The presence of commercial sex, prostitution, and sex trafficking in pop culture, movies, television shows, and music, is astounding. An overwhelming amount of auditory and visual popular entertainment includes some reference to or depiction of prostitution and the commercial sex trade. This is particularly problematic, as these portrayals are often glamorized, incorrect, and altogether damaging. The way commercial sex and sex trafficking pervasively thread through these mediums of pop culture perpetuates many harmful misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding these issues, misleading the general public in their perceptions of them in reality.
On Friday, February 14, the CSE Institute will begin featuring a mini-series written by the winners of our First-Year Law Student Blog Competition: Allyson Fifer, Alexandra Santulli, and Maximillian Santiago. All three writers chose either a popular song or television show to critique. Their submissions delve into the importance of identifying how popular culture, music, and television often incorrectly and dangerously misrepresents the commercial sex trade. We are excited to share their unique voices and insight into these issues and hope to change the discussion by highlighting these misrepresentations.