Coalition Heterogeneity in Community Based Responses to Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sex

Given the potential significance of coordinated community responses in anti-trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) efforts, it is important to understand the benefits, challenges, and tensions involved in anti-trafficking coalitions, as well as the backgrounds, perspectives, and goals of various community partners in order to create a functioning inter-agency response that meets a diversity of needs. Findings drawn from 22 interviews with coalition members in an urban Midwestern city suggest a a range of perspectives with regard to religious, feminist, and political stances create challenges in responding to sex trafficking and commercial sex; practice and research implications are discussed.