Melissa Farley (psychologist)

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Melissa Farley (born 1942 ) is an American clinical psychologist , scientist, and activist against prostitution and pornography . Farley is best known for her research on the consequences of prostitution , human trafficking, and sexual violence. She is the founder and director of the Prostitution Research and Education organization.

Career

Farley has provided advice to the government, health and anti-trafficking organizations. Including for the United Nations and the US State Department. She is a faculty member for the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She conducts research and teaches in the field of social change in Yelapa, Mexico. Farley has over 49 publications covering violence against women, prostitution, pornography and human trafficking. Her research has been used by governments in South Africa, Canada, France, New Zealand, Ghana, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States to develop prostitution and anti-trafficking legislation.

research

Women in prostitution

Since 1993, Farley has investigated prostitution and human trafficking in 14 countries. She has conducted many studies that have found high rates of violence and post-traumatic stress disorder among women in the sex industry.

For example, in 2003 she published a paper on prostitution in nine countries (Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United States and Zambia). 854 people who were prostitutes or who recently dropped out of prostitution were questioned. Among them were street prostitutes, legal and illegal brothel workers. 71 percent of those questioned reported that they were victims of violence while working in prostitution. 63 percent said they had been raped. 68 percent met the criteria for PTSD. 89 percent wanted to get out of prostitution, but had no realistic way of doing it.

Farley and her co-authors argued that their results refuted myths about prostitution. Namely, that street prostitution is worse than prostitution in brothels. Or that male prostitutes suffer less than women. In addition, that prostitutes would voluntarily prostitute themselves. Or that human trafficking and prostitution do not usually overlap. Or that the decriminalization of prostitution would lead to a reduction in violence and negative consequences for prostitutes.

In 1998, Farley and Howard Barkan published a study on prostitutes in Sand Francisco. 57% of them reported that they had been sexually abused in childhood. 49% reported being beaten in childhood. During their time as prostitutes, 68% had been raped, 82% had been the victim of an act of violence and 83% had been threatened with a weapon. The more violence the respondents experienced, the higher the likelihood and severity of PTSD. 84% of the respondents said they had been homeless for some time.

In September 2007, Farley published a book on prostitution and human trafficking in Nevada. She wrote that while there are legal brothels in Nevada, 90% of prostitution is illegal. Las Vegas was a prime target for human traffickers according to their research. 81% of prostitutes working in legal brothels wanted to leave the sex industry, but they couldn't. During the trial, Farley was threatened with a gun by a brothel owner, she said.

Farley has been criticized for the fact that her research is largely funded by anti-trafficking organizations. For example, one of their projects was 30% funded by the United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. She said it would not affect her research methods and conclusions.

Men who buy sex

Farley has been involved in several studies of men who buy sex. In the first study (2008), which examined sex buyers in Edinburgh and Chicago, 100 men were interviewed. They showed dehumanizing attitudes towards prostitutes (and towards women in general). Many of these men described their behavior as some kind of addiction. A large proportion said they would stop buying sex if there was a risk that they would be publicly exposed for it. Similar results were found in a 2012 study in Cambodia.

Further research areas

Farley has conducted several studies for the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute on the persistent consequences of sexual abuse and trauma on victims. There were higher rates of dissociation and somatization in patients who were victims of sexual abuse. The symptoms also occurred more frequently the more perpetrators had abused the victims. One study showed that victims of sexual abuse suffered from PTSD more often, had more frequent visits to the doctor, and also that people with fuzzy memories of abuse were more likely to suffer from PTSD than people without any experience of abuse.

Prostitution Research and Education

Farley is the founder and director of Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco-based organization. It is funded by women's centers in San Francisco. The organization conducts research in the field of prostitution, pornography and human trafficking. It also provides training and advice to scientists, dropouts from the sex industry, activists and politicians. The declared aim of the organization is "to abolish prostitution and to advertise alternatives to it". It also provides support and health care for prostitutes.

activism

Farley is committed to the abolition of prostitution. Their rationale is that the prostitute is usually extremely powerless when it comes to buying sex, which leads to it being an inherently traumatizing and exploitative act. She advocates the Nordic model of prostitution, where buying sex, pimping and human trafficking are illegal, but selling sex is decriminalized. She is of the opinion that the social system should provide help for prostitutes so that they can get out.

Farley is an anti-porn activist. In 1985 she and Nikki Craft led a national campaign against penthouse. Issues by Penthouse and Hustler from violent pornography were denounced and destroyed. Farley was arrested 13 times in nine states for these actions. In March 2007, she said at hearings regarding the purchase of the San Francisco Armory by porn producer Kink.com. In doing so, she compared the publications of Kink.com with the abuse of prisoners in the torture scandal in Abu Ghraib . Farley is against sadomasochism . In her essay "Ten Lies about Sadomasochism" she describes her opposition to BDSM practices and describes them as harmful, abusive and misogynistic.

