Constructing 'Asian-ness' in the Australian and Canadian sex industry

Abstract

In Australia and Canada, countries that have historically prized White immigration and settlement, public discourses around Asian sex workers continue to insist on equating cultural and linguistic difference with risk and vulnerability. This presentation interrogates these assumptions, based on 49 semi-structured interviews with Asian sex workers working in Melbourne, Australia and Vancouver, Canada (from a broader study sample of 65 sex workers) conducted in 2013-2014. This sample included a wide diversity of participants, including naturalized citizens, permanent residents, temporary migrants and Australian/Canadian-born Asians. Interviews revealed contrasting perspectives on what ‘Asian-ness’ signifies in the Australian and Canadian sex industry. In stark contrast to public assumptions of vulnerability and risk, interviewees analysed the implications of ‘Asian-ness’ for conducting business. This included reflections on the marketability of exoticized femininities, pay rates, management norms, professional development and negotiating perceptions of Asian sex workers by both clients and non-Asian sex workers. Workers’ thoughts on Asian-ness also reveal the challenges of naming and analysing Whiteness in the sex industry. I conclude by reflecting on the significance of these findings for stakeholders working for sex workers rights. In particular, research findings suggest the challenges in fostering a nuanced understanding of ‘difference’ that does not pathologize ‘difference’.