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Threadbare: Clothes, Sex & Trafficking
Threadbare draws the connections between the international sex and garment trades and human trafficking in a beautifully illustrated comics series. Anne Elizabeth Moore, in reports illustrated by top-notch comics creators, pulls at the threads of gender, labor, and cultural production to paint a concerning picture of a human rights in a globalized world. Moore's reporting, illustrated by members of the Ladydrawers Comics Collective, takes the reader from the sweatshops of Cambodia to the traditional ateliers of Vienna, from the life of a globetrotting supermodel to the warehouses of large clothing retailers, from the secondhand clothing industry to the politics of the sex trade. With thoughtful illustrations of women's stories across the sex and garment supply chain, this book offers a practical guide to a growing problem few truly understand.
Featuring the work of Leela Corman, Julia Gfrörer, Simon Häussle, Delia Jean, Ellen Lindner, and Melissa Mendes.
Featuring the work of Leela Corman, Julia Gfrörer, Simon Häussle, Delia Jean, Ellen Lindner, and Melissa Mendes.
159 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2016
About the author
Anne Elizabeth Moore
25 books137 followersAnne Elizabeth Moore is an award-winning cultural critic. The Fulbright scholar and Truthout columnist behind Ladydrawers: Gender and Media in the US is also the author of Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity (The New Press, 2007), Hey Kidz, Buy This Book (Soft Skull, 2004), Cambodian Grrrl (Cantankerous Titles, 2011), Hip Hop Apsara (Green Lantern Press, 2012) and New Girl Law (Cantankerous Titles, 2013). Co-editor and publisher of now-defunct Punk Planet, founding editor of the Best American Comics series from Houghton Mifflin, Moore teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has worked with young women in Cambodia on independent media projects, and people of all ages and genders on media justice work in the US. Moore exhibits her work frequently as conceptual art, has been the subject of two documentary films, and has lectured around the world on independent media, globalization, and women’s labor issues. She has written for Al Jazeera, The Baffler, N+1, Good, Snap Judgment, Bitch, the Progressive, The Onion, Feministing, The Stranger, In These Times, The Boston Phoenix, and Tin House.
She has twice been noted in the Best American Non-Required Reading series. Her work with young women in Southeast Asia has been featured in Time Out Chicago, Make/Shift, Today’s Chicago Woman, Windy City Times, and Print magazines, and on GritTV, Radio Australia, and NPR’s Worldview.
Her friend (and one of her favorite fiction writers) Elizabeth Crane wrote a short story about Moore, and it was widely reviewed. Thus the Village Voice called her a “Possibly perfect protagonist”; Washington City Paper said she was “A woman who has always been comfortable in her own skin”; and Hipster Book Club said she was “A perfect altruistic punk-rock super-heroine.” She has appeared on CNN, GritTV, WBEZ, WNUR, WFMU, and Georgian television. Moore recently mounted a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
In 2016, she was awarded the third permanent residency in Detroit's Write A house program and now lives in a Bengali community in Eastern Michigan.
She has twice been noted in the Best American Non-Required Reading series. Her work with young women in Southeast Asia has been featured in Time Out Chicago, Make/Shift, Today’s Chicago Woman, Windy City Times, and Print magazines, and on GritTV, Radio Australia, and NPR’s Worldview.
Her friend (and one of her favorite fiction writers) Elizabeth Crane wrote a short story about Moore, and it was widely reviewed. Thus the Village Voice called her a “Possibly perfect protagonist”; Washington City Paper said she was “A woman who has always been comfortable in her own skin”; and Hipster Book Club said she was “A perfect altruistic punk-rock super-heroine.” She has appeared on CNN, GritTV, WBEZ, WNUR, WFMU, and Georgian television. Moore recently mounted a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
In 2016, she was awarded the third permanent residency in Detroit's Write A house program and now lives in a Bengali community in Eastern Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
March 2, 2017
(3.5 stars) This book is part of an important discussion that we should be having, but the execution was kind of lacking. I'm not altogether ignorant of the effects of fast fashion and sex trafficking, but I'm also kind of a newb about all this, and the information presented in the graphic novel format was a little murky to understand. I really liked the idea of these topics shown in comic panels, but each chapter (four in all) only touched on the surface of everything and didn't really give me enough information about each theme. Also, the book is fairly small (like 5x7"), and I feel like the comics were drawn for an 8.5x11" page, because the text in some panels were so small I felt that I needed a magnifying glass.
That said, I gleaned some information from this book that can lead me to investigate more. Each chapter has endnotes with sources that can be a good way to learn more about individual topics.
As far as the book goes, it was so broad and over-ambitious. I think it would've been better if the author(s) focused really hard on one specific topic and made a book, rather than a single chapter, about each part she wanted to discuss. I would've liked more detail and depth.
That said, I gleaned some information from this book that can lead me to investigate more. Each chapter has endnotes with sources that can be a good way to learn more about individual topics.
As far as the book goes, it was so broad and over-ambitious. I think it would've been better if the author(s) focused really hard on one specific topic and made a book, rather than a single chapter, about each part she wanted to discuss. I would've liked more detail and depth.
May 9, 2016
I was excited about the concept of the book, but the execution left a bit to be desired. the book is boring in some places and hard to follow in others. The last part though (the book is split into 4 parts) is a must-read for any feminist. It details the way in which anti-human trafficking policy often works in favor of only garment companies and large religious organizations, and actually works against the interests of women in the garment and sex industries. A very interesting book, especially the ending, but not executed as well as I had hoped.
July 2, 2016
A hard, in-depth look at the hidden costs of the modern fashion industry. There's more to it than just sweatshop labor. This is some impressive comics journalism as Anne Elizabeth Moore teams up with a bunch of talented artists--Julia Gfrörer, Simon Häussle, Melissa Mendes, and more. Everything is documented and footnoted, and the whole picture is depressing enough to make one want to chuck clothing all together and become a nudist. If I have a complaint about this book, it is that the pages are so small. Consider, "It's the Money, Honey," illustrated by Ellen Lindner. That's some tiny, tiny lettering there. Looks like about a millimeter top to bottom. While I wear glasses for distance vision, I usually don't have problems reading, but this book was pushing my limits in spots. It would have been nice if the book had been just a touch larger. Overall, this is an impressive--but tiny--book that will make you think. Definitely check it out.
