Sexual offending, Prostitution and Human Trafficking
Introduction
The essences of the course are recapped on the slides: the aim is to gain a proper,
nuances and multi-perspective understanding of the causes, mechanisms, dynamics and
complexity of a cluster of specific (crime) phenomena, i.e. sexual offending, prostitution
and human trafficking, as well as of their interrelations and of societal and (criminal)
policy reactions thereto.
The range of topics may be sensitive and tough to tackle, we can come across moral
issues, still it will force us to step away from the individual perspective which may be
more loaded, but if we think about how society should respond or how certain actors
should respond we may step away from moral attitude and try to work in a more
objective fashion.
The topics are listed, and these are the modules we will go through:
- Trafficking in human beings
- Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment
- Prostitution
- Child sexual abuse and abuse of power or authority
- Sexual exploitation of children, child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) &
grooming
- Bestiality, animal porn, BDSM & necrophilia
- Pornography, exhibitionism, revenge porn & voyeurism
- AI & robots
Some of us are students in Law, many have a legal background. Others to a lesser extent,
f.e. exchange students… this will help to exchange lenses and take different perspectives.
Not for all modules, but for a lot there is legislation adopted. We can take comparative
approaches as well. The law matters. You don’t know the exact details, but you need to
study the law and this is normative. It’s important when we look at certain issues that
we take a critical eye at laws, there are laws at different levels. At the end of today we
will talk about the exam, there will be legal and non-legal questions, based on articles we
read for example. There will be other perspectives as well. We will also look into
prevention strategies. It’s important to understand what we are talking about and that
we don’t talk in stereotypes. Victim perspectives will be much present, as well as
offenders’ perspective. The moral dimension is present as well. Morality keeps popping
up when it comes to sexuality. Politicians are coming with legislation which are morality
loaded.
Also, in an economic dimension we could discuss demand and supply. Sexworkers do
sexwork for economic reasons. Sometimes we move to another level than the individual
and look at what corporations can do. Gender and gay dimensions will be present as
well, it’s parts of what we’re dealing with, a lot of feminist literature, also radical
feminist literature which is for you to judge. It’s will all feed you from different angles.
Also migration, which is very important. We will also see a range of international bodies,
from the EU to Council of Europe, ISCE, ILO, UN. And also multi-actor perspective such as
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,police, labour and social inspection services… We do not shy away from the complexity
but embrace it, which forces us to be more nuanced.
The expectations: you need to be able to not just understand issues but apply the
knowledge you gained. See ECTS-fiche. Understanding of problems goes hand in hand
with studying. The course will force you to gain more knowledge and talk about it with
more complexity, play with the elements. When your opinion is asked, your opinion is
valuable, and you don’t need to echo the prof’s. you need to bring solid arguments for
your standpoint, whatever that standpoint is, we don’t need to agree on everything and
that’s fine. Nonetheless, we can’t adopt an individual position unless we learned.
The focus is also on independent thinking and the ability to articulate a scientifical
opinion in a clear report. You will need to write a paper, and this will be graded and is
good for half of the grades of the course. It could be group-based, that’s a possibility.
There are no limits topic-wise, whenever it’s related to sexual behavior.
The introductions will be based on literature, and it will be the prof’s perspective, he will
declare it in an honest and vulnerable fashion. Please feel safe enough, there will be
timidity to speak out about sensitive issues, but it will work, and it’s proven to be a safe
environment. You need to participate, contribute.
To a large extent it’s self-study, read ahead of the modules, the more you read in advance
the more you will be able to participate. You are offered a lot but it’s not mandatory to
read it in advance but would be interesting. There are readings organized per module on
the platform. There are mandatory readings, the ones in a grey fond are optional and
allow you to go deeper.
The paper is individual, but we allow group papers (max. 4 persons). You don’t just map
something, or make a compilation of the literature, but you need to tackle a research
question. 3000 words p.p. excluding footnotes and bibliography. (10/20). The paper
should be critical. The exam will be a written exam. Open questions, legal and non-legal.
Are you capable to analyze and understand the issues, play with different elements in a
debate. There are sample questions on Ufora. It will allow to use a translation dictionary.
The legal instrument that features in course material are copied in a reader which you
can print and bring to the exam.
No need to buy any books, everything is online.
