Rejection, trash, de-subjectification. The trafficking of women in Western democracies

Abstract

The issue of the trafficking of women intersects with various forms of dehumanization and the commodification of the body, as well as the role of the body itself within the political dimension. It further relates to the re-emergence of the negation of human rights for certain groups, as feared by Hannah Arendt; specifically, through the configuration of a 'redundant humanity' or 'human waste', as argued by Zygmunt Bauman and Jorge Bergoglio. The focus lies on a process of de-subjectification in favor of 'trash', supported by a 'metaphysics of waste', theorized by Matteo Losapio. Furthermore, the instrumentality of relationships alongside political indifferentism speaks to a 'fraying of ethics' - now 'weary', according to Rocco D’Ambrosio. These elements envision a radical anthropological transformation within Western democracies, rendering the catastrophic scenarios for women depicted in female dystopian literature - and explored in the research of Martina Marras - chillingly relevant.