1.
SEX WORK AND THE
NON-MIGRANT
‘MIGRANT’
Dr. Julie Ham
‘The Hidden Harms of Anti-
Trafficking’ Community Forum
15 October 2015

2.
‘MIGRANT SEX WORKER’
AS CODE
Category as code or container for
range of social differences (e.g.
race, class, gender)
Archetypal anti-trafficking narrative
Relegated to either:
• Probable trafficking victim and/or
• Assumed ‘illegal’ migrant in an oft-criminalized
work sector
2

3.
IMMIGRANT, MIGRANT AND
RACIALIZED SEX WORKERS
65 participants (Vancouver=35,
Melbourne=30)
•Legally recognised as im/migrants,
•Self-identity as im/migrants,
•Treated as or assumed to be im/migrants,
and/or
•Perform race or ethnicity in their work.

4.
LEGAL WORK/
RESIDENCY
STATUS
•Majority are citizens or
permanent residents
•84% had documented
status
•8/65 had ambiguous
legal status (visas or
unspecified)
4

5.
ETHNICITY
Vancouver Melbourne
Identify as
at work
Identify as
personally
Identify as
at work
Identify as
personally
Asian (includes
Southeast, East and
South Asian)
24 23 26 26
European 3 2 1 3
Middle Eastern 6 4
Latin American (includes
South & Central America
and Mexico)
1 2 1 1
Mixed racial heritage
(e.g. Asian/European)
3
Total (interviewees) 34/35 34/35 28/30 30

6.
ENTRY
INTO SEX
WORK
Sex work as a
Canadian or
Australian
experience

7.
ADMINISTRATIVE TO
AFFECTIVE CITIZENSHIP
Feelings and practices of citizenship and belonging
in an industry where the citizenship and residency of
racialized sex workers is often disbelieved or
considered suspect.
Four emergent themes:
1.Negotiating national identity
2.Managing stigma & national identity in the
workplace
3.Facilitating mobility
4.Managing motherhood in the sex industry
7

8.
IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP AND
NATIONAL IDENTITY (1)
Now I don’t feel Canadian, I don’t feel [South
American country of origin]. I feel, like, out of place.
When I go back home, I have an accent in Spanish
and I have an accent in English. So it’s horrible.
[What accent do you have in Spanish?] Not [South
American country of origin], maybe like Peruvian, or
maybe somebody who speak English who’s trying
to speak Spanish.
[‘Sonia’, immigrant citizen, South American, Vancouver, massage shop
worker, 10 years in Canada]
8

9.
IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP
AND NATIONAL IDENTITY (2)
I always say I’m Chinese….still think I believe, I belong to
China, not Australia, yeah, even [living in Australia] for 10
years. No, still want to go back to China.
[‘Annie’, permanent resident, Melbourne, brothel worker]
I feel I[‘m] Canadian, don’t feel I’m Chinese…..If I go
another country, I say I’m Canadian. In Canada, I say I’m
Chinese.
[‘Bella’, immigrant citizen, Vancouver, massage shop worker, 6 years in
Canada]
9

10.
CLIENTS AND MANAGING
NATIONALITY IN THE
WORKPLACE (1)
Some Indians…put you down, like ‘oh, you [are] Indian, why you
doing this job’...I just tell them, oh, sometimes I say I’m [Southeast
Asian] (laughs), anything…some of them, like they just ‘why you
here? Why you doing this job?’
[‘Alicia’, permanent resident, South Asian, Melbourne, brothel worker]
[Re: a Korean client] [L]ong story short, one of them were kind of
judgmental….[He said] ‘So why don’t you go back to Korea?’ [I
said] Because I, no, first of all, I came here when I was 14, have a
degree from here – They’re really pity looking and like, ‘why don’t
you, like, quit this and go backto Korea?’
[‘Emma’, independent worker, permanent resident, Asian, Melbourne]
10

11.
IMPLICATIONS
 Policing of sex workers;
 Theorizing sex work outside administratively
determined categories;
 Greater analytical precision around ‘culture’,
‘difference’ and ‘migrants’.
11

12.
Thank You
12
Se x Wo rk, Im m ig ratio n and
So cialDiffe re nce
(Routledge, forthcoming
2016)
jham@hku.hk