Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China
Autor(a) principal: | |
---|---|
Data de Publicação: | 2020 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644 |
Resumo: | While scholars and activists often advocate using the term ‘sex worker’ in preference to prostitute, in my research I found that female prostitutes in the Pearl River Delta area, south China, do not like to be addressed as such, and prefer the title xiaojie in Chinese. ‘Sex worker’ generalises the heterogeneity of meanings these women identify and attribute to what they do; it does not capture the complex cultural meanings involved in the term xiaojie. It is stigmatising in that what is exchanged within the transaction is less defined by sexual acts and more by a diversified range of activities. The women employ what is useful to them and infuse new meanings in it to construct gender images and identities to resist the sex worker stigma and to express their desires as rural-to-urban migrants. Using xiaojie becomes a destigmatising and gender tactic. I also found that the women discard the idea of finding alternative jobs partly because of the practical difficulty, and partly because they do not want to work (gongzuo) any more in the future. This study highlights the importance of exploring desire and agency to understand the lived experiences of this particular group of women. |
id |
RCAP_c56c62134f342ed58ff96a28136faa1e |
---|---|
oai_identifier_str |
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/2644 |
network_acronym_str |
RCAP |
network_name_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository_id_str |
7160 |
spelling |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South Chinadesire; destigmatisation; gender; sex worker; South ChinaWhile scholars and activists often advocate using the term ‘sex worker’ in preference to prostitute, in my research I found that female prostitutes in the Pearl River Delta area, south China, do not like to be addressed as such, and prefer the title xiaojie in Chinese. ‘Sex worker’ generalises the heterogeneity of meanings these women identify and attribute to what they do; it does not capture the complex cultural meanings involved in the term xiaojie. It is stigmatising in that what is exchanged within the transaction is less defined by sexual acts and more by a diversified range of activities. The women employ what is useful to them and infuse new meanings in it to construct gender images and identities to resist the sex worker stigma and to express their desires as rural-to-urban migrants. Using xiaojie becomes a destigmatising and gender tactic. I also found that the women discard the idea of finding alternative jobs partly because of the practical difficulty, and partly because they do not want to work (gongzuo) any more in the future. This study highlights the importance of exploring desire and agency to understand the lived experiences of this particular group of women.Cogitatio2020-04-28info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/2644Social Inclusion; Vol 8, No 2 (2020): Left Behind? Women’s Status in Contemporary China; 95-1032183-2803reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2644https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2644/2644Copyright (c) 2020 Yu Dinghttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessDing, Yu2022-12-20T10:58:56Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/2644Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T16:21:19.137811Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
title |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
spellingShingle |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China Ding, Yu desire; destigmatisation; gender; sex worker; South China |
title_short |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
title_full |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
title_fullStr |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
title_sort |
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China |
author |
Ding, Yu |
author_facet |
Ding, Yu |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Ding, Yu |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
desire; destigmatisation; gender; sex worker; South China |
topic |
desire; destigmatisation; gender; sex worker; South China |
description |
While scholars and activists often advocate using the term ‘sex worker’ in preference to prostitute, in my research I found that female prostitutes in the Pearl River Delta area, south China, do not like to be addressed as such, and prefer the title xiaojie in Chinese. ‘Sex worker’ generalises the heterogeneity of meanings these women identify and attribute to what they do; it does not capture the complex cultural meanings involved in the term xiaojie. It is stigmatising in that what is exchanged within the transaction is less defined by sexual acts and more by a diversified range of activities. The women employ what is useful to them and infuse new meanings in it to construct gender images and identities to resist the sex worker stigma and to express their desires as rural-to-urban migrants. Using xiaojie becomes a destigmatising and gender tactic. I also found that the women discard the idea of finding alternative jobs partly because of the practical difficulty, and partly because they do not want to work (gongzuo) any more in the future. This study highlights the importance of exploring desire and agency to understand the lived experiences of this particular group of women. |
publishDate |
2020 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2020-04-28 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644 oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/2644 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644 |
identifier_str_mv |
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/2644 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2644 https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i2.2644 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/2644/2644 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2020 Yu Ding http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2020 Yu Ding http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Social Inclusion; Vol 8, No 2 (2020): Left Behind? Women’s Status in Contemporary China; 95-103 2183-2803 reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
|
_version_ |
1799130660256874496 |