Introduction
This paper talks about the effects of globalization on global sex workers. It will outline how globalization triggers migration, tourism, human trafficking and how increase in tourism is positively related with increase in prostitution. This is a matter of great concern for poor third world countries because the policies that relate to globalization make the poor even poorer and as a result, they have no other choice than to indulge in prostitution which is considered as easy money. These poor people who see no prospects in their home country migrate to other countries where they have a future, even if it means selling their bodies. In addition to this, since tourism increases the demand for this industry, the business becomes even more profitable and hence the people are attracted towards this industry and prostitution increases. Therefore, we can say that globalization indirectly triggers the sex industry.
This paper will start off by understand the different concepts that will be studied throughout the paper through the lens of different perspectives. This will help develop a framework for the understanding of the discussion ahead. Next it will discuss the connection between globalization, tourism, sex tourism and the sex industry. It will discuss these concepts in great detail and will connect each on to sex industry. This will help develop linkages will clearly establish the relationship between them all. While this is being discussed, it is imperative that we discuss how this impacts the sex workers. Therefore, the next section will discuss these effects in detail. Towards the end, a conclusion will be given which will summarize everything and connect it all together.
Theoretical: Marxist Feminism & Liberal Feminism perspective
Feminism is a very complex term to understand. There are many perspectives that can be adopted to understand it. Marxist and Liberal Feminism are two of the many perspectives that are often sued to understand feminism.
A very important topic that is often discussed when one talks about feminism is prostitution. This will be discussed throughout the paper therefore it is essential that we look at this phenomenon from these two perspectives. We will start by looking at prostitution from the Marxist Feminism Perspective.
Marxist Feminism perspective is derived from the doctrines of Karl Marx. According to him, there are class distinctions in a society. One thing that is a result of class distinction is corruption of wage labor. According to this perspective, the labor that is deprived of knowledge and skill earn less because they contribute to the system of production. According to him, prostitution is the result of whatever there is wrong with the world policies in the society. At a glance, it may seem like the prostitutes are free laborers but if one looks at the broad picture, they will realize that they are oppressed and are in this industry because of the exploitative capitalistic scheme. The Marxist feminism approach clearly labels prostitution as degrading and oppressive (Feminist Issues, 2008).
Liberal Marxism perspective on the other hand looks at prostitution in a different manner. According to this perspective, there are different conditions for everyone. There are sex workers who are in this field because they do it willingly. According to this perspective, everyone has a free will and everyone is capable of passing judgments. When one willingly selects prostitution as his or her occupation, it does not make it illegal. Therefore prostitution should not be criminalized. This perspective believes that prostitutes must be given the right to select their occupation. However, the administration can ensure that this field is made safe for them by decreasing violence and spread of disease. Liberal Marxism describes prostitution as a private business transaction. It asserts that women willingly sell their bodies in exchange for money (Feminist Issues, 2008).
Connection between Tourism and Sex Industry
Tourism is one of the largest and rapidly growing industries in the world today. With the increase in globalization, people have more and more knowledge about other countries and as a result, they visit these countries and tourism increases. This industry has increased by multiples of what it was two decades before. Consequently, multi- and bilateral organizations employ it as a development strategy to achieve economic growth, poverty alleviation and a method to improve local governance in Third World countries. The method through which these development strategies are executed causes inequality in the distribution of income. This leaves many people with no option other than prostitution. Therefore we can say that even though prostitution existed prior to the advent of tourism, it grows as tourism increases.
We can take the example of Thailand when we talk about how prostitution increases with increase in tourism. It has promoted its tourism industry by funding it through tax revenues. Since the tax system that was applied was regressive, this increased the inequality between the distributions of income there. The poor people had no other way of earning other than selling their bodies. This increased the supply of sex workers there. Now we look at the demand side. According to one source, the sex industry in Thailand has been stimulated and increased because of the increase in tourists that visit Thailand. The reason behind this is that when tourism increases, the demand for sex trade also increases. Although many tourists claim that they visit Thailand for leisure only, but one of their motive is the popular sex industry present this. This phenomenon is known as ‘Sex Tourism’ (Wattanakuljarus, A. & Ian Coxhead, 2007). When the supply and demand both are there, the equilibrium of these two forces create the perfect condition for the sex industry to develop and hence it keeps on growing.
Globalization
Globalization is defined as the process of integration of different nations. In simpler terms, it is when people from different countries come together. Many people call it ‘becoming one’. When they say this, they mean that globalization removes physical boundaries between different countries by making them a single unit where transactions take place. How does this take place? It takes place when economies trade with each other, invest in other economies. Since Globalization is the interaction between different economies, all those involved are affected by this interaction. Globalization has an effect on mostly everything; economies, environment, society, culture and much more. These effects may be positive and negative.
