Week 14: The Global Political Economy of Sex: “Chapter 5: National Desires for Security”

Summary:

This chapter begins with an introduction that explains what practices are linked to an economic state’s desire for “security” and the basis for this article. There are four practices total. First, immigration based on “imperial geography” where people move based on where they can find a job. This also adds to the economic power of the country that they migrate to. Second, the economic state eroticizes sex industries (hereafter, desire industries) and then blames those (usually foreigners) that participate in these industries. The state then blames these individuals for contributing to “social anxieties and insecurities.” Third, the economic states makes it known that they are doing their job by controlling “borders, and counting, documenting, and disciplining migrant labor.” Fourth, the economic state renders the following global/powerful actors invisible: states, class, and international institutions (p. 123).

The first subsection is titled “Traversing an Imperial Geography: Concealing Capital Accumulation and Exploitation.” This section focuses on the migration of women to stronger economies in search of labor. However, many of these women become forced into the desire industry in order to survive. Agathangelou explains: “the organization of the desire industries and the trafficking trade…draws upon understandings and practices of slavery, recolonization, exploitation, and racism in its everyday constitution and reproduction” (p. 124). Next, the author provides an example of the “Natasha trade” (Russian women that are involved in the desire industry or trafficking trade that move to Turkey and marry) as a threat to national security in Turkey. Basically, the Turkish government sees these women as a security threat because so many are migrating and marrying that they will have an effect on their human resources. Next, “The state officials, who have been involved in the Natasha activities and who are in important positions, may leak extremely important information regarding the general security of the state, to these women” (p. 126). However, this type of analysis completely ignores class struggles, potential illegal links between the government and the desire industry, and also infantilizes men as being used by their wives. In this chapter, the author also provides firsthand accounts from women involved in the desire industry. Overall, their lack of economic mobility, their fear for their lives, and the abusive power of the police (that do nothing to protect these women, but instead take advantage of them) are highlighted in these accounts. Finally, Agathangelou concludes this section by stating: “The state and its agents whose interest in securing openness for capital to move and exploit cheap labor make the female migrant the ‘object of eroticization’ or just an ‘object’…while all the time attributing a threat to difference” (p. 134-135).

Next, “Security and Class Relations: The Racialization of the Female Migrant Force and Securitization of ‘Freedom,’” focuses on laws, and political and social structures that are put in place that actually promote the desire industry. This also creates problems in terms of feeling secure within a nation. The author states: “When locals face the migrant women, deeply entrenched racist behaviors and assumptions come to the surface. They complicate dichotomous relations between the secure and the nonsecure on different levels: structural, institutional, and personal” (p. 137-138). Globalization makes migration more possible and these people in turn become a threat to national identity and create insecurities within the nation in question.

The author continues her discussion in the following subsection titled, “Glossing Over Transnational Inequalities/Insecurities.” This section concerns Europe and migration effects on the desire industry. Agathangelou states: “In effect, migration flows present a challenge to states wishing, on the one hand, to keep intact a traditional control of territory, and on the other, to exploit a cheap and flexible supply of labor” (p. 140). Race is also becoming more important in the desire industry due to commonly held notions of racism and stereotypes. However, this puts women in competition with one another and creates unequal class relations within the industry. The distribution of these women based on race and quality of client and location is represented in Table 5.2 on page 144 in the text. In this text, Kollontai also expresses the link between the bourgeois culture and the desire industry: “The hypocritical morality of bourgeois society encourages prostitution by the structure of its exploitative economy, while at the same time mercilessly heaping contempt upon any girl or woman who is forced to take this path” (p. 145). The author also explains the link between the underground desire industry and threats to national security. These European nations see these immigrants as criminal that threaten the national identity and normal (non-black) markets.

Finally, the author offers us the final subsection: “By way of conclusion.” Generally, states address fears of globalization by starting with migration policies that end up “justifying the ‘national’ identity it has achieved through a territorialization” (p. 151). The state usually links national identity threats to migration “to privilege” and deflect “attention from an underlying political economy of exploitation and violence” (p. 152).


Reaction:


I found this chapter very enlightening in considering contemporary Europe. Especially with the case of Turkey, it is interesting to think about what nations are incorporated into Europe and what their practices are based on. I also enjoyed the author’s link between the economy and the desire industry and how the two are related. The chapter initially seemed very dense, but the subsections and organization of the chapter revealed several key ideas in current globalization and migration issues.