SEX AND THE MORAL BOUNDARIES OF FILIPINA MIGRANT HOSTESSES IN JAPAN RHACEL PARREÑAS AMERICAN CIVILIZATION AND SOCIOLOGY BROWN UNIVERSITY Cultures of Flirtation

U.S. TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT “On arrival at their destination, victims are stripped of their passports and travel documents and forced into situations of sexual exploitation or bonded servitude….For example, it is reported that Japan issued 55,000 entertainer visas to women from the Philippines in 2003, many of whom are suspected of having become trafficked victims.” U.S. Department of State, (2004: 14)

U.S. TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT “A significant number of the 71, 084 Philippine women who entered Japan as overseas performance artists in 2004 are believed to have been women trafficked into the sex trade.” U.S. Department of State, (2005: 178).

MORAL GROUPINGS OF HOSTESSES Moral conservatives Moral rationalists Moral in-betweeners

METHODS Fieldwork: April to November 2005 Participant Observation (three months of work as a hostess) Interviews with 56 hostesses (45 females and 11 transgender) Supplementary interviews with club owners, middleman brokers and state representatives in Japan and the Philippines.

WHY FILIPINO HOSTESSES? Historically composed approximately 60 percent of foreign hostesses in Japan (Oishi, 2005) Drastic decline in numbers since labeling as “trafficked persons” by U.S. Department of State  80,000 in 2004 to 35,000 in 2005 to 10,000 in 2006

HOSTESS WORK

Care Work Sexual Work Entertainment Work Boundary Work

MORAL CONSERVATIVES Rejects direct purchase of sex Hides nature of work (i.e., flirtation) from family and friends in the Philippines Consciously desexualizes interactions with customers First timers or born-again Christians

MORAL RATIONALISTS Willingly participates in commercial sexual exchanges More likely to “cross the line” inside and not outside the club Rejects the notion that emotions are a prerequisite to morally acceptable sexual relations

MORAL IN-BETWEENERS Dominant group in community Uses sexuality overtly with customers Rejects the direct purchase of sex Participates in the indirect purchase of sex Exchanges sex for money indirectly only with “boyfriends”

MORAL REGIMES OF WORKPLACE Moral conservative club Moral rationalist club Moral in-betweener club

EMPLOYMENT STATUS Contract Worker Undocumented Worker Documented Worker: Wife or Mother

SITUATIONS OF TRAFFICKING Trafficking is not a universal occurrence Trafficking arises in particular contexts  MORAL REGIMES OF CLUB: moral regime of workplace disagrees with moral boundary of hostess (e.g. a moral conservative is placed at a moral rationalist club) = Moral Violations  EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Contract workers are more vulnerable to trafficking than are part time workers (undocumented workers and documented workers) because they cannot easily quit

Is Trafficking Inevitable? Moral violations do not automatically result in trafficking  Morals are flexible and could shift to fit moral regime of workplace;  Some quit.

CONCLUSION FLAWS IN U.S. ANTI-TRAFFICKING CAMPAIGN: FLAW #1: ABOLITIONIST CAMPAIGN MISINFORMED ABOUT NATURE OF HOSTESS WORK FLAW #2: UNIVERSAL SOLUTION OF RESCUE WITHOUT CONSIDERATION OF WORKER EMPOWERMENT FLAW #3: TOP-TO-BOTTOM SOLUTION FLAW #4: RESCUE = RETURN TO LIFE OF POVERTY IN PHILIPPINES