Migration, sex work and trafficking: the racialized bordering politics of sexual humanitarianism
- Publisher:
- Informa UK Limited
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2021, 44, (9), pp. 1607-1628
- Issue Date:
- 2021-03-10
Closed Access
| Filename | Description | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Migration sex work and trafficking the racialized bordering politics of sexual humanitarianism.pdf | Published version | 2.49 MB |
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Closed Access
This item is closed access and not available.
The article presents the findings of the SEXHUM project studying the impact of
the different policies targeting migrant sex workers in Australia, France, New
Zealand, and the United States. It draws on the concept of sexual
humanitarianism, referring to how neoliberal constructions of vulnerability
associated with sexual behaviour are implicated in humanitarian forms of
support and control of migrant populations. Based on over three years of
fieldwork we examine the differential ways in which Asian cis women and
Latina trans women are constructed and targeted as vulnerable to
exploitation, violence and abuse, or not, in relation to racialized and ciscentric sexual humanitarian canons of victimhood. Through our comparative
analysis we expose how the implication of sexual humanitarian rhetoric in
increasingly extreme bordering policies and interventions on migrant sex
workers impacts on their lives and rights, arguing for the urgent need for
social reform informed by the experiences of these groups.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: