Featuring Dr. Melissa Farley, Founder of Prostitution Research and Education.
Dr. Melissa Farley is a dedicated voice and expert in ending human trafficking and violence against women through education and advocacy. Her background as a clinical psychologist has allowed her to use her expertise to educate and equip others on the harms of prostitution, pornography, and human trafficking.
Dr. Farley has served as a consultant with agencies, governments, and advocates for prostituted and trafficked women as well as serving as an expert witness in forensic evaluations. She is a well known legal expert on the effects of sexual violence against women and children, posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation, prostitution and trafficking. In her work, she emphasizes the connections between prostitution, racism, poverty, and both domestic and international trafficking.
As a trusted expert, Dr. Farley has provided consultation as an expert on the harm of prostitution to the Medical Examining Board of the State of California and psychological evaluations of prostituted young women for Contra Costa County and for San Francisco County.
Dr. Farley is also the founder of Prostitution Research & Education, a nonprofit organization which provides information about trafficking and prostitution, including a list of agencies offering services to women who have been in prostitution. This website is a resource for advocates across the world who work on behalf of women and children in prostitution and is a resource for survivors of prostitution, students, teachers, government officials, criminal justice personnel, social workers, legal advocates and nongovernmental agencies that are developing services to women who have been prostituted or trafficked.
Dr. Farley has also collaborated with a team of researchers in northern California at Kaiser Permanente who are studying the long term effects of violence against women on their health and how that violence impacts preventive health care for women.
In addition to her consulting work and work at PRE, Dr. Farley is the senior author of Prostitution and Trafficking in 9 Countries: Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, an article distributed by the Trafficking in Persons Office of the U.S. State Dept. She also contributed to other advocacy resources including Dissociation among Women in Prostitution by Colin Ross, Melissa Farley, and Harvey Schwartz; and the chapter Prostitution and Trafficking of Women and Children from Mexico to the United States by Marisa B. Ugarte, Laura Zarate, and Melissa Farley. Dr. Farley has also conducted a two year research study in Nevada focused on the connections between legal brothels, legal and illegal prostitution, domestic and international trafficking, political corruption, and organized crime in Nevada.
With her expertise and passion for justice, Dr. Farley is making an impact assisting advocates and trafficking victims around the world.