Notes on Vances talk

Vance as one of the most important activists and feminists during

the feminist sex war, her talk is really useful for me to understand
the historical background and the further development of the
American and global feminist movements. As a leading organizer of
the Barnard conference, her talk about how they formed the
conference, the reason they chose sexuality as the topic, and the
troubles they had with conservatives and anti-porn feminists gives
me more insights on what was happening back then and the long
existed discrepancy within the two parties. In the talk, Vance also
gives more details about how each partys arguments and
strategies. By allying with the evangelical and conservative groups
to increase their influence on the issues, such as pornography,
BDSM, and prostitution, the anti-porn feminists still couldnt reach
the effect they was hoping and lost in many debates in America.
Even though they couldnt change the Constitution to the prohibition
of pornography in America, they by introducing the anti-porn law
draft to other countries have formed some noticeable influences in
Asia and some European countries. Also by using the trafficking as
the synonym of prostitution, anti-porn activists cooperate with
global groups and NGOs making the law stricter toward prostitution.
In the talk, she also talks about how the trafficking is now becoming
the term only for prostitution, and is used sometimes to mean
smuggling. Now, although the UN has clearly claimed that trafficking
should be used to indicate any forms of exploitation, the antitrafficking groups still strongly tied the trafficking with prostitution
and other forms of exploitation have been rarely mentioned or
caused the same attention. As Vance says in the talk, we shouldnt
overlook the differences between smuggling and trafficking, and
also the exploitation among workers in each form, but the most
important thing is that we should also notice how trafficking is used
as a rhetoric to form a stricter law on prostitution and make their
lives even harder. Trafficking is immigration gone wrong.
Trafficking as a compromised system for those marginalized to make
a living in other countries, so we shouldnt see them simply victims
but also workers who need to be protected, and respected.