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The valorization of individual choice and agency in womenâs entry into prostitution
The tension between the right to individual choice and agency and the structural and socio-economic forces which circumscribe and constrain a personâs capacity to exercise those rights lies at the centre of the feminist debates on entry routes into prostitution. From the early 1980s, despite a broad consensus among feminists on the issues of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, what emerges is âa major schismâ in the womenâs movement over the âcommercial representation and action of sexâ (Alexander 1997: 81), a schism which continues to the present day. A âwomanâs right to chooseâ was a fundamental demand of the womenâs movement in relation to sexual freedom and reproductive control, but for radical feminists, extending this demand to the right to âchooseâ to sell oneâs own body for the sexual service of men is regarded as theoretically and ethically flawed. The right to abortion, reproductive rights, or the right to choose to love someone of the same sex were considered inappropriate comparisons to the right âto choose to be used as the raw material in a massive capitalist sex industryâ (Jeffreys 1998: 1300). According to Kappeler (1990), conceptualizing individual freedom and choice as primary and incontestable, dislocates that freedom from sexual relations and sexual politics. She argues that the sexual liberal concept of choice is in fact the choice of those who are subjects, i.e. sexual consumers, who have the economic and social power to choose an object for their own sexual gratification. The choice afforded to buyers infers âthe licence to regard the other as sexual objectâ and as simply âa vehicle for the individualâs sexual pleasureâ (178). Barry (1995) rejects personal choice politics as a function of the liberal ideology of modern capitalism which âemphasizes individualism to serve market competition and promote consumerismâ (83). She warns that the âthe hyper-individualism and elevation of personal choice as the only and therefore ultimate condition of freedom, if it prevails over the feminist movement, will be its final destructionâ (179).
The sex of pornography and prostitution was regarded as the antithesis of mutuality and reciprocity of desire as within it âdesire appears as lust for dominance and submissionâ (MacKinnon 1987: 149). The publication of Dworkinâs Pornography in 1979 was highly significant in revealing and critiquing the content and meaning of the sex that pornographers promote. In a comprehensive review of pornographic material, print and film, Dworkin provides a graphic and explicit description of the brutality, penetration, humiliation, degradation and torture of women, revealing recurrent themes of women as prey, hunted, terrorized and raped which are presented as erotic fantasy and pleasure for men. She analyses the relentless message running parallel with the violence: that this is what women really want, what they are consenting to, what they find sexually satisfying and willing to perform; she asserts that what is intrinsic to pornography is that âthe pleasure of the male requires the annihilation of womenâs sexual integrityâ (47). Dworkin (1979) asks why capitalism is not viewed as âwicked or cruel when the commodity is the whoreâ and when âthe alienated worker is a female piece of meatâ (209). She rejects the liberal contention that this is an issue of individual freedom if that freedom is âthe mass marketing of woman as whoreâ which is justified by the false claim that the woman in pornography and the prostitute are exercising their freedom and sexuality, âas his whore â and she likes itâ (208). It demonstrated that there is nothing âradical avant-garde or revolutionaryâ about pornography or prostitution but rather that it is a reiteration of the sex of male supremacy which has always been forced on women; âbeing used as the instrument of someone elseâs sexual agency â the instrument of someone socially maleâ (Leidholdt 1990: 130). Violence, sexual assault and rape were found to be integral to âaggressive pornographyâ which relies upon âpositive victim outcomesâ where rape and other sexual assaults are depicted as pleasurable, sexually arousing and beneficial to the female victimâ (Donnerstein & Linz 1997: 199). In patriarchal political systems, Barry (1979) contends women are identified primarily âas sexual beings who are responsible for the sexual services of menâ and that prostitution forms the basis for âa gender-specific sexual slaveryâ (121).
