The Performativity of the Anti-Human Trafficking Regime

In my previous column, I touched upon the fraught history of the international counter-trafficking regime, including the rhetoric of white slavery, the Mann Act, and the Alien Act. This installment will focus on international legislative actions on human trafficking and the continued impact of moral panics and crusades on trafficking rhetoric. Before I begin, I […]

What Can We Learn from Cape Town’s Dance with Day Zero?

Flying into Cape Town, the city’s water crisis becomes apparent even before the plane’s wheels touch down. As the sprawling coastal hub comes into view below, framed by craggy mountains on one side and the Indian and Atlantic oceans on the other, the pilot’s voice crackles over the intercom to welcome passengers to “the Mother […]

The Cause for, Victim of, and Cure to Gay Loneliness

For five years of my life, I lived openly and unapologetically as a gay man. Twelve years old and gay as all hell, I was not a typical middle-school student you would find in 2012, even in my hometown of Long Beach in Southern California. And when the world didn’t end that December, I thought, […]

It’s Time to Talk About Smartphone Addiction

Take a moment to remember your first cell phone. Mine was a blue LG env3 flip phone that was virtually indestructible and had a mysterious internet button that I was never allowed to press. In 7th grade, this was the epitome of freedom; all of a sudden, I had the power to text or call […]

The Gruesome Reality of Gun Violence in America

A few weeks ago, a couple of my closest friends and I attended a concert at a small venue. We were blithely dancing, concerned only with the live music before us, when I was struck by a thought that inspired a moment of panic—what if someone were to open fire at the crowd? The room […]

A Notorious Traffic: A History

It is a sad but inescapable truth about the history of international law—and internationalism more broadly—that much of it is fraught with racism, imperialism, and moral crusading. The counter-human trafficking regime is no exception. The earliest legislative action against human trafficking on an international level was conceived of as the International Agreement for the suppression […]

Senseless Tragedy

I will not use names, for there are far too many victims for us to remember.  I won’t use dates or towns, because this crisis doesn’t answer to time and place. I refuse to use numbers and statistics, as numbers are lost on those who are numb to the demands of tragedy. Another mass shooting […]

A Notorious Traffic: An Introduction

Few regimes in international law pack as much of an emotional punch as human trafficking. Whether through its portrayal in various media—including the Taken movies or in the music video for Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”—or as championed by various human rights organizations on both the right and left, there is a definite consensus that human […]

Fitting In Nowhere: The Case for Trans-inclusive Feminism

“Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.”[1] The ringing wisdom of acclaimed novelist, artist, and activist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sounded in billions of ears upon the release of Beyoncé’s hit single “Flawless***.” This excerpt from a TEDx speech turned novella was authored by one of the most […]