July 3, 2018
This book suffers from a serious need for further editing. Non-sequiturs and logical inconsistencies abound.
The handwriting on many of the comics is nigh unreadably tiny. I had to hold it inches from my face and squint. And that’s when it’s black text on white paper. Sometimes it’s dark red text on black ink. Completely impossible. Who planned this?
The Austria chapter is nearly unreadable for how often it changes topic or authorship with no indication, and veers off course.
I think probably there is good intention here. But the purpose gets completely lost in the poor execution.
I guess to sum up, there are some really good interviews in this book....that would be just as good (or better) in written form. But there’s a lotta junk in between, and stories that are told so poorly that it’s impossible to understand.
But overall it was still interesting. But it should have been better.
The handwriting on many of the comics is nigh unreadably tiny. I had to hold it inches from my face and squint. And that’s when it’s black text on white paper. Sometimes it’s dark red text on black ink. Completely impossible. Who planned this?
The Austria chapter is nearly unreadable for how often it changes topic or authorship with no indication, and veers off course.
I think probably there is good intention here. But the purpose gets completely lost in the poor execution.
I guess to sum up, there are some really good interviews in this book....that would be just as good (or better) in written form. But there’s a lotta junk in between, and stories that are told so poorly that it’s impossible to understand.
But overall it was still interesting. But it should have been better.
January 14, 2018
I'm glad I read this and it packed a lot of information into a small volume. I actually found it a little hard to read because I'm not used to reading graphic novels, and that's probably why I rated it lower than I might have otherwise. The fonts were a little annoying. But content-wise, it's really an interesting book about how clothing production relates to sex-trafficking and how it's a worldwide complicated problem.
August 9, 2016
This books covers so many important topics that I don't want to give it a low rating because I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it. It's a good introduction to the behind-the-scenes overlap of the international garment industry, fast fashion, and the sex trade. The discussion of the distinction between sex workers and trafficked victims was valuable, though I bought the book to learn about the garment factories where so many women of the world are working, in such miserable conditions for such low pay.
I found the treatment of most of these topics to be pretty superficial, however. I would say this book is a good place to start if you're interested in being an informed consumer (though I finished the book and now I'm wondering how I can opt out completely--do I have to raise my own sheep and cotton?!), but I'm going to have to read through some of the books cited in order to get a deeper understanding. I found myself wondering on a couple of occasions if this book needed to be a comic book. I thought it would be cool, but I didn't feel like the pictures did much to enhance the reading experience. However, a lot of statistics and information was really shocking! For example, when discussing the free-trade zone regulations that impact every player in the garment industry, Moore writes: "It's gendered, of course: An 82% male group of lawmakers set [sic] rules pertaining to the livelihoods of about 50 million women in the garment industry worldwide." And then there's a whole chapter on NGOs "rescuing" "trafficked" "women" (seriously!) to put them to work for less-than-a-living wage in garment factories--and so many of the people on the boards of these NGOs are also c-levels in the garment industry! And opting out by going to the thrift store is just lining the pockets of other big corporations who aren't paying their workers right or are reselling the most-discarded clothes to the poorest people in other countries.
We're all going to have to start wearing kale as well as eating it.
A very practical problem I had, and I feel so very old saying this, is that the writing was too damn small on a number of the comics. With one artist in particular, it was terrible. Not her fault: I think the book could have been printed in a bigger format, or maybe if there's an e-version available, it might be easier to read on a tablet if you can resize it... If the comics are still available online, it might be better just to find them and read them there.
I found the treatment of most of these topics to be pretty superficial, however. I would say this book is a good place to start if you're interested in being an informed consumer (though I finished the book and now I'm wondering how I can opt out completely--do I have to raise my own sheep and cotton?!), but I'm going to have to read through some of the books cited in order to get a deeper understanding. I found myself wondering on a couple of occasions if this book needed to be a comic book. I thought it would be cool, but I didn't feel like the pictures did much to enhance the reading experience. However, a lot of statistics and information was really shocking! For example, when discussing the free-trade zone regulations that impact every player in the garment industry, Moore writes: "It's gendered, of course: An 82% male group of lawmakers set [sic] rules pertaining to the livelihoods of about 50 million women in the garment industry worldwide." And then there's a whole chapter on NGOs "rescuing" "trafficked" "women" (seriously!) to put them to work for less-than-a-living wage in garment factories--and so many of the people on the boards of these NGOs are also c-levels in the garment industry! And opting out by going to the thrift store is just lining the pockets of other big corporations who aren't paying their workers right or are reselling the most-discarded clothes to the poorest people in other countries.
We're all going to have to start wearing kale as well as eating it.
A very practical problem I had, and I feel so very old saying this, is that the writing was too damn small on a number of the comics. With one artist in particular, it was terrible. Not her fault: I think the book could have been printed in a bigger format, or maybe if there's an e-version available, it might be easier to read on a tablet if you can resize it... If the comics are still available online, it might be better just to find them and read them there.
June 14, 2019
Reviewed without finishing- I almost *never* do this, but I have to put this book aside. I think it’s a great premise and important information to be shared, but unfortunately this book is not accessible at all. The print is so so small in areas that it’s physically painful for me to try to read. Flipping through, I can see that some panels are better than others, but too much of this book borders on illegible. I would not recommend this book.
April 20, 2020
I appreciated the majority of the comics but there was one or two in which the text was so extremely thin and tiny I couldn't make out the majority of the words even though the the Overdrive website gives you the ability to enlarge images.
February 21, 2018
A chilling account that - in spite of technical flaws - will leave you wanting to set the world on fire.
