Filipino women's migration to Japan's sex industry: A case of transnational gender subjection

This study analyzes the political economy of Filipino women's migration to Japan's sex industry in the 1980s--1990s, and illuminates international sex traffic as the effect of political, economic, and sociocultural forces that produce and reproduce differences among women's sexuality.; International sex traffic is generally considered as a crime against women, and women are often located in the center of the discourse. While this discourse is helpful in articulating gender inequality in the phenomenon, it has also limits. Its focus on victims not only repeats the stigmatization of sex workers, but also generates discourses that resist the homogenization of the phenomenon. This study undertakes these challenges and considers the merits of an historically specific understanding of the political economy of international sex traffic.; Specifically, this study examines the flow of Filipino women to Japan's sex sector as an effect of the Japanese discourse on prostitution and immigration control and the Philippine's discourse on international sexual exploitation and international labor migration. While these discourses involve market, state, and civil society actors, the tension emergent in these discourses points to the contradictory reality of globalization processes in Japan's sex sector as well as in the Philippine's national economy. That is, economic internationalization paradoxically promotes a nationalistic view of women's sexuality.; While the tension complicates democratic policy making, this study stresses that Filipino women in the migratory flow to Japan are most affected by contradictory discourses. These women's narratives collected in the Philippines reveal that, throughout the migration process, they resist the effect of the discourses, i.e., the identity of sexualized but vulnerable subjects. This resistance has produced a limited improvement in their lives, while contributing to the reproduction of conditions for sex-related labor migration.; By pointing out the complex picture of international sex traffic, this study raises questions not only about the contemporary discourse of international sex traffic, but also about the analytical framework of sex work. It recommends further investigation should be done on international sex traffic from a historically specific context, with women's voices included. Such research will not only develop a better understanding of international sex traffic, but also a more effective strategy to address the inequality of power at the intersection of class, race, nation, as well as gender.