The Other and her Body: Migrant Prostitution, Gender Relations and Ethnicity

The phenomenon of commercial sex has gone, during the past two decades, through significant changes due, firstly, to the expansion of the market of commercial sexual practices and, secondly, to the diversification of prostitution typologies, practices and available places. This phenomenon appeared within a social and cultural climate characterised by women’s emancipation processes and changes occurred within the realm of sexual morality. As far as prostitution is concerned, the processes of modernization and globalization of the commercial sex market have made available new consumer models – thanks, for instance, to Internet and the possibility to easily reach sexual tourism destinations – which have revolutionised prostitution practices. This expansion is also linked to the emergence, on a large scale, of migrant women in the sex business circuits of most European countries. In line with the need to overcome a reductionist approach that views the foreign prostitution phenomenon as a mere economic or criminal issue, this article aims at shedding some light on the subjective dimension of some of its main actors: in particular prostitutes and, where possible, clients. The analysis focuses on the dimension of radical otherness – physical and symbolic – associated with prostituted bodies and, in particular, the bodies of “other” women: migrant female prostitutes.