September 7, 2022
This book pulls together an international view of several interrelated subjects: the garment industry, women's rights, economic injustices, and sex trafficking. Each of the first three chapters has several graphical stories of the garment industries in, respectively, the USA, Austria, and Cambodia. The final chapter, titled The World, pulls it together and includes the sex industry, mostly in the USA and Cambodia.
However, the book has flaws. The quality of the different pieces varies. The worst, to my mind, was the one set in Austria. The wording in places was so awkward that it was hard to understand. It seemed like much of the text had been translated from the original interviews word for word, with the idioms not smoothed over into English. Plus hints of nationalism/antisemitism and transphobia put me off.
I like how the book delineated the links between women in the garment industry and sex trafficking. I was glad for the debunking of Somaly Mam (though I've read that elsewhere) and for the treatment of problems with anti-sex trafficking work in the USA. Seems like evangelical groups are inserting their doctrines into far too many programs. But the debunking was maybe too thorough; is it not true that sex trafficking is a problem? Because with all the debunking, no instances of the real thing were given.
I recommend this book. It is valuable in that it puts together related subjects to give a better overview of how women, and workers in general, are abused worldwide. The graphic format makes it easy enough to read. But it has gaps (I'm sure that other areas of the world could use more coverage), and I'd like to know more about the overall story, and see it updated.
However, the book has flaws. The quality of the different pieces varies. The worst, to my mind, was the one set in Austria. The wording in places was so awkward that it was hard to understand. It seemed like much of the text had been translated from the original interviews word for word, with the idioms not smoothed over into English. Plus hints of nationalism/antisemitism and transphobia put me off.
I like how the book delineated the links between women in the garment industry and sex trafficking. I was glad for the debunking of Somaly Mam (though I've read that elsewhere) and for the treatment of problems with anti-sex trafficking work in the USA. Seems like evangelical groups are inserting their doctrines into far too many programs. But the debunking was maybe too thorough; is it not true that sex trafficking is a problem? Because with all the debunking, no instances of the real thing were given.
I recommend this book. It is valuable in that it puts together related subjects to give a better overview of how women, and workers in general, are abused worldwide. The graphic format makes it easy enough to read. But it has gaps (I'm sure that other areas of the world could use more coverage), and I'd like to know more about the overall story, and see it updated.
January 19, 2020
This one was pretty disappointing. The subject matter is absolutely critical, and there was clearly a lot of research that went into it. But it was very uneven, in scope and complexity and especially visual presentation, and everything was so small, it was extremely hard to read and understand.
Meanwhile, here we were reaching pretty much peak Jugs & Capes with a garden-party meetup complete with nachotots, kolaches, and hand-churned ice cream, oh be still my hipster heart.
Meanwhile, here we were reaching pretty much peak Jugs & Capes with a garden-party meetup complete with nachotots, kolaches, and hand-churned ice cream, oh be still my hipster heart.
January 2, 2022
Good idea. Bad execution. It should not have taken me 3 days to get through a short graphic novel.
September 26, 2018
Interesting subject, but not enough focus. Some of the texts are really small and the comics do not really add anything to the story. Three stars though as this subject is worth any attention.
February 21, 2020
Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. Interesting ideas. I’m spiraling with whether I fully accept sex work, will have to seek out more information. Willing to consider easy to read/access suggestions for sources.
January 21, 2019
Well researched and very informative and thought-provoking. Just very choppy in feel. I’m glad to have read this.
August 29, 2021
This is an important topic to tackle, and the anecdotes and research presented in this book are eye-opening. I especially liked the attempt to make explicit the connection between the garment industry and sex work, and the book's use of visual story-telling as a means of communicating these issues.
Some of the vignettes, especially about the Austrian garment industry (who knew!), the unfair trade agreements that privilege the US/EU consumer, and the parallels between the global industry today vs. where the US garment industry was a century ago, are poignant and eye-opening.
Despite this, there are numerous problems with the book, both in content and execution.
Firstly, as many reviewers have pointed out, the simple fact of legibility has sometimes been (seemingly) ignored. In several places, the print is *tiny* (I have no issues with my vision), and in others, the print may be larger, but the contrast is lacking (the combinations of black and red do not make for easy reading). More could have been done to streamline the size of the text and its legibility.
I also felt that often the illustrations were just "wallpaper" and not really adding much to the text. Not always, but in enough sections where it became noticeable over the course of the entire work.
Secondly, in terms of content, there are *so* many questions that the book raises or implies, but doesn't do enough to address. These crop up most especially at the end, as the author tries to tie together some of the various threads (pardon the pun) of the book into a cohesive narrative. I felt that the book was a thesis in search of evidence, and that it was not a good-faith effort to led the evidence lead to a conclusion. I will use two key points made in the book to illustrate why.
Point 1: Minimum wage vs. living wage.
I feel like this is a red herring. Even in the US, there are many, many jobs outside the garment industry which do not pay a living wage. The fact that so few jobs in this industry pay a living wage outside of the US (when the US itself is no poster country for this) does less to condemn the garment industry specifically than highlight the problems of minimum wages being too low, period.
As implied in the graphics, in many places the garment industry does actually pay minimum wage. I feel like this is an effort to use the "worst" of the two options (minimum wage vs. living wage discrepancies do not apply solely to the garment industry) to make a point that is not fully in keeping with reality, because
Point 2: If low wages in the garment industry drive sex trafficking, why aren't the other, lower-paid industries just as much, if not more, to blame for sex trafficking?
This is a really damning counterpoint that is completely ignored. Close to the final chapter (p. 100), there is a graphic showing all the predominantly-female jobs in Cambodia, many of which pay *less* than the garment industry. Okay, so that begs the question also of: why should garment workers be paid significantly more than, say, grocery clerks? This is the type of data point where the data is being used to drive a specific narrative, and it's actually undermining the argument it's purporting to make. Yes, a high(er?) percentage of women work in the textile industry, though textiles and making garments are not quite the same thing (making cloth and sewing it are two different skills, so I think there's a bit of conflation/bait-and-switch going on with these numbers as well).
