Melissa Farley Ph.D. has been a practicing clinical psychologist for 45 years. She has written 24 peer-reviewed articles on prostitution and trafficking and two books: Prostitution, Trafficking & Traumatic Stress (2004), and Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections (2007), based on research funded by the U.S. State Department. She also co-authored the first international survey of prostitution and PTSD in nine countries (2003); the first study comparing sex buyers to non-sex buyers (2011); and the first study of the lives of trafficked Native American women in the United States (2011).
Dr. Farley founded Prostitution Research & Education (PRE) in 1995. PRE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research, education, and policy consultation on commercial sexual exploitation and its impact on women, men, and children. Its goal is to abolish prostitution and offer alternatives to those in it. PRE’s research has been used by governments in South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Ghana, Spain, Sweden, Korea, United Kingdom, and United States for education and policy development on prostitution and trafficking.