Jump to content

Melissa Farley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Iamcuriousblue (talk | contribs) at 00:58, 11 October 2007 (RV to first version of article by Roomsmight. Two column reflist seems to be preferred style on Wikipedia now. However, article is still a stub until more material on Farley's research is added.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


Melissa Farley
Born1942
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Iowa (Ph.D., Counseling Psychology, 1973)
San Francisco State University (MS, Clinical Psychology, 1966)
Mills College (BA, Psychology, 1964)
Known forResearch on the effects of prostitution, sexual abuse, and violence against women[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
InstitutionsProstitution Research and Education 1996–
Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (Oakland, CA), 1993–2000

Melissa Farley (born 1942) is an American feminist research and clinical psychologist and anti-pornography and anti-prostitution activist.[1][2][3][4] Farley is best known for her studies of the effects of prostitution, trafficking, and sexual violence.

Research

Since 1993, Farley has researched prostitution and trafficking in 9 countries. She is the author of several studies of prostitutes in several parts of the world, which claim high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder among the women studied. In September 2007, Farley published a report on prostitution and sex trafficking in the state of Nevada. In the report, Farley claims that, though Nevada has legal brothels, 90% of prostitution taking place in the state is illegal and that Las Vegas is a major destination for sex traffickers. She also claims that 81% of the 45 legal brothel workers she interviewed would like to leave prostitution, but in many cases are physically prevented from doing so. Farley additionally states that she had been threatened at gunpoint by one of the brothel owners during the course of the interviews.[5][6]

Her prostitution studies, however, have been criticized, most notably by sociologist Ronald Weitzer, for alleged problems with their methodology and sampling bias toward highly marginalized groups of prostitutes (such as street prostitutes), and for the way the findings of these studies have been more generally applied to demonstrate the harm of sex work of all kinds. Farley's critics also claim that her findings largely reflect her radical feminist ideology.[7][8][9]

Farley has also published several papers on the long-term effects of sexual abuse.

Activism and views

Farley is a leading proponent of the abolitionist view of prostitution[10] holding that prostitution is inherently exploitive and traumatizing, and should therefore be abolished. She is an opponent of across-the-board decriminalization of prostitution, instead advocating the "Swedish model" of prostitution laws, in which the buying of sex (including soliciting, procuring, and trafficking) is criminalized, while the selling of sex is decriminalized, along with the funding of social services to "motivate prostitutes to seek help to leave their way of life." Such an approach is based on the point of view that prostitutes are the weaker partner in the transaction and are exploited.[11] She is also largely opposed to sex workers' rights activists and groups, such as COYOTE, which advocate legalizing or decriminalizing both prostitution and the purchase of sexual services.[12][13] Many of these activists are likewise strongly opposed to Farley's perspective, holding that Farley's research discredits and misrepresents women working in the sex industry and lacks accountability toward them.[13][14]

Farley is also anti-pornography activist. In 1985, she led a National Rampage Against Penthouse alongside Nikki Craft. The "Rampage" was a civil disobedience campaign of public destruction of bookstore-owned copies of Penthouse and Hustler (which they denounced as violent pornography) and resulting arrest for their actions. Farley was arrested 13 different times in 9 different states for these actions.[15][16][17] In March 2007, she testified in hearings about Kink.com's purchase of the San Francisco Armory, comparing the images produced by Kink.com to images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.[18][19]

As of 2007, she is currently director of Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco nonprofit organization.

