Offloaded: Women's Sex Work Migration across the South China Sea and the Gendered Antitrafficking Emigration Policy of the Philippines

The Making of “The Trafficking Problem”

“…Hundreds of organizations worldwide are now members of the umbrella Global Network of Prostitution Projects and a couple dozen more are estimated to operate more or less independently. Sex workers’ migration networks have also been formed (Hwang, 2017). The representation of the sex worker movement in policy making is hampered by a notion of prostitution as “the” problem.…”

“…There is ample evidence that migration for sex work is, for the larger part of migrants, a deliberate, calculated choice (e.g., Agustín, 2007; Bradley, 2010; Hwang, 2017; Kempadoo, 2012; Sahni & Shankar, 2013; Weitzer, 2007, 2015). Notwithstanding the criminality and exploitation that is axiomatically part of any illegal landscape, there is, overall, little evidence of blatant force and coercion into sex work in the countries of origin (e.g., Agustín, 2006; Doezema, 2000; UN Centre for International Crime Prevention, 2003; Wagenaar et al, 2017).…”

“…Hofmann (2010) coined the qualification of it being a form of bodily or corporeal entrepreneurialism, well-fitting a neoliberalist society. Evidence disclaims the stereotype that migrant sex workers are all uneducated and motivated by dire financial need (e.g., Busza, 2004; Hwang, 2017). They most certainly see themselves as agents.…”

“…Nevertheless, many countries try to comply, in an effort to compete for international recognition (Bernstein, 2014). Ironically, national anti-trafficking measures have not only increased abuse of sex workers and human rights violations (e.g., Corrêa et al, 2014; GAATW, 2007; Vanwesenbeeck, 2017), but also stimulated rather than reduced migration among sex workers (Ditmore, 2008; Hwang, 2017).…”

“…In contrast to the huge sums of money being spend in “the war on trafficking,” progress in the area of victim assistance and conviction of traffickers is notably slow (Dottridge, 2014). Restrictive anti-trafficking measures fail to support victims, violate human rights, threaten health and safety, and actually drive migrants into the arms of exploitative brokers (Hwang, 2017). Anti-trafficking awareness campaigns construct a notably narrow understanding of the problem by depicting “ideal criminal offenders” and they obscure the role restrictive migration regimes in the destination countries play (O’Brien, 2016).…”