Aside from those two points, I had a very strong reaction to the issue of the NGO's in the industry. The author acts as if the NGO's are no different to the sweatshops that "drive" women into the sex trade. In fact, early on in the book, it claims that the women in those NGO factories are earning *less* than they were as garment workers originally, because now they have been socially ostracized or morally "tainted" by their sex work.
While that is true in the actual wage, it isn't until the later chapters that you find out that the NGO's offer FREE amenities, many of which are significant, such as childcare, medical cover, education (including English tutoring), as well as offering a place free from harassment. How exactly is this as bad as the sweatshops? Yes, they are earning $2/day instead of $5/day at the NGO, but the whole point about the horrible sweatshop conditions is that women lose their jobs if they fall pregnant or sick.
Also, the NGO representative says that low-level sex work pays around $5/day, but that the women often only ends up with $2 of that money. But this brings with it another problem: if the entry-level sex work is $5/day, that is THE SAME amount of money as the garment industry average. Which undermines the narrative that it is *primarily* the lower wages driving women from the garment industry into sex work.
I really feel like the author is trying to throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water. She comments how the women sewing at tables at the NGO's facility "... is JUST like a factory!" Of COURSE sewing clothes at an NGO facility *looks like* sewing in a sweatshop! What did you expect? That's like saying sitting in front of a screen doing knowledge work for a palm oil company looks awfully similar to sitting in front of a screen trying to stop deforestation due to palm plantations. The superficial appearances aren't an argument for true similarity.
The author also doesn't examine many other NGO's, beyond a cursory overview, operating in other countries. Or, indeed, any other NGO's operating in Cambodia itself. Based on the reporting, I feel like *supporting* that particular Cambodian NGO, as they appear by all accounts to be doing good work. If this is evidence of the NGO's failing, well... they are quite successful in my view.
Finally, in terms of "baby and bathwater" thinking: taking the "Love 146" NGO to task because they refer to "transwomen" as "transgendered males" is absurd. You are talking about stopping *sex trafficking* and see fit to include a footnote that reads (this is a direct quotation):
"The *preferred* term is 'transgender,' as it is less totalizing than *the past participle* 'transgendered.'" (emphasis mine)
I'm really straining to see how being such a pedantic grammar Nazi, made about victims for whom English isn't even their native language, is not cultural hegemony. As if this issue is on par with the rest of the book! It really shows the pervasive, negative effects of this hyper-sensitive snowflake mentality that "oh, hey, while you're out there trying to stop people from being ruthlessly exploited, could you like please watch your grammar? You may be offending someone who cannot afford to eat because of your unfair labor practices, and that's like even worse, amirite?" Aka, please do every. single. thing. *exactly perfectly,* or else you are *just* as bad as the perpetrator(s).
Only a Sith deals in absolutes, lol.
Did anyone in the researching actually *ask* any of these transgender sex workers *their* preferred term(s)? Or if they even CARED about the terminology since, as the book points out, they entered the trade in order to make enough money to eat and have shelter? Perhaps it's best when tackling complex global issues to NOT get bogged down in "preferred terminology" (Tony Harris's "Them & Us" comes to mind, with its skewering of the similarly-haughty "received pronunciation") and focus on the practical things that help solve the bigger-picture issues.
The book also ignores any potential solutions, beyond (apparently) being anti-anti sex demand legislation. Which is fine, but the final chapters really feel like a digression. The argument thus far has been: the garment trade is exploitative, especially in terms of wages, so much so that many women enter into the sex trade... but let's not "slut shame" those people privileged (or underprivileged?) enough to actually *choose* to work as prostitutes, as such a profession shouldn't carry a moral stigma.
I completely agree with the latter point, but I fail to see how this ties up the arguments in any meaningful way. If you increased the wages of the garment industry, and sex work still paid more, so now women were making an economic choice that wasn't based on exploitative labor practices... first off, great! Second off, would then the garment industry still be seen in such a negative light?
So yes, this is a worthwhile issue, it deserves serious discussion, and it certainly needs rectifying, both in terms of the laws being changed to roll back these unfair advantages by Western powers and in terms of raising up the standards of living in these less-wealthy areas. We also need to educate the innumerate Westerners that fairer labor standards this will mean you might have to pay more than $9.99 for this seas0- er, week's hottest t-shirt line.
tl;dr: go back and read it again - for the first time!
Some of the vignettes, especially about the Austrian garment industry (who knew!), the unfair trade agreements that privilege the US/EU consumer, and the parallels between the global industry today vs. where the US garment industry was a century ago, are poignant and eye-opening.
Despite this, there are numerous problems with the book, both in content and execution.
Firstly, as many reviewers have pointed out, the simple fact of legibility has sometimes been (seemingly) ignored. In several places, the print is *tiny* (I have no issues with my vision), and in others, the print may be larger, but the contrast is lacking (the combinations of black and red do not make for easy reading). More could have been done to streamline the size of the text and its legibility.
I also felt that often the illustrations were just "wallpaper" and not really adding much to the text. Not always, but in enough sections where it became noticeable over the course of the entire work.
Secondly, in terms of content, there are *so* many questions that the book raises or implies, but doesn't do enough to address. These crop up most especially at the end, as the author tries to tie together some of the various threads (pardon the pun) of the book into a cohesive narrative. I felt that the book was a thesis in search of evidence, and that it was not a good-faith effort to led the evidence lead to a conclusion. I will use two key points made in the book to illustrate why.
Point 1: Minimum wage vs. living wage.
I feel like this is a red herring. Even in the US, there are many, many jobs outside the garment industry which do not pay a living wage. The fact that so few jobs in this industry pay a living wage outside of the US (when the US itself is no poster country for this) does less to condemn the garment industry specifically than highlight the problems of minimum wages being too low, period.
As implied in the graphics, in many places the garment industry does actually pay minimum wage. I feel like this is an effort to use the "worst" of the two options (minimum wage vs. living wage discrepancies do not apply solely to the garment industry) to make a point that is not fully in keeping with reality, because
Point 2: If low wages in the garment industry drive sex trafficking, why aren't the other, lower-paid industries just as much, if not more, to blame for sex trafficking?
