27 February 2023

Trine Mygind Korsby publishes chapter on human trafficking and sex work between Romania and Italy

Trine Mygind Korsby has published chapter entitled “Complex intimacies: Sex work, human trafficking and romance between Italy and the Black Sea coast of Romania”. It has been published in the book “A Sea of Transience. Poetics, Politics and Aesthetics along the Black Sea Coast”, edited by Khalvashi and Frederiksen. 

Through the case of a young Romanian woman and her experiences of entering into and exiting the Italian anti-trafficking system and returning to Romania, the chapter explores the contested themes and categories of human trafficking, human traffickers and victims of human trafficking. Korsby suggests the concept of ‘complex intimacies’ to capture some of the complexities of the intimate and romantic relationships between the sellers of sex and their facilitators that may develop – also in cases that have been judicially ruled as human trafficking, within the legal system. 

The chapter thus investigates some of the contradictions and complications that are part of the lives lived within the often-stereotyped categories related to human trafficking. Read more about the book and Korsby’s chapter here.

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