Sex Trafficking Myths Reconsidered

Noy Thrupkaew is a journalist who writes about human trafficking and labor exploitation with an emphasis on workers' resilience and right to organize. An an Open Society Fellow, she investigated the largest human trafficking cases in the United States, which involve hundreds of Thai farmers and Indian metalworkers working under conditions of severe intimidation, debt, and the threat of deportation. She also examined the complexities of the U.S. guestworker program and law-enforcement responses to human trafficking for the purposes of forced prostitution in South and Southeast Asia, as well as explored ways to develop greater accountability in counter-trafficking initiatives.

Thrupkaew has worked as a senior correspondent for the American Prospect and is the recipient of Fulbright and International Reporting Project grants. She has reported extensively from Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Iran, Morocco, and Cuba for many publications, including the Nation, the Guardian, National Geographic, and Marie Claire. She received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University.

Director - Sexual Health and Rights Project
Public Health Program

Heather Doyle is Director of the Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP), part of the Open Society Foundations Public Health Program. The project works to increase access to health care and advance the health-related rights of those who are marginalized because of their sexual practices, sexual orientation, and/ or gender identity. Prior to SHARP, Doyle worked on issues of minority rights in Europe and HIV/AIDS in Africa for the Open Society Foundations.