Sexual liberals on the other hand, accused radical feminists of upholding a hegemonic discourse of sexual repression âignoring womenâs sexual agency and choiceâ (Vance 1984: 7). The need for feminists to continue to âspeak to sexuality as a site of oppressionâ (ibid.: 22) is recognized, but the proponents of sexual liberalism afford primacy to womenâs right to sexual choice, including the right to engage in pornography and commercial sexual transactions, insisting that women must be regarded as âsexual subjects, sexual actors and sexual agentsâ (24). According to Rubin (1984) a truly democratic code of morality should make judgement on sexual behaviour âby the way partners treat one another, the level of mutual consideration, the presence or absence of coercion, and the quantity and quality of the pleasures they provideâ including in commercial sexual arrangements (283). By locating prostitution within a conceptual framework of sexual violence, radical feminists are regarded as failing to distinguish between coerced, forced sex and the consensual sex that adult women choose to engage in and economically benefit from, in the commercial sex market. The emphasis placed by radical feminists on the harm and the act of victimization which they viewed as intrinsic to pornography and prostitution, is criticized as framing womenâs identity as âvictimâ and denying womenâs capacity to exercise human agency âinherently incapable of consentâ to commercial sex (Alexander 1997: 83). Within this discourse sex work is conceptualized as a sexual choice which challenges âtraditional normative sexualityâ (Queen 1997: 134â5). It is acknowledged that this framing of sex work as reflecting a radical sexual choice may only pertain to a minority of women in a particular context which does not reflect the sexual exploitation and violence experienced by women on a global scale (Nagle 1997). Nevertheless, what emerges is an ideological position that promotes the right of women to be sex workers as opposed to the right to be free from the inherently violating and sexually exploitative institution of prostitution; a position which dominates current debates.
DIVISIVE DEBATES
The liberal emphasis on respecting womenâs right to choose to enter prostitution continues to be challenged as denying the personal, cultural and socio-economic circumstances in which human choices are made. Miriam (2005) asserts that the liberal focus on choice relies on âan unsituated freedom and autonomyâ disconnected from the historical and social conditions in which individuals exist (2). Furthermore, she argues the âcontractual liberal model of agencyâ serves to conceal âthe power relations within which women are prostitutedâ (13). This âdecontextualized individualismâ (Jeffreys 2012: 69) within neoliberal sex work discourse focuses on the individual womanâs choice and agency, disregarding the structures of power, domination and subordination on which the institution of prostitution rests. Furthermore, Jeffries argues, it âinvisibilises the material forces of male domination and neoliberal economics that underpin the expansion of the global sex industry and create the gendered practices of prostitutionâ (83). Understanding the structural forces which surround individual choice and agency is not to suggest that they do not exist; even within the most coercive circumstances women strategize and seek to optimize their capacity to control their environment. But it is within âlayers of disadvantageâ created by socio-economic deprivation, discrimination and gendered injustices that âso called free choicesâ are made (Coy 2016: 7). As Raymond (2013) says, âa strategy for survivalâ is not the same as a choice and claiming that women can make âmeaningful choicesâ is deeply problematic once they are situated within âa system of prostitution which represses womenâs freedomâ (19); âin trumpeting the agency of women in prostitution the victim deniers reinforce the idea that women choose their own oppressionâ (ibid.: 35). The valorization of choice and agency serves to obfuscate the reality for millions of women that entry into the commercial sex trade is about lack of choice in relation to sustainable living. Interviews with trafficked women reveal that âthe presence or absence of direct violence or coercionâ is not a sufficient indicator of freedom to choose and that âthere may be little need for brute tactics when desperation and hope collideâ (OâConnor 2017: 11). A womanâs choice to enter prostitution is suggested by Kelly et al. (2008) to be best situated on a continuum between freedom and force, where she exercises a âconstrained choiceâ within the circumscribed circumstances of her socio-economic and historical context (43). As Sen (2008) argues, it is critical to be more discerning in how individual choice and agency are promoted, suggesting the concept of âinformed critical agencyâ where a person has the means and the capacity to consider a range of choices, with full consideration of all the possibilities, opportunities, limitations, and the potential negative outcomes of that choice (477).
