I don't think trafficking literature should be shunned altogether, since after all it can be viewed in light of strategic essentialism that one needs to revolt against
sexual slavery that is STILL happening worldwide despite "agency" debates.
It could stand for the *structural* (Marxist, Feminist) critique in the structure versus agency debate.
To sidestep it, when looking at sex work, would be to overlook the real oppression that is happening against "trafficked" third world women who are really deceived or fooled into the kind of
work they would they would be doing in a destination country, which does make them victims. This does not to discount the fact that some trafficked sex workers "perform"
having been trafficked to NGOs, government and federal agencies; in the US for instance, they "perform" the role of an abused woman to authorities so they can get
U-Visas, or the right to asylum, but does this "performance" really equate to there being no abuse?
Aida Santos and other CATW are the people who are working on the ground in the Philippines and in other Southeast Asian sending countries. They hear, first hand, about the stories of women
who *may* play up their stories of oppression. The NGOs do not invent the data. Again, they could "perform" it to get funding for their anti-trafficking efforts, but does it mean no trafficking efforts
are needed altogether? The quantitative and qualitative data on the abuse and violence that sex workers suffer through is immense Just as there has to be a balance in how much structural
analysis we use to critique the phenomenon of "sex work," we should also be wary of how much agency we place in some of the sex workers, who acceded to the job
because of dire poverty and the feeling they have little options.
Nicole Constable builds on the sensitive literature deftly by talking about Erotic counterpublics and sex worker's strategies in getting asylum and U visa's in the first world countries, and why the "trafficked abused woman"
is the prevalent media representation of them.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 10:38:37 +0000
From: "McGrath, Siobhan" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: promiscuity and trafficking
At the risk of prolonging a tangential conversation ...
I would be cautious of the CATW literature, as it is at the heart of school of thought which defines all prostitution as forced and therefore all migrant sex workers are trafficked. Personally I find this highly problematic ... in any case, it’s a very polarised and long-standing debate. One option would be to try to avoid this debate altogether - though of course this depends on where you want to go with the topic. There is some good work deconstructing 'trafficking' more generally (i.e., with regards to migration and labour, not just sex work) - for example by Julia O'Connell Davidson and by Bridget Anderson.
Best wishes,
Siobhan
---
Siobhán McGrath, PhD
Lecturer
Lancaster University
worklabour.wordpress.com
LEC 3, Room B24
Tel.: 015 245 10353
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of CRIT-GEOG-FORUM automatic digest system
Sent: 15 June 2012 00:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM Digest - 13 Jun 2012 to 14 Jun 2012 (#2012-163)
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:04:14 +0000
From: Phil Hubbard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Literature on promiscuous encounters
At the risk of prolonging a dialogue that is probably not of much interest to most on the list:
Promiscuity is not really a useful term to deploy in debates of this type given it is conceptually vague and generally pejorative.
Klesse's work will be useful but non-monogamies and polyamory do not equate to promiscuity. Further, not all sex workers or their clients are necessarily promiscuous or practising 'casual sex'.
I suspect some of Mark Bellis' work on sexual behaviour in Mediterranean tourist resorts will be most useful in terms of the original request, whilst there is a large literature on US spring breaks which considers sexual and drug taking activities as they are shaped by situational judgments of class, gender and sexual norms. As Jon Cloke suggests, there is some relevant material on liminality and sexual encounter in my recently published book Cities and Sexualities.
Hope this helps
Phil Hubbard
Professor of Urban Studies
School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
University of Kent
Gillingham Building
Chatham Maritime
KENT ME4 4AG
Tel: 01634 888872
Mobile: 07535 254193
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:04:03 +0100
From: Jonathan Cloke <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: promiscuity and trafficking
The problem mainly lies in the continuing use and power of the 'black box' terms 'prostitute' and 'prostitution', which as we all know are defined by prurient, moralising middle-class attitudes to sex and are intended to reify and 'other' some extremely complex processes, behaviours and social structures. Like the invention of the homosexual outlined by Fooucault, the invention of the prostitute refers to a particular form of biopolitics derived from the industrial revolution.
I worked in homelessness for some time and in particular in a 16/17 year-old project here in Leicester in the UK. The young women who passed through the project frequently came from some extremely 'disrupted' backgrounds and some of them, being at the age when clubbing, drink/drugs and going out were extremely attractive, would use sexualized behaviour in a variety of different ways to gain entrance to night clubs, get drinks and drugs bought for them, etc. The project was in a fairly rough area (for Leicester) and was well-known amongst a particular sort of male resident; not infrequently, younger newcomers to the project learned the 'access and admission' behaviours from the older residents.
Discussing these issues with the young women in the vernacular of the care sector, that they were 'vulnerable' (they were, but perhaps not in the ways envisaged in the text books), that what they were doing was 'sex work', provoked a fair amount of hilarity amongst young people who were old before their time, knew what they wanted and how to get it, saw nothing wrong with what they did and would have been highly offended by anyone calling them prostitutes.
BTW, in view particularly of the complaints about article requests on the list, I don't think there's any need to keep apologising for this discussion, is there? Isn't this what the list is for?
Cheers,
Dr Jon Cloke
LCEDN/MEGS Research Associate
Geography Department
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
Office: 01509 228193
Mob: 07984 81368
________________________________________
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McGrath, Siobhan [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 June 2012 11:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: promiscuity and trafficking
At the risk of prolonging a tangential conversation ...
I would be cautious of the CATW literature, as it is at the heart of school of thought which defines all prostitution as forced and therefore all migrant sex workers are trafficked. Personally I find this highly problematic ... in any case, it’s a very polarised and long-standing debate. One option would be to try to avoid this debate altogether - though of course this depends on where you want to go with the topic. There is some good work deconstructing 'trafficking' more generally (i.e., with regards to migration and labour, not just sex work) - for example by Julia O'Connell Davidson and by Bridget Anderson.
Best wishes,
Siobhan
---
Siobhán McGrath, PhD
Lecturer
Lancaster University
worklabour.wordpress.com
LEC 3, Room B24
Tel.: 015 245 10353
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of CRIT-GEOG-FORUM automatic digest system
Sent: 15 June 2012 00:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CRIT-GEOG-FORUM Digest - 13 Jun 2012 to 14 Jun 2012 (#2012-163)
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:04:14 +0000
From: Phil Hubbard <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Literature on promiscuous encounters
At the risk of prolonging a dialogue that is probably not of much interest to most on the list:
Promiscuity is not really a useful term to deploy in debates of this type given it is conceptually vague and generally pejorative.
Klesse's work will be useful but non-monogamies and polyamory do not equate to promiscuity. Further, not all sex workers or their clients are necessarily promiscuous or practising 'casual sex'.
I suspect some of Mark Bellis' work on sexual behaviour in Mediterranean tourist resorts will be most useful in terms of the original request, whilst there is a large literature on US spring breaks which considers sexual and drug taking activities as they are shaped by situational judgments of class, gender and sexual norms. As Jon Cloke suggests, there is some relevant material on liminality and sexual encounter in my recently published book Cities and Sexualities.
Hope this helps
Phil Hubbard
Professor of Urban Studies
School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
University of Kent
Gillingham Building
Chatham Maritime
KENT ME4 4AG
Tel: 01634 888872
Mobile: 07535 254193
------------------------------
End of CRIT-GEOG-FORUM Digest - 15 Jun 2012 to 16 Jun 2012 (#2012-165)
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