This is a really damning counterpoint that is completely ignored. Close to the final chapter (p. 100), there is a graphic showing all the predominantly-female jobs in Cambodia, many of which pay *less* than the garment industry. Okay, so that begs the question also of: why should garment workers be paid significantly more than, say, grocery clerks? This is the type of data point where the data is being used to drive a specific narrative, and it's actually undermining the argument it's purporting to make. Yes, a high(er?) percentage of women work in the textile industry, though textiles and making garments are not quite the same thing (making cloth and sewing it are two different skills, so I think there's a bit of conflation/bait-and-switch going on with these numbers as well).
Aside from those two points, I had a very strong reaction to the issue of the NGO's in the industry. The author acts as if the NGO's are no different to the sweatshops that "drive" women into the sex trade. In fact, early on in the book, it claims that the women in those NGO factories are earning *less* than they were as garment workers originally, because now they have been socially ostracized or morally "tainted" by their sex work.
While that is true in the actual wage, it isn't until the later chapters that you find out that the NGO's offer FREE amenities, many of which are significant, such as childcare, medical cover, education (including English tutoring), as well as offering a place free from harassment. How exactly is this as bad as the sweatshops? Yes, they are earning $2/day instead of $5/day at the NGO, but the whole point about the horrible sweatshop conditions is that women lose their jobs if they fall pregnant or sick.
Also, the NGO representative says that low-level sex work pays around $5/day, but that the women often only ends up with $2 of that money. But this brings with it another problem: if the entry-level sex work is $5/day, that is THE SAME amount of money as the garment industry average. Which undermines the narrative that it is *primarily* the lower wages driving women from the garment industry into sex work.
I really feel like the author is trying to throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water. She comments how the women sewing at tables at the NGO's facility "... is JUST like a factory!" Of COURSE sewing clothes at an NGO facility *looks like* sewing in a sweatshop! What did you expect? That's like saying sitting in front of a screen doing knowledge work for a palm oil company looks awfully similar to sitting in front of a screen trying to stop deforestation due to palm plantations. The superficial appearances aren't an argument for true similarity.
The author also doesn't examine many other NGO's, beyond a cursory overview, operating in other countries. Or, indeed, any other NGO's operating in Cambodia itself. Based on the reporting, I feel like *supporting* that particular Cambodian NGO, as they appear by all accounts to be doing good work. If this is evidence of the NGO's failing, well... they are quite successful in my view.
Finally, in terms of "baby and bathwater" thinking: taking the "Love 146" NGO to task because they refer to "transwomen" as "transgendered males" is absurd. You are talking about stopping *sex trafficking* and see fit to include a footnote that reads (this is a direct quotation):
"The *preferred* term is 'transgender,' as it is less totalizing than *the past participle* 'transgendered.'" (emphasis mine)
I'm really straining to see how being such a pedantic grammar Nazi, made about victims for whom English isn't even their native language, is not cultural hegemony. As if this issue is on par with the rest of the book! It really shows the pervasive, negative effects of this hyper-sensitive snowflake mentality that "oh, hey, while you're out there trying to stop people from being ruthlessly exploited, could you like please watch your grammar? You may be offending someone who cannot afford to eat because of your unfair labor practices, and that's like even worse, amirite?" Aka, please do every. single. thing. *exactly perfectly,* or else you are *just* as bad as the perpetrator(s).
Only a Sith deals in absolutes, lol.
Did anyone in the researching actually *ask* any of these transgender sex workers *their* preferred term(s)? Or if they even CARED about the terminology since, as the book points out, they entered the trade in order to make enough money to eat and have shelter? Perhaps it's best when tackling complex global issues to NOT get bogged down in "preferred terminology" (Tony Harris's "Them & Us" comes to mind, with its skewering of the similarly-haughty "received pronunciation") and focus on the practical things that help solve the bigger-picture issues.
The book also ignores any potential solutions, beyond (apparently) being anti-anti sex demand legislation. Which is fine, but the final chapters really feel like a digression. The argument thus far has been: the garment trade is exploitative, especially in terms of wages, so much so that many women enter into the sex trade... but let's not "slut shame" those people privileged (or underprivileged?) enough to actually *choose* to work as prostitutes, as such a profession shouldn't carry a moral stigma.
I completely agree with the latter point, but I fail to see how this ties up the arguments in any meaningful way. If you increased the wages of the garment industry, and sex work still paid more, so now women were making an economic choice that wasn't based on exploitative labor practices... first off, great! Second off, would then the garment industry still be seen in such a negative light?
So yes, this is a worthwhile issue, it deserves serious discussion, and it certainly needs rectifying, both in terms of the laws being changed to roll back these unfair advantages by Western powers and in terms of raising up the standards of living in these less-wealthy areas. We also need to educate the innumerate Westerners that fairer labor standards this will mean you might have to pay more than $9.99 for this seas0- er, week's hottest t-shirt line.
tl;dr: go back and read it again - for the first time!
January 24, 2021
Personally, I think this book is brilliant. Yes, not all illustrations are easy to read, but besides layout issues, I found the content very well written. It's a brief but compelling explanation of the relationship between global capitalism, consumerism and labour exploitation, that examines in particular the connection between the garment industry and sex work. I really liked the fact that the book centres sex workers' experiences, and dismantles the 'moral panic' surrounding the anti-trafficking discourse (especially when propelled by white saviours and Christian missionaries). Having worked with sex workers' rights organisations in the past, I really appreciate the discussion on how the apparel industry funds anti-trafficking NGOs in order to 'save' prostitutes from sexual exploitation and re-train them as garment workers ready to be exploited in sweatshops. I also second the emphasis on the urgency of de-stigmatising sex work, because real solutions only come from systemic change (improving the living conditions of those who are systematically oppressed by this socio-economic system), not from policing.
May 13, 2016
I received a copy of this book for free through a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.
A complex issue organized and laid out in sections of comics with a brief introduction to each section. The content is important and enlightening and Moore does a wonderful job of tying everything together at the end; explaining how the fashion industry, sex workers and NGO's are all intertwined with each other.
