Kamala Kempadoo

Caribbean sexuality is both hypervisible and obscured. That is, it is celebrated in popular culture as an important ingredient in Caribbean social life and flaunted to attract tourists to the region, yet is shrouded in double entendre, secrecy and shame. In this article, I present a review of the main trends in studies of Caribbean sexuality, arguing that while there are few exclusive studies on the subject there is much we can draw upon for insights into Caribbean sexual relations, sexual expressions and sexual identities. Drawing from published as well as “grey ” materials, this article points out that Caribbean sexuality is often perceived and analysed as linked to force and (domestic) violence against women and children, sexually transmitted infections (i.e. HIV and AIDS), and economic imperatives. It is also widely accepted as attached to heterosexuality and gendered imbalances of power, as well as to men’s sexual agency. Studies of same-sex relations, transactional sex, prosti...

Abstract: Encouraged by the US, the Caribbean is being drawn into a global panic over human trafficking, leading to greater policing and surveillance of migrant women and the sex trade. Drawing on colonial precedents, the moral outrage about women trafficked into prostitu-tion, embodied in legislation such as the US Trafficking Victims Protec-tion Act, obscures the deeper causes of exploitation and oppression and leads to the demonisation of those in undocumented, hyper-exploited labour forces. Moreover, the false equation of trafficking with prostitu-tion renders sexual labour as coerced labour and, as such, misrepresents sexual agency.

Caribbean sexuality is both hypervisible and obscured. That is, it is celebrated in popular culture as an important ingredient in Caribbean social life and flaunted to attract tourists to the region, yet is shrouded in double entendre, secrecy and shame. In this article, I present a review of the main trends in studies of Caribbean sexuality, arguing that while there are few exclusive studies on the subject there is much we can draw upon for insights into Caribbean sexual relations, sexual expressions and sexual identities. Drawing from published as well as “grey” materials, this article points out that Caribbean sexuality is often perceived and analysed as linked to force and (domestic) violence against women and children, sexually transmitted infections (i.e. HIV and AIDS), and economic imperatives. It is also widely accepted as attached to heterosexuality and gendered imbalances of power, as well as to men’s sexual agency. Studies of same-sex relations, transactional sex, prostit...

Introduction Abolitionism, Criminal Justice, and Transnational Feminism : Twenty-first-century Perspectives on Human Trafficking Kamala Kempadoo Shifting Paradigms Globalization, Labor Migration, and Human Rights: Unpacking the Trafficking Discourse Jyoti Sanghera Cross-Border Movements and the Law: Renegotiating the Boundaries of Difference Ratna Kapur Miles Away: The Trouble with Prevention in the Greater Mekong sub-region Phil Marshall and Susu Thatun Reflections by an Anti-Trafficking Activist Lin Chew Complicating the "Problem" of Sex Work From Anti-Trafficking to Social Discipline, or, the Changing Role of "Women's" NGOs in Taiwan Josephine Ho Trafficking in Lives: How Ideology Shapes Policy Melissa Ditmore The Myth of Nepal-to-India Sex Trafficking: its Creation, its Maintenance, and its Influence on Anti-Trafficking Interventions John Frederick Sex Worker Rights Organizations and Anti-Trafficking Campaigns Edited by Kamala Kempadoo Reports from the fi...

In January 2013, on a visit to Georgetown Guyana, I had a special opportunity to interview Andaiye about research by the women’s organization Red Thread. Andaiye is a co-founder and organizer of Red Thread, as well as an internationally renowned activist for working women’s rights. While aspects of her work with Red Thread have been covered in various media, I hoped through the interview to hone in on her perspective of the roles and meanings of research in the organization’s activities and to add to the documentation of Red Thread’s unique experience with research. During the interview, Andaiye repeatedly stressed that she did not have all the information and that certain details needed verifying by other members of Red Thread. After the interview she filled in and elaborated on the transcript as much as possible. The following, then, is an example of a mixed method for documenting history and practice, incorporating a great deal of reflection and some dialogue, and bringing to lig...

Prostitution has been a persistent theme in the study of society since the nineteenth century, although it is only in second half of the twentieth century that it fully entered social studies as a subject worthy of full academic consideration. In this chapter I identify four main approaches in social studies and research that have been prominent, according to assumptions and explanations about sexual and gender relations. I define the most recent approach as “Sex Work Studies.” It is important to keep in mind that while each trend is presented as distinct, there are many overlaps, borrowings, and blendings that have occurred between them and with other ideas that are not described here. The approaches therefore should not be treated as discrete or autonomous, but rather can be read as trends in which a specific account of gender and sex dominate political, theoretical, and social work on prostitution at different periods in history.