Sex work advocates continue to claim that those who view prostitution as inherently harmful are denying women sexual expression, limiting individual choice and agency, and failing to reflect the diverse experiences within the present-day commercial sex trade. Bernstein (2007) contests the view that being involved in commercial sex work âalways and inevitably constitutes a further injury to those concernedâ, and that current discourse should reflect the âdiverse experiential realitiesâ the âdiversification of sexual labourâ and the very different subjective experiences within âcontemporary patterns of sexual commerceâ (3). Whilst it is accepted that economic need is the main reason women enter prostitution there is an emphasis on the âindependent rational choicesâ and âcost benefit choicesâ women are making in choosing sex work as a more financially beneficial occupation than other forms of low paid work (Sanders et al. 2009: 39). In relation to migrant women, Agustin (2007) argues that the majority are exercising agency and resourcefulness in choosing sex work as a better economic option in destination countries than other low paid occupations such as domestic labour.
It is interesting to note that in current sex work discourse there is generally an acknowledgment (to a greater or lesser degree) that some women enter as children and minors, that personal vulnerability and socio-economic factors including extreme poverty and drug addiction are major factors in terms of entry into prostitution and that many women and girls are coerced and trafficked into the commercial sex trade. However, although these factors are acknowledged the focus of theoretical discussion shifts towards individual women where none of these factors apparently apply. Bernstein (2010), for example, says she does not dispute the existence of âforced sexual labour of girls and women from developing nations and that âdesperation and povertyâ render them amenable to easy victimisationâ (3). She also says she is well aware that âviolence, brutality and exploitation characterize many corners of the sex tradeâ and that structural violence including poverty, racism and gender inequalities create the context driving so many people into the sex trade (3). Yet she chooses not to focus on âvictimized women and their exploitation by bad menâ but rather on a relatively privileged group of people to frame her understanding of the modern sex trade, and to demonstrate that for many women it is a chosen profession. The difficulty is that in disregarding the reality of the overwhelming majority of people in the global sex trade, it is the experience of a tiny minority that is drawn upon to conceptualize sex work as a chosen profession. Whilst it is important to recognize the diverse experiences of women, failure to fully examine and integrate the globalized, structural and socio-economic factors which drive girls and women into the current commercial sex trade renders this framing of choice to enter sex work untenable.
GENDER, MIGRATION AND TRAFFICKING FOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
Women constitute nearly half of the estimated 258 million migrants in the world with migratory flows moving from poorer, less economically advanced regions and countries into richer, post-industrialized areas of the world (UN 2017). The so-called âpushâ or âexpulsionâ factors (Monzini 2005: 59) are primarily poverty, war, conflict and socio-economic policies that have increased gender inequality and lowered social protection for women (UNESCE 2004). As regions of the world in the global south and countries in transition in Europe, such as post-communist countries, face high levels of indebtedness and deepening economic crises, the pressure is increasing on women to migrate in order to survive and to sustain families and communities. It is generally acknowledged that migrant women will send at least half and often more of their earnings home resulting in âsurvival circuits being built on the backs of womenâ (Sassen 2003: 255); at least half of the $233 billion remittances sent home through official channels is estimated to be from migrant women (International Organisation for Migration 2005).