Major works

  • Farley M. (2007). Prostitution and trafficking in Nevada: making the connections. San Francisco: Prostitution Research and Education. ISBN 0615162053
  • Farley M (ed). (2004). Prostitution, trafficking and traumatic stress. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press. ISBN 0789023784 (hardcover) ISBN 0789023792 (paperback)
  • Farley M. (2004). "Bad for the body, bad for the heart": Prostitution harms women even if legalized or decriminalized. Violence Against Women 10(10): 1087–1125. doi:10.1177/1077801204268607
  • Farley M, Cotton A, Lynne J, Zumbeck S, Spiwak F, Reyes ME, Alvarez D, Sezgin U. (2003). Prostitution and trafficking in nine countries: Update on violence and posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Trauma Practice 2(3/4):33–74. doi:10.1300/J189v02n03_03
  • Farley M, Patsalides BM. (2001). Physical symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder, and healthcare utilization of women with and without childhood physical and sexual abuse. Psychological Reports 89(3):595–606. doi:10.2466/PR0.89.7.595-606
  • Farley M, Barkan H. (1998). Prostitution, violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Women & Health 27(3):37–49. doi:10.1300/J013v27n03_03
  • Farley M, Baral I, Kiremire M, Sezgin U. (1998). Prostitution in five countries: Violence and posttraumatic stress disorder. Feminism & Psychology 8(4):405–426. doi:10.1300/J013v27n03_03
  • Farley M, Keaney JC. (1997). Physical symptoms, somatization, and dissociation in women survivors of childhood sexual assault. Women & Health 25(3):33–45. doi:10.1300/J013v25n03_03

References

  1. ^ a b "Melissa Farley: Curriculum Vitae", 2004.
  2. ^ "Prostitution: The oldest use and abuse of women" by Melissa Farley, off our backs, May 1994. (FindArticles.com archive, p 3.)
  3. ^ "Slick S.F. posters advocate decriminalizing prostitution" by Kevin Foley, San Francisco Examiner, August 14, 1995.
  4. ^ "Sober forum, street theater on prostitution ballot issue" by Patrick Hoge, San Francisco Chronicle, August 31, 2004.
  5. ^ "Outlaw industry, ex-prostitutes say" by Lynnette Curtis, Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 6, 2007.
  6. ^ "Panel: Brothels aid sex trafficking" by Mark Waite, Pahrump Valley Times, September 7, 2007.
  7. ^ “Flawed Theory and Method in Studies of Prostitution” by Ronald Weitzer, Violence Against Women 11(7): 934–949, July 2005.
  8. ^ Letter to Ambassador John Miller by Ann Jordan and others, Center for Health and Gender Equity, April 21, 2005, p 4.
  9. ^ Debate between Tracy Quan and Melissa Farley, Conversations with Krys Villasenor, KERA radio, February 6, 2002.
  10. ^ "Feminists fight over prostitution" by Roberta deBoer, Toledo Blade, September 24, 2006.
  11. ^ "Prostitution, trafficking, and cultural amnesia: What we must not know in order to keep the business of sexual exploitation running smoothly" by Melissa Farley, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 18(1):109–144, Spring 2006.
  12. ^ "Ex-prostitutes' quilt honors slain women" by Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 13, 1994, p 14.
  13. ^ a b "Prostitution: Pro or Con?" by Katia Dunn, Portland Mercury, May 9, 2002.
  14. ^ "A victimless crime?" by Alicia Portillo, The Rebel Yell (UNLV student newspaper), September 20, 2007.
  15. ^ "Fighting Femicide in the United States: The Rampage Against Penthouse" by Melissa Farley, in Jill Radford and Diana E. H. Russell (eds.), Femicide: The Politics of Woman Killing, New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992.
  16. ^ "2 Groups on 'Midwestern Rampage' 'Violent Pornography' Protested" by Terry Hyland, Omaha World-Herald, February 25, 1985.
  17. ^ "Protesters of Porn Guilty of Destruction", Omaha World-Herald, March 10, 1985.
  18. ^ "San Francisco Planning Commission - Special Public Hearing", SFGTV, March 8, 2007. (link to streaming Windows Media video and downloadable MP3 audio)
  19. ^ "Kink.Com in San Francisco: Women and Gay Men's Abu Ghraib" by Melissa Farley, Traffick Jamming (blog), February 8, 2007.

By Melissa Farley

Criticism of Melissa Farley

Debates between Melissa Farley and others

Panel and symposium discussions

News articles, reports, and editorials

Wikiquote has quotations related to Melissa Farley.


Stub icon

This biographical article about a women's rights activist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melissa_Farley&oldid=163701890"