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

Abstract

Economic globalization has increased the accessibility and scope of sexual labor markets in various parts of the world, which have become increasingly reliant upon migrant labor. This essay examines the labor migration of independent sex workers from the Philippines who turn to sex work in global cities as a form of livelihood otherwise denied to them at home. Analyzing how the Philippine government's antitrafficking emigration policy has hampered women's ability to work in other countries, this essay illustrates how antitrafficking policies can result in a paradoxical limitation of women's freedom of movement.