The book is unique in using comics to explain the issues present. The format wasn't appealing to me, but I'm probably not the target audience either. I think some of the important content could be lost in the distraction of the format. I also found the font size too small in some of the comics, which made it difficult to read.
Overall, for anyone that really wants to know more about how the fashion industry really works should check out this book. I consider myself pretty well informed of world issues, but still found some of it surprising and actually infuriating.
A complex issue organized and laid out in sections of comics with a brief introduction to each section. The content is important and enlightening and Moore does a wonderful job of tying everything together at the end; explaining how the fashion industry, sex workers and NGO's are all intertwined with each other.
The book is unique in using comics to explain the issues present. The format wasn't appealing to me, but I'm probably not the target audience either. I think some of the important content could be lost in the distraction of the format. I also found the font size too small in some of the comics, which made it difficult to read.
Overall, for anyone that really wants to know more about how the fashion industry really works should check out this book. I consider myself pretty well informed of world issues, but still found some of it surprising and actually infuriating.
June 30, 2016
This book is worth reading, however I felt that the comic format was somewhat underutilized in parts. This may be because so many cartoonists had a part in it, but some definitely stood out more than others. I think I would have enjoyed this more in its original serial format more than as a collection. I would have been less tempted to compare the artists against each other, even if it was subconscious at first.
The book also seemed to lose its way in the middle. The latter half was excellent, and a must read.
I was not aware of the many issues around anti-trafficking nonprofits and was glad to learn that the organization I worked with was loosing funding because they wanted to treat sex workers with dignity and didn't discover as many trafficking cases as people assumed there would be.
The book also seemed to lose its way in the middle. The latter half was excellent, and a must read.
I was not aware of the many issues around anti-trafficking nonprofits and was glad to learn that the organization I worked with was loosing funding because they wanted to treat sex workers with dignity and didn't discover as many trafficking cases as people assumed there would be.
February 1, 2018
What a disservice to graphic novels. It is a worthy subject, but the use of comics betrays a poor understanding and a horrible execution of the medium. It is basically text over layer on drawings. The words are in microscopic print, while the pictures do not add anything to the story. In terms of content, it is a timely subject. Some connections are assumed to be obvious but are wanting for more facts. Maybe I knew too much already. I am a big fan of graphic novels as a potent medium for explaining complex topics and telling compelling stories to a broad audience. I have read books about the garment industry and human trafficking, so I was curious how it would be done. This was an unfortunate failure to use the medium it chose effectively.
November 29, 2016
I was really interested in the message of this book. However, I don't think the content meshed well with the graphic novel format. There were way too many facts presented in small bits, and at times, I had to squint to read the incredibly tiny font. I couldn't get into this book because of the format.
December 19, 2017
Well presented, thought out, and intersectional in approach in regards to sex workers and trans folks. A must read.
April 17, 2018
A great idea with wonderful forewords by Anne Moore, but the overall the execution is poor.
Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking
explores the rise of the Fast Fashion industry, its effects on local businesses, connection to human trafficking and the impoverishment of its workers in short panels. I learned a lot from this graphic novel but I often felt that the information in the panels came off like a factoid sheet and didn't connect all of these issues in an efficient or cohesive manner.
Part of this issue stems from the fact that these short panels were featured in a weekly column and were not seen as a collective whole. However, this does not excuse the poor thought out design of the panels. There were a couple of panels that featured font so tiny I had my nose a breath away from the page. Overall, the graphic novel took on large and complicated issues that require in-depth explanations and not just simple facts. As a result, the three chapters with their separate issues were completely disjointed from one another and failed to thoroughly investigate or even invest in these individuals' lives because of its brevity.
However despite this, I learned a lot about the fast fashion industry and its close connection to sex work. I was especially disheartened to see how many women leave prostitution and their pimps only to be abused by NGOs and their promise of fair wages and housing. It's such an unfortunate cycle and this graphic novel attempts to showcase how these women are often further abused by so called crusaders. In one instance, Moore discusses the controversy of Mam Somaly and even the white savior complex of Nicholas Kristof, who wrote Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide . Both who have complicated the lives of those trafficked by overestimating the numbers and creating a victim when the victim does not exist. The third chapter was by far my favorite because I have often thought about whether charities, NGOs and other so-called 'good' organizations are actually accomplishing anything beneficial.
Therefore, I appreciate Moore's tenacity and chosen campaign - I just wish she compiled this book with a little more thought to the cohesion, thesis and how the sub-themes would connect and flow. You know there must be a problem when the book ends with a summary and proclamation (almost like an rough draft outline) of how the book's major arguments and chapters are supposed to link up.
Part of this issue stems from the fact that these short panels were featured in a weekly column and were not seen as a collective whole. However, this does not excuse the poor thought out design of the panels. There were a couple of panels that featured font so tiny I had my nose a breath away from the page. Overall, the graphic novel took on large and complicated issues that require in-depth explanations and not just simple facts. As a result, the three chapters with their separate issues were completely disjointed from one another and failed to thoroughly investigate or even invest in these individuals' lives because of its brevity.
However despite this, I learned a lot about the fast fashion industry and its close connection to sex work. I was especially disheartened to see how many women leave prostitution and their pimps only to be abused by NGOs and their promise of fair wages and housing. It's such an unfortunate cycle and this graphic novel attempts to showcase how these women are often further abused by so called crusaders. In one instance, Moore discusses the controversy of Mam Somaly and even the white savior complex of Nicholas Kristof, who wrote Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide . Both who have complicated the lives of those trafficked by overestimating the numbers and creating a victim when the victim does not exist. The third chapter was by far my favorite because I have often thought about whether charities, NGOs and other so-called 'good' organizations are actually accomplishing anything beneficial.
Therefore, I appreciate Moore's tenacity and chosen campaign - I just wish she compiled this book with a little more thought to the cohesion, thesis and how the sub-themes would connect and flow. You know there must be a problem when the book ends with a summary and proclamation (almost like an rough draft outline) of how the book's major arguments and chapters are supposed to link up.