Theglobal sextrade has received increasingattention since themid 1990s from a variety of researchers, activists, organizations, law and policy makers, and international agencies, particularly under the rubrics of "trafficking" and "sexual slavery." The assumption commonly underpinning the widespread interest it has aroused is that the sex trade is premised upon a universal principle ofmale violence to women. Indeed, even though several feminists and scholars, including this author, have argued formore complex and nuanced approaches, we are often asked to participatein discussions on the subjectin the contextofconferences and public events that concentrate on violence to women. Similarly, among non-governmental organizations and increasingly in the mainstream media, the global sex trade is more often than notportrayed through this one dimension, with the women involved represented as "victims" of male sexual violence. In this article, I expand the argument that the global sex trade cannot be simply reduced to one monolithic explanation ofviolence to women. Research and theorizingrequire a frameworkthatembraces the realities, contradictions, and intersections ofvarious global relations ofpower. To illustrate this point, I draw on recent feminist studies showing that colonialisms, recolonizations, and cultural imperialisms, as well as specific local cultural histories and traditions that shape the sexual agency of women are important for any account ofglobal manifestations of sex work. The goal is to articulate a framework that will allow us to explore and theorize differences and commonalities in meanings and experiences in the sex trade. Here, I focus particularly on experiences of, and definitions by, women of color,1 tracing the contours ofwhat may be

Resumo No Canadá atual, as questões envolvendo o tráfico humano estão em alta na agenda pública. Uma variedade de atividades é incluída dentro dessa rubrica, incluindo a prostituição doméstica, na qual cruzar fronteiras nacionais ou internas não é um pré-requisito para como o Estado define o tráfico. O Canadá não está sozinho em sua definição expansiva de tráfico humano. Globalmente, trabalho sexual/prostituição, “tráfico sexual”, trabalho infantil, trabalho migrante infantil, e “escravidão moderna” são parte integral dos discursos hegemônicos sobre “os horrores” do tráfico humano. Neste artigo analiso três campanhas proeminentes que sustentam esse discurso e discuto algumas das ações que essas campanhas promoveram. Argumento que um exame mais detalhado deixa visível uma versão do século XXI do “fardo do homem branco” apoiado por interesses ocidentais, corporativos e neoliberais contemporâneos, através dos quais, a exploração e o abuso sem restrições da vida e da força dos/as trabal...

Abstract: Encouraged by the US, the Caribbean is being drawn into a global panic over human trafficking, leading to greater policing and surveillance of migrant women and the sex trade. Drawing on colonial precedents, the moral outrage about women trafficked into prostitu-tion, ...

... and imperial white male power and privilege outside the confines of marriage and citizenship ...Feminist approaches to prostitution and other types of sex work need careful ... Universalizations and generalizations from white European or North American histories, perspectives, ...

This anthology of essays by scholars, activists, and organization leaders uses studies concerning both male and female sex workers of primarily Third World and developing countries to explore the social and economic issues of the industry. The writers first define both the forced and voluntary trafficking of sex in terms of a labor pool that is often migratory and at times even unionized. Issues of race and morality also play a role in the status and legitimacy of sex workers. These writings also highlight the major organizational movements and conferences of sex workers since the 1970s, as well as discussing the effects of AIDS and other health issues. Much of the literature on prostitution centers on Western cultures or single localities in the developing world.

4 Jvoti Sanghera too disparate in their culinary skills, and have at their disposal a budget which is far too lavish for a mere broth. These "too many cooks" have not only managed to spoil the broth, but some of them have also ended up bonking each other with their spatulas. I ...

In the early 1990s, the debate on human trafficking was restricted to a handful of feminists and revolved around establishing “the trafficking of women” as a case of labor migration or one of “female sexual slavery.” Two decades later, the debate is more complicated and widespread, yet within the proliferation of attention, a convergence among some of the most vocal and visible campaigns is discernible. This article takes up three prominent campaigns that dominate contemporary debates internationally—modern anti-slavery, abolitionist feminism, and celebrity humanitarianism—and considers the politics that emerge at the points of their convergence. It is argued that rather than getting to “the bottom of things,” as Emma Goldman urged over a century ago in relation to the “traffic of women,” a 21st-century version of the “white man’s burden” is apparent, supported by contemporary western, neoliberal interests that maintain boundaries between the havesand the have-nots, while bolstering...

This report is the result of research, commissioned by UNAIDS-Caribbean Regional Support Team in 2009 on the sex industry in 14 CARICOM countries. It is the first study of its kind to cover all the member countries of CARICOM, and both deepens existing insights into the industry and indicates new areas and problems. The aim of the study was to identify the common types of sex work and describe the main locations where sex work takes place, the specific characteristics of sex worker populations, and the kinds of populations that sex workers service. It was also to seek to assess awareness of HIV and risk factors amongst the populations involved in the sex industry. The overall objective was to generate a broad definition of sex work and an analysis of the sex industry that could be used for the region as a whole and that would help to inform national and regional HIV programming, policy and decision making as well as influence current legal and public health debates.