One of the many effects of globalization is increase in migration and tourism. Before we get to this, we must understand that because of Globalization, it is said that there has been and increase in inequality between nations in terms of wealth and economic development. The developed countries benefit the most from this phenomenon. And hence, there is a phenomenon called migration which has been stimulated because of globalization. According to one source, the current era of globalization is characterized by unparalleled movement of material, information, finance, and bodies across borders (Wonders, N.A., & Raymond Michalowski, 2000). Before we understand how motivation increases motivation and human trafficking, we must understand these terms in detail. Human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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 or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation should include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (Crawford, M., & Michelle R. Kaufman, 2008).
Now coming back to how globalization increases human trafficking. How does this happen? As mentioned before, there is an increase in inequality between nations in terms of wealth and economic development as a result of globalization. As a result, people from less developed countries now aspire to live in developed countries where the standard of living is better. Globalization has hence increased the number of bodies that move across borders. The poor people from poor countries (where they have few future prospects) migrate to countries with better living conditions (Wonders, N.A., & Raymond Michalowski, 2000). However because of the rich countries do not give away immigrations very easily, these people have to resort to other means of getting there. The answer to this is of course, human trafficking. They smuggle themselves in other countries.
Tourism (formal sector)
Because of tourism, rich keep getting richer and poor keep getting poor. The tourism promotion programs are financed through public revenue from taxes and all. This is a regressive form of tax and the poor suffer. All this is done in an attempt to alleviate poverty from this country. However, it worsens the situation and increases the gap between peoples’ incomes. This happened in Thailand. The Thai government funded its tourism development programs by using tax revenues. This increased the load of taxes on the general public and since this tax was regressive, the poor lost the most. The tourism sector boomed to a great extent as a result of these tourism development programs, however, the situation did not still improve. When tourism increases in these countries, these people still do not benefit as the people who visit these countries spend in the areas where well off people live (Wattanakuljarus, A. & Ian Coxhead, 2007). Therefore these people have no other option but to sell their bodies and make money out of it and hence prostitution increases.
There have been many programs to counter the negative effects of tourism on the poor population. One such program was the Pro-Poor Tourism. However, after analysis, it is clear that this is no different from other programs in the past. This program also failed to make tourism a development and poverty alleviation tool (Harrison, D., 2008).
Sex Tourism (informal sector)
Sex tourism is an adjustable term that captures varieties of leisure travel that have as a part of their purpose the purchase of sexual services. When the two concepts of prostitution and tourism come together, the end result is Sex Tourism. Another concept of sex tourism is the linkage between local and global markets. The fact that sex tourism has been increasing over the last two decades has been established. The reason behind this increase can be attributed towards global forces like the increase in movements of bodies across borders. In addition to this, people who have to resources to visit these industries have also increased with time and hence the consumption of these services stimulates sex tourism as a whole. What happens is that as a result of tourism, the consumers of sex industry become mobile and because of increase in migration, the sex workers become mobile. These conditions make it perfect for sex tourism to increase. In terms of economics, the demand meets the supply and as a result, there is general equilibrium (Wonders, N.A., & Raymond Michalowski, 2000).
Countries in an attempt to make benefit out of globalization have legalized the sex industry because of the economic benefits attached with it. Poor countries also promote the sex industry in their countries in an attempt to increase tourism and the inflow of money in their countries. These countries realize the profitability of this industry and hence do not even criminalize sex trade (Singh, J.P. & Shilpa A. Hart, 2007). According to this one source, prostitution has become big business and human trafficking has become so much more sophisticated. By sophisticated we mean that it has taken many new forms. The reason why this business has become so much more profitable is because these sophisticated forms are coupled with the worsening situation of women in many developing countries. Sex tourism is one of the flourishing markets in the New World Order. According to The Economist, the worth of sex industry is estimated to be at least $20 billion a year and probably even more (Wonders, N.A., & Raymond Michalowski, 2000). The prostitutes are there and there is no one to stop them. This is the perfect condition for a sex industry to increase in size and this is exactly what happens in the third world country.
Poor countries are also involved in trafficking of women and children from there countries to other rich destination countries. A lot of money is involved in this business and the poor countries reduce their burden by reducing their population and at the same time make money out of it (Crawford, M., & Michelle R. Kaufman, 2008). This further triggers sex tourism in some countries.
How Does it Impact Sex Workers?
All the above discussion impacts the sex workers greatly. It affects how they are seen in the society. These women do not have normal lives once they get into the industry. They are generally rejected as potential wives by the men around them (Wilson, T.D., 2008). In this paper, we will be talking about the following impacts.
