Janice G. Raymond
Introduction
Janice G. Raymond is a longtime feminist activist who works to end violence against women and sexual exploitation, as well as the medical abuse of women. She is the author of five books, one edited volume, and multiple articles translated into several languages on issues ranging from violence against women, women’s health, feminist theory, lesbian feminism, and bio-medicine. She has published numerous articles on prostitution and sex trafficking and lectures internationally on these topics.
Academic Career
Janice Raymond is Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies and Medical Ethics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She was a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst from 1978 on. When she retired from the University in 2002, the Boston Globe included her among the several “marquee talents” lost to the campus (1).
From 2000 to 2007, Raymond also served as an Adjunct Professor of International Health at Boston University’s School of Public Health. She has been the Five College (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and the University of Massachusetts) Professor of Women’s Studies and Medical Ethics (1975–), Visiting Research Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990–91), Visiting Professor at the University of Linkoping in Sweden (1995), and Lecturer at the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN Sunan Kalijaga), Center for Women Studies, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2002).
Publications and Research
See separate web page listings of books (drop-down menu) and articles.
Advocacy
From 1994 to 2007, Janice Raymond was the Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). CATW is an international NGO having Category II Consultative Status with ECOSOC, with branches in many world regions.
Through her work with CATW, Janice Raymond has been a leader in the campaign to recognize prostitution as violence against women and as one of the worst forms of gender inequality. This has included testifying internationally to oppose the legalization of the sex industry, advocating for governments to provide services and alternatives for women in prostitution, and promoting legislation that penalizes the purchase of women and children for sexual activities.
During her tenure, CATW expanded its international work, especially in the Baltics and in eastern and southern European countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Moldova, Albania, Kosovo, and Hungary. She supported innovative prevention projects that discourage the demand for prostitution, a root cause of sex trafficking, challenging young men to a different standard of masculinity and enlisting them in the campaign against sexual exploitation.
In January 2004, Dr. Raymond testified before the European Parliament on “The Impact of the Sex Industry in the EU.” In 2003, Raymond testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Congress on “The Ongoing Tragedy of International Slavery and Human Trafficking.” Earlier, she was an NGO member of the U.S. Delegation to the Asian Regional Initiative Against the Trafficking of Women and Children (ARIAT), Manila, the Philippines, hosted by the governments of the Philippines and the United States. In 1999–2000, as an NGO representative to the UN Transnational Crime Committee, in Vienna, she helped define the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Janice Raymond has also served as an expert witness to legal challenges promoting legalization/decriminalization of the sex industry, including in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Bedford v. Attorney General of Canada, 07-CV-329807PD1, April 24, 2008.
Education
Janice Raymond received a Ph.D. in Ethics and Society from Boston College in 1977, a Masters in Religious Studies from Andover Newton Theological School in 1971, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Salve Regina College in 1965.
Awards and Honors
Women’s International USA honors Dr.Janice G. Raymond with a Lifetime Achievement Award that will be called “The Janice G. Raymond Keynote Address.”
Dr. Raymond was awarded the 2020 Alumni Achievement Award from Salve Regina University for her international work on women’s rights and in 2021, the Josephine Butler Abolitionist Award from the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women for her work to abolish sex trafficking and prostitution.
In 2007, Dr. Raymond received the “International Woman Award, 2007” from the Zero Tolerance Trust, in Glasgow, Scotland (2).
In 1986, Raymond’s book, A Passion for Friends: A Philosophy of Female Friendship, was named the best non-fiction book of the year by the UK magazine, City Limits.
Raymond has been the recipient of grants from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. National Institute of Justice, the Ford Foundation, the United States Information Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and UNESCO.
References
(1) Russell, Jenna. “Professors’ Retirement Rattles UMass.” Boston Globe, June 22, 2002, B1 (Metro/Region); June 10, 1979, 11.