The US government has implemented an ambitious set of policies designed to combat human trafficking and sex trafficking in women and girls in particular. This article argues that anti-trafficking discourse and policy can be understood as a project to sustain and strengthen US power. This power has been wielded through the use of foreign aid, which influences the actions of both state and non-state actors overseas. Existing policies reinforce unilateralism and executive-branch dominance. Policymakers have also used gender strategically to moralize their actions and assert global leadership on this issue. Gender is thus deployed to serve US interests. © , Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

sex trafficking Obama administration Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) anti-trafficking discourse US foreign policy Bush administration counter-trafficking policy anti-trafficking activism US hegemony

[No Keywords available]