On April 29, 2009, Farley was one of the invited speakers in the debate on Intelligence Squared US radio program entitled "It is wrong to pay for sex".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Foley: Slick SF posters advocate decriminalizing prostitution . In: San Francisco Examiner , San Francisco Media Company, August 14, 1995  .: " Melissa Farley, a San Francisco clinical and research psychologist who helped to interview 130 local prostitutes for a survey, ...
  2. ↑ a b Abigail Zuger: Many prostitutes suffer combat disorder, study finds . In: New York Times , The New York Times Company , August 18, 1998  .: " Dr. Melissa Farley, a psychologist and researcher at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco who directed the study with colleagues from Turkey and Africa. "
  3. ↑ a b Melissa Farley: Prostitution: The oldest use and abuse of women . In: off our backs . 24, No. 5, May 1994, pp. 14-15, 22.
  4. ↑ Patrick Hoge: Sober forum, street theater on prostitution ballot issue . In: San Francisco Chronicle , Hearst Corporation , August 31, 2004. 
  5. ↑ Melissa Farley: Prostitution and trafficking in nine countries: Update on violence and posttraumatic stress disorder . In: Journal of Trauma Practice . 2, No. 3-4, January 2004, pp. 33-74. PDF.
  6. ↑ Melissa Farley, Howard Barkan: Prostitution, violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder . In: Women & Health . 27, No. 3, August 1998, pp. 37-49. doi : 10.1300 / J013v27n03_03 . PMID 9698636 . PDF.
  7. ^ Lynnette Curtis: Outlaw industry, ex-prostitutes say , Las Vegas Review-Journal . September 6, 2007. 
  8. ↑ Mark Waite: Panel: brothels aid sex trafficking . In: Pahrump Valley Times , September 7, 2007. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. 
  9. ^ Jill Brenneman: Response to Melissa Farley . In: swopeast.blogspot.com . SWOP East. September 18, 2007. Archived from the original on October 3, 2007.
  10. ↑ Annie Brown: Sex industry in Scotland: inside the deluded minds of the punters . In: Daily Record , April 28, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008. 
  11. ↑ Jan Macleod: Challenging men's demand for prostitution in Scotland: a research report based on interviews with 110 men who bought women in prostitution . Women's Support Project, Glasgow 2008, ISBN 978-0-9558976-0-3 .
  12. ^ David Heinzmann: Some men say using prostitutes is an addiction . In: Chicago Tribune , May 5, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008. 
  13. ↑ A Thorn in the Heart: Cambodian Men Who Buy Sex - Prostitution Research & Education ( en-US ) In: prostitutionresearch.com . July 17, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  14. ↑ Melissa Farley, Joanne C. Keaney: Dissociation in an outpatient sample of women reporting childhood sexual abuse . In: Psychological Reports . 78, No. 1, February 1996, pp. 59-65. doi : 10.2466 / pr0.1996.78.1.59 . PMID 8839296 .
  15. ↑ Melissa Farley, Joanne C. Keaney: Physical symptoms, somatization, and dissociation in women survivors of childhood sexual assault . In: Women & Health . 25, No. 3, July 1997, pp. 33-45. doi : 10.1300 / J013v25n03_03 . PMID 9273982 .
  16. ↑ Melissa Farley, Beatrice M. Patsalides: Physical symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, and healthcare utilization of women with and without childhood physical and sexual abuse . In: Psychological Reports . 89, No. 3, December 2001, pp. 595-606. doi : 10.2466 / pr0.2001.89.3.595 . PMID 11824722 .
  17. ↑ Staff: Legal Prostitution Home Page> Source Biographies> Melissa Farley, PhD . In: prostitution.procon.org . ProCon.org . Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  18. ↑ Staff: Leadership . In: prostitutionresearch.com . Prostitution Research and Education . January 26, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  19. ↑ Staff: Mission . In: prostitutionresearch.com . Prostitution Research and Education . January 26, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  20. ^ Roberta deBoer: Feminists fight over prostitution . In: Toledo Blade , Block Communications , September 24, 2006. 
  21. ^ Farley: Prostitution, trafficking, and cultural amnesia: what we must not know in order to keep the business of sexual exploitation running smoothly . In: The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism . September. PDF.
  22. ↑ Terry Hyland: 2 groups on 'Midwestern Rampage' 'Violent Pornography' protested . In: Omaha World-Herald , Berkshire Hathaway , February 25, 1985. 
  23. ^ Staff writer: Protesters of porn guilty of destruction . In: Omaha World-Herald , Berkshire Hathaway , March 10, 1985. 
  24. ↑ Melissa Farley: Kink.Com in San Francisco: women and gay men's Abu Ghraib (blog) . In: prostitutionresearch.com . Prostitution Research and Education . October 22, 2007.
  25. ↑ Melissa Farley: Ten Lies About Sadomasochism . In: Sinister Wisdom . 50, Summer – Fall 1993, pp. 29-37.
  26. ↑ Melissa Farley: Is it wrong to pay for sex? . In: Intelligence Squared US (radio show) , Intelligence Squared , April 29, 2009. 
personal data
SURNAME Farley, Melissa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American clinical psychologist, scientist and activist against prostitution and pornography
DATE OF BIRTH 1942