Entrevista a Kathleen Barry

Abstract

Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Penn State University, in the United States. She is a key figure of the radical feminist and activist against prostitution and trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation. She is one of the co-founders of the NGO Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) and has worked from different areas to make visible and combat sexual exploitation of women. Furthermore, she has published key books about the study of sexual exploitation as Female Sexual Slavery (1979) and The Prostitution of Sexuality (1995). In the first of this books, she points out that "Prostitution is both a symptom of an unjust social order and an institution that economically exploits women. But when economic power is defined as the causal variable, the sexual dimensions of power are generally not identified or contested" (Barry, 1987, Spanish edition: 23). In addition, explains prostitution as a violation of women's human rights. Since then, she has continued to reflect on the relationship between the different forms of exploitation and sexual violence. Her last book deals with the construction of masculinity in relation to militarism: Unmaking War, Remaking Men: How Empathy Can Reshape Our Politics, Our Soldiers and Ourselves (2010).