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,Presentation of the information session on papers
It’s important to understand what the intention of this assignment is. The timing for the
papers is listed on Ufora. This is the first session and will take about 30 minutes, the next
session is in two weeks, and you need to start working on the paper because in two
weeks there will be a Q&A. You need to upload your research question on Ufora, the title
and the table of content, so basically the plan, what you’re planning to write about it and
how you’re going to do it. Once you upload this on Ufora, by the 27 th of March, and you
will get feedback on the 8th of April. This will be in the form of a voice message. Always
put Laura Beyn in CC if you send an email! She will give the feedback. There is no
grading on this. You won’t lose marks if you don’t hand anything in. by the 8 th of May you
upload your paper.
How will the paper be evaluated: there is one out of 10 points on your academic writing,
your English… 3/10: do you understand the issue, can you give context, can you place
the issue in a bigger picture? 6/10: line of argumentation, critical view, do you have an
academic opinion, and can you substantiate it, this is the most important part. This is
the difference between a descriptive and a critical paper. If you write an opinion, you
understand it and you have an own opinion and you can give an argumentation to come
up with a conclusion you will have a good mark on the paper. The most given feedback is
a warning that the research question is at high risk of being too descriptive.
Examples: a bad question is one with a yes or no answer. Choose a topic and a research
question with another answer than yes or no. Write about something that has to do with
the course that is of your interest. A good example: “The crime of sextortion. Legal
analysis on applicable legislation in Belgium and the need for the creation of a separate
crime.”
A title that starts with “overview of…” will get the feedback of high risk of being
descriptive. Don’t just give an overview of what’s already out there. You have to have an
intention behind giving an overview of articles. You have to explain why you want to
write about this.
Comparisons are fine, you can compare two countries, but you have to have an intention,
why do you choose these countries? Don’t just randomly do this but explain why. What’s
the added value?
General tips: choose something of interest, the reader is your starting point. Read about
the topic, and then you will come up with something, a small piece, that you want to
focus on. Don’t randomly choose a topic, read about the general issue and then you’ll
know what’s interesting for you to write about. Use the sources and show that you use
them, show us that you read a lot about the issue. Write a good bibliography. Read a lot
about it, but it’s not the intention of the paper since you only have 3000 words, do not
spend 1500 words on introducing your topic. Come up with a question, you introduce
your question, convince of the relevance, write about how you went about it and why
you chose this. Dive right into it. You can assume the professor already knows the
definitions. You have to blend in the contextualization with your own critical reflection.
The level that is expected is very high because it’s a master’s course. If you don’t agree
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, with something, offer propositions! Otherwise, you’ll lose a lot of points. You can bring
something down, but you have to build it up with your own propositions.
Reference style: no preference but stay consistent.
Q&A session
1) I’m writing about something that is undergoing legislative change. Is it okay to
base the paper on the current situation? You have to, if you take this risk,
implement the changes. It has to be up to date when you hand it in. don’t write
about something that has completely changed. Do you want to valuate a proposal,
then all you have to do in the end is check what the status is and write this in
your conclusion.
2) In the information session the reader is told to be a starting point. You have to
put everything in your bibliography, so also the reader. Make sure that your
paper is not solely based on what is already in the reader, that shows laziness.
3) Do we have to limit ourselves to English sources? No, use whatever you find, no
matter the language.
4) Can we hand in the table of content and the research topic sooner? The deadline
is 8th of April. Yes, of course. Every student will be treated the same, so everyone
gets feedback just once.
5) Is it allowed to work with subtitles? Yes.
6) Feedback on paper as well? No, only the table of content and the research
question. Make sure this is extensive!
7) When we want to discuss the legal scope, are we limited to discuss it in
international law? It all depends on the topic of your paper. Just know that you
only have a limited number of words to show you understand the matter and
have an opinion on it. it has to be super relevant and necessary to form your
opinion. Don’t hand in a copy paste of a legal article.
8) Yes, you can always ask for questions via email. Just don’t ask for feedback on
what you’ve already written.
9) How long can the table of content be? It’s not a draft of the paper. Make sure you
already extensively research before you hand this in. Look at a table of content of
an article in the reader and you’ll know what the assignment is. If you want to
explain something, you can write a few sentences to explain what it’s going to be
about; but it should be self-explanatory.
10) We don’t have to know why you use articles from specific countries, it should all
be self-explanatory.
11) Yes, use footnotes. Also, there can’t be anything in your bibliography you haven’t
referenced to in your text.
12) Writing about something really recent: Prof will be convinced it’s personal and
original, because you can’t already have been influenced about it. Prof is a big fan
of up to date or relevant, modern-day subjects, even though there are not many
references you can use. It’s more difficult, but if you have a basic bibliography
and you show you used what is out there, it will be very good.
13) ALWAYS PUT LAURA IN CC!!!
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