of course there is the most obvious way, which is all of the new communication technologies that traffickers can utilize to keep in touch with one another such as email, GPS and mobile devices. But there are cover websites like “e-mail order brides” that are legal/soft-core fronts for more hardcore trafficking. On top of that, there is the more general aspect of internet use that gives it’s users anonymity. It’s one thing when a cyber bully’s identity is kept private, but it’s a whole other matter when traffickers take advantage of this anonymity. This makes it so that traffickers can establish underground websites as well as become harder to track down. I did mention the mainstreaming of pornography earlier, and that has also played a role in trafficking. The expansion of porn onto the internet has increased demand for sex workers, which has in turn led to greater amounts of trafficking (since many new recruits are often trafficked people). It’s just strange to think about all of this because the internet is generally thought about as such a positive advancement in technology for us that has brought about convenience and given people a voice. A positive side of all of this however, is that all of the technology traffickers have implemented can also be used by the people who seek to bring them to justice (by tracking traffickers and locating trafficked people). The internet has also been a major tool used by non-government groups to spread awareness, organizing campaigns, pushing for policy changes and exposing specific traffic zones.
