Lydia Babcock

Lydia Babcock is a M.A. and MPH candidate at the University of Memphis studying medical anthropology and public health. Lydia's research interests explore the collaboration between biomedical establishments, the criminal legal system, and the rescue industry in the 'rescuing' [incarcerating, detaining, and deporting] sex workers and people who sell sex, both real and imagined. She is also interested in the ways in which some 'anti-trafficking' legislature has been enacted as a political tool to move 'risky' and 'unruly' bodies across space via carceral pathways. She originally became interested in sex work and carceralism after listening to one of her now favorite podcasts, 'The Oldest Profession'. She was inspired to research the ways in which health structures act as an extension of the criminal legal system after interviewing the founder of the Oldest Profession Podcast, Kaytlin Bailey.