Career
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Farley, a clinical psychologist for over 45 years, has consulted with agencies, governments, medical centers, advocates for women in prostitution and trafficked women. These groups include the United Nations, the California Medical Examining Board, the US State Department, the Center for World Indigenous Studies, the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition, Refuge House, Breaking Free, Veronica's Voice and the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center. Farley has been a faculty member of the Center for World Indigenous Studies and has taught seminars on research for social change at the CWIS in Yelapa, Mexico.[1] Farley has 49 publications in the field of violence against women, most of which address prostitution, pornography and sex trafficking. Her research has been used by governments in South Africa, Canada, France, New Zealand, Ghana, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States to craft policy on prostitution and human trafficking. Farley's research on the trafficking and prostitution of Indian women[6] is the source of a character, Vera in the acclaimed historical novel The Night Watchman.[7]
Research
Women in prostitution
Since 1993, Farley has researched prostitution and trafficking in 14 countries. She has written many studies reporting high rates of violence and post-traumatic stress disorder among women employed in the sex trade.[3][8]
In a 2004 paper summarizing prostitution research in nine countries (Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the US and Zambia), Farley and others interviewed 854 people (782 cisgender women and girls, 44 transgender people and 28 cisgender men[9]) currently active in prostitution or having recently left.[10] The interviewees came from a variety of groups within the sex trade: street prostitutes, legal and illegal brothel workers and strip-club workers, with the prostitute populations interviewed varying by country.[11] Based on interviews and questionnaires, the paper's authors reported high rates of violence and post-traumatic stress: 71% of the respondents had been physically assaulted while in prostitution,[12] 63% had been raped,[12] and 68% met the criteria for PTSD.[12] Out of 785 respondents asked, 89% (699) stated they wanted to leave prostitution, but had no other means of making a living.[13] According to Farley and her co-authors, their findings contradict what they call "common myths about prostitution: the assumption that street prostitution is the worst type of prostitution, that prostitution of men and boys is different from prostitution of women and girls, that most of those in prostitution freely consent to it, that most people are in prostitution because of drug addiction, that prostitution is qualitatively different from trafficking, and that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution would decrease its harm."[12]
In a 1998 paper on San Francisco street sex workers (one of the populations included in the nine-country study), Farley and co-author Howard Barkan reported a notable history of violence in the lives of those surveyed. In childhood, 57% of respondents reported sexual abuse and 49% reported other physical abuse. While in prostitution, 68% reported being raped, 82% reported being physically assaulted and 83% reported being threatened with a weapon. The incidence and severity of PTSD correlated with the amount of violence experienced by an individual, and 84% of the respondents reported a history of homelessness.[14]
In September 2007, Farley published a book on prostitution and sex trafficking in Nevada. Farley wrote that although Nevada has legal brothels, 90% of the state's prostitution occurs in Las Vegas and Reno (in counties where prostitution is illegal) or outside legally designated brothels. She found Las Vegas in particular a major destination for sex traffickers. Although 81% of the 45 legal brothel workers Farley interviewed reported wanting to leave prostitution, many were physically unable to do so. According to Farley, she was threatened at gunpoint by a brothel owner during the interviews.[15][16]
Farley's prostitution studies have been criticized by sociologist Ronald Weitzer for reported issues with methodology. Weitzer was critical of what he saw as a lack of transparency in the interviews, how responses were translated into statistical data, sampling bias in favor of marginalized sex workers (such as street workers), and the general application of Farley's studies to oppose any kind of sex work.[17] Weitzer has also said that Farley's findings are heavily influenced by radical feminist ideology.[18][19][20] A 2002 study by Chudakov et al.[21] used Farley's PTSD tool to measure its rate in Israeli sex workers. Of the 55 women who agreed to be interviewed, 17% met the criteria for PTSD (compared to Farley's 68%). Additionally, the English Collective of Prostitutes, a campaigning group which supports the decriminalisation of prostitution, has described Farley's claims as "absurd and unsubstantiated".[22] Farley has also been criticized for accepting significant funding from anti-trafficking organizations, and has acknowledged that 30% of funding for a research project of prostitution was provided by the United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. In response, Farley stated that such funding has not swayed her research, specifically its methods or conclusions.[23]
In 2018, Farley conducted interviews and published a paper on how the #MeToo movement needs to include women in prostitution.[24][25]
Men who buy sex
Farley has co-authored a series of studies of men who buy sex. According to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, sex buyers share many similarities with sexually coercive men.[8][26] The first of these studies, based on interviews with sex buyers ("johns") in Edinburgh and Chicago, was published in April and May 2008. The reports, based on structured interviews with over 100 self-selecting men in each city who responded to newspaper ads placed by the researchers, report a high rate of abusive, predatory and dehumanizing attitudes towards prostitutes (and women in general) on the part of buyers. According to the studies, many of the men described their behavior as addiction; a large percentage said that the possibility of public exposure or being listed on a sex offender registry would deter them from buying sex from prostitutes.[27][28][29] A 2012 study of sex buyers in Cambodia by Farley and associates reported similar findings.[30]
In response to the Scottish study, a paper authored by approximately 15 academics and sexual health experts was submitted to the Scottish Parliament rebuking the methods and conclusions of Farley's study. According to their rebuttal, "This research violates fundamental principles of human research ethics in that there is no evidence of any benefit to the population studied. Rather the purpose of the research appears to have been to vilify the population of men who were chosen to be interviewed". According to the paper, Farley's work was biased, ill-informed and unhelpful.[20]
Other research
Farley has written or co-written several studies sponsored by Kaiser Foundation Research Institute on the long-term health effects of sexual abuse and trauma. Several report higher rates of dissociation and somatization in patients with a history of childhood sexual abuse than those without such a history,[31][32][33] with symptom frequency reportedly greater in those with a higher number of perpetrators in their sexual-abuse history.[32] One study reported higher rates of PTSD, emergency-room and medical visits, and prescriptions in patients with a history of sexual abuse than those without, and relatively high rates in people with unclear memories of abuse.[33]
Prostitution Research and Education
Farley is the founder and director of Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) organization.[34][35] The organization, sponsored by the San Francisco Women's Centers,[1] conducts research on prostitution, pornography and trafficking and offers education and consultation to other researchers, survivors, the public and policymakers. Its goal is "to abolish the institution of prostitution while at the same time advocating for alternatives to trafficking and prostitution – including emotional and physical healthcare for women in prostitution."[36]
