"You Have to Be Strong and Struggle": Stigmas As Determinants of Inequality for Female Survivors of Sex Trafficking in Cambodia

Abstract

Across the globe, human trafficking survivors have reported facing stigma and discrimination after reintegrating into communities. What makes stigma particularly dangerous is that it threatens what is “most at stake” in our lives, our close personal relationships and our personal life values. This paper explores longitudinal data from the Chab Dai Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project to document and describe forms of stigma and discrimination faced by survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking living in Cambodian communities. Our research suggests stigmas associated with sex trafficking are a “fundamental determinant” of social inequality for many female survivors following reintegration. In this study, 56 women survivors discussed their encounters with stigma and discrimination interspersed with coping strategies and resilience attributes used to navigate life experiences. The majority (70%) spoke about contending with cultural stigma together with stigma from human trafficking experiences. Four main stigma causes dominated survivor narratives: gender, sex work, socioeconomic status, and marriageability. We use these causes, in combination with the voices of survivors, to develop a conceptual model of cohort experiences with stigma in Cambodia. Many survivors are conscious of negative stereotypes in their home communities before trafficking and discuss their struggles with self-stigmatizing thoughts and labels as they reintegrate back into their communities. Survivor discussions regarding stigmas associated with sex work show intense and persistent stigma layered over existing cultural stigmas and connected with a wide variety of societal discrimination and negative outcomes. This assessment identifies multiple disadvantaged outcomes for survivors in education, relationships, marital rights, and gender-based violence. We argue that these outcomes impact survivors' access/barriers to resources and life conditions related to job skills, employment opportunities, improving their socioeconomic status, mental and physical health, and other perceptions of family harmony, societal honor, and personal well-being.