For millions of women the resources and possibility to legally migrate, and the opportunity to enter regulated employment in advanced economies, is minimal. In his critique of globalization Scholte (2005) observes, that whilst âthe reigning policy discourseâ of neoliberalism has demanded a less regulated market regarding the transnational movement of money, goods, services and capital, this has not been matched by a parallel demand for the deregulation of the movement of people across borders (39). Even though there is a demand for low-wage migrant workers in many sectors of the richer economies, there is a parallel tightening of border controls and highly selective immigration policies (Anderson & Rogaly 2005). These limited opportunities for legal migration mean people will voluntarily become indebted and take huge risks to complete their âmigratory projectâ (Andrijasevic 2010: 19). Inevitably, this leads to a much more precarious migration route, âa clandestine migrant-mobilityâ (Kapur 2005: 28) where millions of female migrants âface hazards that testify to a lack of adequate opportunities to migrate safely and legallyâ (UNFPA 2006: 1). Women take risks, place themselves in debt, pay huge sums to intermediaries and smugglers for false papers and transport routes to escape situations of deprivation. The dissonance between the increasing demands for migratory movement and increasing tightening of borders is described by Shelley (2010) as âcriminogenicâ (37), and she argues, that unless there is a political will âto channel the illicit movement of people into a legitimate flowâ, trafficking will continue to grow (304). The restrictive asylum and immigration systems within western Europe has, according to Melrose (2010), had the unforeseen consequence of constructing the âmercenary territoryâ in which the exploitation of those seeking to migrate and the trafficking of people flourishes (65). It is within these âfertile fields of exploitationâ that vulnerable girls and women are easily targeted by illegal operators, who rapidly identified the potential for huge profit in âfacilitatingâ irregular migration, ensuring a supply of people to meet the demand for cheap, migrant labour (Kelly 2005a: 5). The current migration crisis created by war and conflict has exacerbated the risks for vulnerable people of being trafficked, with the displacement of large masses of people and the increasing number of people who are being forced and desperately seeking to migrate. Women and girls have been identified as highly at risk of sexual exploitation in these precarious situations (Akee et al. 2010). It is critical, as Kelly (2016) argues to understand these âinterconnecting social, political and economic conditions within which exploitative operators profit from the misfortunes of others because this is the âconducive contextâ in which precarious migration and trafficking occurs (Kelly 2007, 2016; Turner 2013).
Smugglers charge high fees to facilitate irregular migration using precarious and often dangerous routes, although they are not necessarily implicated in the intentional exploitation of people in the final destination country. Trafficking, on the other hand, is defined in international law as âthe recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitationâ, and importantly, where any of these factors are present consent of the person is deemed to be irrelevant.1 Inevitably, the complex reality of peopleâs lives indicates that smuggling and trafficking âshade into one another across a number of dimensionsâ (Kelly 2005b: 238) and what may begin as voluntary migration âcan result in trafficking and/or exploitation at a later stageâ (Anderson & Rogaly 2005: 19); a mutual agreement to be smuggled can result in a trafficking situation âdepending upon the actual conduct of the persons facilitating this form of illegal migrationâ (Cadell 2008: 121). Whilst there is considerable evidence of women and girls being subjected to severe brutality, kidnapping and drugging to force them to migrate (Aghatise 2004; Monzini 2005), it is far more common for traffickers to simply exploit the vulnerabilities created by the migration context and persuade girls and women that they are going to be placed within legitimate work usually within the care sector (Kelly 2002). The methods of traffickers vary depending on the relationship between the trafficker and the victim and despite instances of extreme violence and abduction, it is deception rather than force, which is more common in the recruitment phase (Healy & OâConnor 2006). Traffickers present fake job opportunities or in some cases girls and women are âdeceived through half-truths where they are told they will be working in the âentertainment industryâ or as dancers or strippersâ (Aronowitz 2001: 166). For many women it is only en route that they realize the extent of their vulnerability, often being transported across multiple borders and sexually abused in transit regions to âbreak them inâ and prepare them for prostitution (Monzini 2005). Once embarked on a route of irregular migration, the evidence suggests that the potential for exploitation is high, thus as Melrose (2010) argues, it is perhaps best to conceptualize these processes as existing on a âcontinuum of predatory and exploitative practicesâ (60).
SUPPLY AND DEMAND: THE MARKET FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN
The demand for cheap labour continues to grow in particularly exploitative sectors of the market and most irregular or undocumented migrants will find themselves within this âshadow economyâ (Sassen 2003: 264). The imbalance between an âincreasing supply of unskilled and indigent jobseekersâ and legal migratory routes is creating a ânexus of vulnerabilityâ which forces...