February 11, 2018
‘Comics journalism’ is becoming increasingly recognised as a form – think of the profile of people such as Joe Sacco – that when it works well opens up new ways of seeing old problems and accessible ways into complex issues. This collection, some of which originally appeared at Truthout, with parts also previously out in booklet form, is a good example of the latter – access to complex issues. Centred on the global economics of the clothing industries – employing about 15% of all women in paid work this is the third biggest industry in the world and second biggest polluting industry – the collection is set against the global politics of race and gender, of economic power and imperialism.
Each of the four sections has a useful introductory essay, of a couple of pages, which with the six page introduction, provide a context and background. It might seem surprising that the collection starts in the USA to explore both fast fashion – the apogee of the industry’s problems – but also exploring clothing production and (tax-free) Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) that spread across the USA and reproduce many of the most exploitative of working conditions we’re used to seeing in the maquiladoras and elsewhere in the global rag trade. There is also a really good piece on being a model. More surprisingly the narrative then moves to Austria allowing Moore and the other Ladydrawers to explore a long standing craft-based national clothing industry: this is a powerful tale of the uniformity associated with globalisation and of the decline of a rich sartorial culture and the production practices associated with it.
The second half is more as would be expected, continuing Moore’s long-standing interests in and engagement with Cambodia (as seen in her Cambodian Grrrl and New Girl Law ) but here exploring the links between the clothing industries, gendered labour and problematic discourses and practices surrounding many of the NGOs associated with anti-trafficking aid work. Moore’s critique of the anti-trafficking NGOs is powerful and difficult to refute – where there is 1) a corporate interest on their part to risk or actually to inflate trafficking numbers (either way a difficult issue to unravel given that trafficking is in its nature hard to quantify), and 2) some of these NGOs finish up being complicit with the oppressions and exploitation of the clothing industries, in many cases the employment and abysmal women were fleeing when they finished up the sex industries.
These are, but here very nature, difficult issues – the secrecy of trafficking, the global economy of fashion and textiles, the gender dynamics of the USA, Austria and Cambodia and more – that are clearly and explicitly unpacked and presented by Moore’s text and Ladydrawers’ images. The major problem is a production one: in some cases these pieces were draw for Truthout’s on-line coverage, and in two piece in particular, ‘It’s the Money, Honey’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Out of the Factories’, both in the first Cambodia section, the text is so small that it is very difficult to read.
All in all, this is a useful contribution to the literature and a good example of the potential of ‘comics journalism’. Moore’s text and Ladydrawers’ images combine also to make it a valuable contribution to both analyses of clothing industry, of global gender and economics and to campaigning around these issues.
Each of the four sections has a useful introductory essay, of a couple of pages, which with the six page introduction, provide a context and background. It might seem surprising that the collection starts in the USA to explore both fast fashion – the apogee of the industry’s problems – but also exploring clothing production and (tax-free) Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) that spread across the USA and reproduce many of the most exploitative of working conditions we’re used to seeing in the maquiladoras and elsewhere in the global rag trade. There is also a really good piece on being a model. More surprisingly the narrative then moves to Austria allowing Moore and the other Ladydrawers to explore a long standing craft-based national clothing industry: this is a powerful tale of the uniformity associated with globalisation and of the decline of a rich sartorial culture and the production practices associated with it.
The second half is more as would be expected, continuing Moore’s long-standing interests in and engagement with Cambodia (as seen in her Cambodian Grrrl and New Girl Law ) but here exploring the links between the clothing industries, gendered labour and problematic discourses and practices surrounding many of the NGOs associated with anti-trafficking aid work. Moore’s critique of the anti-trafficking NGOs is powerful and difficult to refute – where there is 1) a corporate interest on their part to risk or actually to inflate trafficking numbers (either way a difficult issue to unravel given that trafficking is in its nature hard to quantify), and 2) some of these NGOs finish up being complicit with the oppressions and exploitation of the clothing industries, in many cases the employment and abysmal women were fleeing when they finished up the sex industries.
These are, but here very nature, difficult issues – the secrecy of trafficking, the global economy of fashion and textiles, the gender dynamics of the USA, Austria and Cambodia and more – that are clearly and explicitly unpacked and presented by Moore’s text and Ladydrawers’ images. The major problem is a production one: in some cases these pieces were draw for Truthout’s on-line coverage, and in two piece in particular, ‘It’s the Money, Honey’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Out of the Factories’, both in the first Cambodia section, the text is so small that it is very difficult to read.
All in all, this is a useful contribution to the literature and a good example of the potential of ‘comics journalism’. Moore’s text and Ladydrawers’ images combine also to make it a valuable contribution to both analyses of clothing industry, of global gender and economics and to campaigning around these issues.
October 15, 2017
Threadbare: Clothes, Sex and Trafficking, Anne Elizabeth Moore, 2016, ISBN 9781621067399
In graphic novel form, this book shows the connection between the people who sew the clothes, the models who wear the clothes and the mall stores that sell the clothes. The number of such stores is rapidly shrinking, as chain after chain goes out of business because they are not fast enough in satisfying the public's fashion needs.
In the past, there were several different fashion lines per year, so clothes might be in a mall store for up to several weeks. These days, if a shopper sees something they like, they should buy it today, because it may not be there next week. What happens to the unsold clothes? Some of them may end up at a place like Goodwill. Others will go to specialized companies that buy the clothes for pennies per pound. They recycle some of the clothes into insulation, for instance, while a large amount gets shipped overseas to be sold (not to the country where they were made). An increasing amount of unsold clothes goes right to the local landfill. Americans donated about 12 pounds of clothes per capita to charity, but, in 2012, about 70 pounds of clothes per person went in the trash.