Media Portrayal of Sex Workers
As the concept of sex tourism and the sex industry increases in size globally, the sex workers get a lot of attention through media. The media is basically responsible for making these concepts so widespread. The media largely portrays sex work as disrespectful and disgraceful. It usually talks about how this wrong should be removed from the society and depicts it as an illegal activity. It fails to acknowledge the fact that there are sex workers (many of them) who do this willingly and are happy with the benefits they get from it. Media is responsible for putting the uneducated, addicted to drugs and controlled by pimps. It portrays them as disrespectful. It fails to capture the voice of the sex workers in its stories therefore the true essence of prostitution is yet to be portrayed in the media (Sabateir, J., 2009).
Media needs to put through the other side of prostitution. It should inform its audience that prostitution is a symptom of something. It should highlight the causes of prostitution and what can be done about this. This awareness is necessary and the media can play a very important role in changing the perception of people of sex workers.
Problem: U.S policies: Trafficking Victims Protection Act
The United States has developed many policies to curtail trafficking. One if its acts was the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This act is portrayed in the media as a policy that ‘combats’ sex trafficking. The selection of the word combat explains the nature of this act which is violent. The act depicts the sex workers as innocent and helpless and as they need help from the administration (Dessylas, M.C., 2007).
In reality, this act has hardly helped out the victims. For instance, it allowed the trafficked victims to apply for T-visa which allowed the victims to stay in the US and improve their condition provided that they would adhere to the rules and regulations and assist the federal authorities in curtailing other trafficking activities that are going on. However, in order to obtain the T-visa, the trafficked victims had to prove their innocence. There were many undocumented victims who had no proof on them and as a result, it became a major obstacle for these victims to obtain the visa. Most victims are deported and sent back to their countries where the economic conditions are such that it impossible to survive (Dessylas, M.C., 2007).
Another incident that must be mentioned here occurred in 2003. What happened was that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act Reauthorization Act announced that it would stop funding any program or group that perceived as encouraging sex work. This meant that under USAID would not fund any group that was not working against prostitution. This also included the nonabolitionist groups that were offering harm-reduction services to sex workers. Under this act, they were no longer illegible for monetary support from USAID and hence the sex workers were the one who were ultimately affected negatively (Soderlund, G., 2005).
There are many such critiques of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act that make it very ineffective and the sex workers ultimately suffer because of them.
Problem: Re-integration and Rehabilitation programs
There people do not realize that women who do this do it willingly. When they criminalize these activities, they make their lives even more difficult than what it was before. Therefore, they need to make sure that these women have proper arrangement of incomes before they can stop them from prostituting themselves. This way, these sex workers lose the only source of income they had (Society for International Development, 2009).
The trafficked people do not understand the re-integration and rehabilitation programs because what they see is how these are negatively affecting them. Therefore these people do not participate in such programs. Their feedback is not taken into account when planning is done and hence the chances of successful reintegration are less (Jayagupta, R., 2009).
Another problem with various reintegration and rehabilitation programs is the inability for these people to follow up with those they have helped. Therefore, they cannot be certain that the victim is safe and whether the program was effective or not. In usual cases, once these people are sent back home, there are very few choices they have because of the lack of skills and knowledge. The economic conditions of the country from where they ran away from further decrease their chances of survival (Jayagupta, R., 2009).
Another drawback of these programs is that the privacy of the sex workers are not ensured under this program. NGOs, media, government ministries and other groups get information about these people and hence people are not comfortable with participating in such programs (Jayagupta, R., 2009).
The development industry needs to get its act together about how to do its work. If it wants to work with sex workers, it needs to have sex workers involved in planning and implementing (Society for International Development, 2009).
Conclusion
People often blame the prostitutes for the increase in prostitution all over the world. However, after this paper, we can safely claim that the global forces are responsible for this increase. Globalization increases inequality between nations, migration and tourism. These conditions are perfect for the sex industry as the customers come in interaction with the sex workers. As a result, the sex industries in the developing countries increase. Towards the end of the paper, we also saw that most prostitutes all over the world may willingly engage in these activities but this does not change the fact that such activities harm them greatly. They do it out of desperation and when someone comes to help them and criminalizes these activities, these are the people who suffer the most. They have no other way of earning and when this way is made illegal, they suffer greatly.
The policy makers needs to realize this when they try to ‘help’ them. They need to be aware of all their issues before they take any kind of action. This is a very sensitive situation for them and it should not be dealt with this carelessly. Instead of targeting the sex workers, these programs should target the forces that cause them in the first place. These programs should ensure that the inequality level of income between the countries and society decreases because then only these women will stop selling their bodies. Even though for some countries and city areas, sex workers are the source of revenue for the society and for many governmental agencies, the fact that this is wrong should not be ignored. The process of changing the mind set may take long and will definably be opposed by many, action needs to be taken and taken fast so that problems like these don’t get related to the image of a country or city which can later backfire.
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