This semester I am taking an amazingly insightful and relevant course titled “Mass Migration and Global Development” with Professor Levi Vonk. Out of the many mind-boggling things we’ve examined in the class, the commodification of sex by migrant women really caught my attention. Through the book “Lives in Transit” by Wendy Vogt and my professor’s lectures, I learned how many Central American women found agency within the restrictive and oppressive migrant journey through utilizing the commodification of sex. A sexual or libidinal economy—one in which sex is commodified—is deeply ingrained in the migrant journey. Within this, some migrants find an avenue for agency and influence in a rather restrictive system. This concept is hard for me to wrap my head around—how can women have agency within oppression? In this article, I explore this complex question and offer evidence to widen your (and my) perspective!
Libidinal economy
The migrant journey (I am referring to the Central American migrant journey in this article) is marked by violence, extortion, abuse, and, for the focus of this article, sexual exploitation. Many women begin the journey by going on birth control both to mitigate the hassle of menstrual cycles and with the expectancy of rape/ sexual assault. Women and LGBTQ+ groups are particularly vulnerable to rape by gang members, other migrants, border patrol, and police or officials.
An illustrative nature of the complexity of this economy in action is “bars” (there doesn’t exist a direct translation) in Southern Mexico that exploit both women and migrant men. The men, seeking entertainment, company, and refuge from the journey, go to these bars where they not only enjoy food and drinks, but the company and sometimes sex of migrant women. These Central American women tend to be Honduran—as their AfroLatina race makes them subject to overt sexualization. At the end of this exchange, the men (unknowingly) are billed both for their food and the women’s time while the women are often pimped out to give the men more than just conversation. In this situation, both migrant men and women are victims of exploitation.
A recent study has found that 1 out of 4 migrant women faced some form of sexual assault on their journey. This well-known knowledge transforms the migrant journey into one in which women’s body and sex is used as commodities, just as one would use cash. This forms women’s bodies from something personal, intimate, and their own into a transaction site that is open for grabs. This in itself sounds extremely exploitative at first glance; however, we will come to see how some migrant women grapple with the hands they are dealt with to find a degree of agency within this oppression.
Autonomy within Libidinal economy
While I am sure no woman would want to have to sell her body to survive (hot take perhaps but I stand on this), the unfortunate acknowledgment of the prevalence of sexual abuse and exploitation gives way for women to take something that would normally oppress and victimize them and instead use it to their advantage. As my professor blatantly said in lecture, some migrant woman have the ideology that “if I have to suck dick for some diapers, then I will”. The contradictory nature of the words “if I have to” compared to the more assertive narrative of consent and willingness in this sentence is complex. Although some women are resorted to using sex as a commodity, they are choosing to utilize this system to their benefit (e.g. being able to get diapers for their children) and do not feel guilty or ashamed for it. This paints their relationship to and participation in a sexual economy as not purely exploitative but relational.
To me, understanding this grey area was very difficult, but as this subject and studying the migration journey as a whole have come to show me, the real world is not simply black and white. In order to truly understand this, I had to let go of my previous conceptions of a concrete good and bad or victim and oppression in order to view things in a more realistic and relational lens. Migrant women’s use of sex as a commodity transforms them from passive victims of an oppressive system to active and resilient actors in a difficult journey to navigate.
are these women victims?
This gray area makes it hard to put a label on these women. Are they victims or are they exploiting a system meant to exploit them? I don’t think these women see themselves as victims through a personal lens, but more so victims of the system that puts them in the position they are in. In some cases, this system actually enables women to have some power over men. For example, shelters are more likely to take women in than men, resulting in men seeking out relationships for access. There then develops relationships of reciprocal benefit—women needing a man for protection and money, with men needing women for sex and access to shelters. In this case, women are not passive victims in the system, but active agents who have benefits to offer, just as men do. The leverage migrant women hold within these relationships elevates them from what typically forms as an imbalanced relationship. These are strategic partnerships rather than one-sided, exploitative relationships. It also helps to relate the libidinal economy in the migrant journey to one more familiar to me as an American. We are all aware of young girls flirting with older men they don’t find remotely attractive for a free drink, or dressing provocatively as a server to get more tips. Like in the migrant journey, we too have cultural practices that involve exchanging some form of sexual favor—even if it doesn’t seem as apparent—for financial benefit.
Final words
This article explored the complexity of how migrant women navigate a the migrant journey in which they are especially vulnerable and emerge by finding agency and power within a system meant to exploit and degrade them. The resilience of these women is inspiring and although they are indeed victims in a sense, they are not pure victims and instead find agency in whatever way they can.
Sources
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11480185/
- Lives in Transit by Wendy Vogt
- conversation with and lectures by Professor Levi Vonk
- conversations with Professor Lean Sweeney