The Asian factories where these clothes are made are literally sweatshops. The workers are, metaphorically, chained to their sewing machines all day. The pay is low, and the conditions are terrible. Workers can be fired for practically any reason. Health and worker safety laws that American workers rely on are non-existent in these factories. American-created free trade agreements, like NAFTA, are a major reason for the disappearance of the American textile industry. In desperation to leave the garment factories, many women will join the sex industry. It certainly has its own set of disadvantages, but the pay is a lot better than in the garment business. Anti-sex trafficking NGOs, to get women out of the sex trade, will put them in front of a sewing machine for many hours a day, putting them right back where they started.
This is a very eye-opening book. As a graphic novel, it is very easy to read. A blurb on the back of this book says that colleges that offer degrees in fashion need to add this book to the curriculum. That is a very good idea.
In graphic novel form, this book shows the connection between the people who sew the clothes, the models who wear the clothes and the mall stores that sell the clothes. The number of such stores is rapidly shrinking, as chain after chain goes out of business because they are not fast enough in satisfying the public's fashion needs.
In the past, there were several different fashion lines per year, so clothes might be in a mall store for up to several weeks. These days, if a shopper sees something they like, they should buy it today, because it may not be there next week. What happens to the unsold clothes? Some of them may end up at a place like Goodwill. Others will go to specialized companies that buy the clothes for pennies per pound. They recycle some of the clothes into insulation, for instance, while a large amount gets shipped overseas to be sold (not to the country where they were made). An increasing amount of unsold clothes goes right to the local landfill. Americans donated about 12 pounds of clothes per capita to charity, but, in 2012, about 70 pounds of clothes per person went in the trash.
The Asian factories where these clothes are made are literally sweatshops. The workers are, metaphorically, chained to their sewing machines all day. The pay is low, and the conditions are terrible. Workers can be fired for practically any reason. Health and worker safety laws that American workers rely on are non-existent in these factories. American-created free trade agreements, like NAFTA, are a major reason for the disappearance of the American textile industry. In desperation to leave the garment factories, many women will join the sex industry. It certainly has its own set of disadvantages, but the pay is a lot better than in the garment business. Anti-sex trafficking NGOs, to get women out of the sex trade, will put them in front of a sewing machine for many hours a day, putting them right back where they started.
This is a very eye-opening book. As a graphic novel, it is very easy to read. A blurb on the back of this book says that colleges that offer degrees in fashion need to add this book to the curriculum. That is a very good idea.
May 28, 2017
This book opened my eyes to the fast fashion trend, basically people are buying about 4x the clothes they did 20 years ago. This trend fuels the garment industry which employs 1/6th of the world's women in jobs that pay a fraction of a living wage. While the industry has always been exploitative, it may be plumbing new depths and the various ways it uses to oppress women is pretty horrible.
An outstanding primer on the basic issues with extensive links to further reading, it's a fast read. The graphics are OK but I might not of read it if it wasn't in the graphic novel section, so I'm keeping it a 5.
Related reads: Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, note they are treated better than their Cambodian and other 3rd world counterparts.
And while I still have a few American made clothes, I'm not sure if you can buy new ones anymore.
An outstanding primer on the basic issues with extensive links to further reading, it's a fast read. The graphics are OK but I might not of read it if it wasn't in the graphic novel section, so I'm keeping it a 5.
Related reads: Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, note they are treated better than their Cambodian and other 3rd world counterparts.
And while I still have a few American made clothes, I'm not sure if you can buy new ones anymore.
March 18, 2023
While the material covered in this book is deeply important, I found that much of the first half felt irrelevant - particularly the section about Austria could have used a lot of editing down to really get to the heart of the matter. I appreciate the attempt to fully quote interviewees and give them their voice, but some of it just didn't add anything. The graphic novel medium usually helps in the absorption of heavy information, but in a lot of cases in this book I found the graphics difficult to follow and largely unhelpful. The written introductions to each chapter are great, and the research done by the author seems thorough, but in the comic sections it sometimes felt like the narrative was going in circles or losing steam. I like the idea this book was going for, but it could definitely use some editing for clarity.
January 13, 2024
Starts in America with the suffering of retail workers and models, then a section in Austria tracing how that country's textile production was shut down and the rise of generic H&M fashion (and the counter culture of youths adopting the dirndl), moves to Cambodia where garment production offers women poverty wages and poor work conditions and organizations that work towards the goal of ending women exploited in sex work end up offering the same garment production jobs that they turned to sex work to escape... and returns to America to further investigate these anti-trafficking organizations (and the puritanical values that impact sex workers in America as well).
A lot of research and footnotes and also valuable first hand accounts from the people involved themselves. A range of artistic styles, some easier to read than others (was reading an e-book version).
A lot of research and footnotes and also valuable first hand accounts from the people involved themselves. A range of artistic styles, some easier to read than others (was reading an e-book version).
September 22, 2019
I agree with some of the other reviews that parts of the book aren’t as accessible and some of the font size is way too small. But the criticism that there is too much/not enough info seems unfair. This collection was created over a few years, and some digitally published first.
I love the idea and the content of this book. I would read 200 pages if it were more in-depth about all topics. I see this as enough about each topic to get you interested and to seek out more information. I love graphic novels and comics about serious issues, presented in a digestible and interesting way. If this is what it takes for someone to educate themselves about fast fashion, the garment industry, globalization, and the unnecessary moral panic over consensual sex workers, then it’s all worth it!
I love the idea and the content of this book. I would read 200 pages if it were more in-depth about all topics. I see this as enough about each topic to get you interested and to seek out more information. I love graphic novels and comics about serious issues, presented in a digestible and interesting way. If this is what it takes for someone to educate themselves about fast fashion, the garment industry, globalization, and the unnecessary moral panic over consensual sex workers, then it’s all worth it!
April 6, 2020
This is such an important book! We should be having a conversation about ethical sourcing and the implications of globalization. It’s a bonus that it’s news in graphic form! I wanted to love this book because it is so important and is researched so well; however, the information doesn’t flow in a cohesive way. At times it felt like truly meaningful information would be dropped and the point wasn’t transitioned well making it easy to get lost. It has enticed me to learn more about my footprint and the impact of my purchases so I’m grateful - I just wish the information flowed so I could get the whole picture. Even an ending that tied all four sections together would have been extremely helpful.
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