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Innocence and Purity Vs. Deviance and Immorality: the Spaces of Prostitution in Nepal and Canada

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Innocence and Purity Vs. Deviance and Immorality: the Spaces of Prostitution in Nepal and Canada 1 Innocence and purity vs. deviance and immorality: the spaces of prostitution in Nepal and Canada Lisa Gibson Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, MA Thesis September 2003 Summary This paper adopts a critical feminist analysis in examining the way in which social and physical spaces operate to maintain race, class and gender hierarchies in relation to prostitution. Critiquing the dominant anti-trafficking discourse that essentialises all ‘third world’ women as victims, the author problematises the construction of Badi women in Western Nepal as ‘traditional prostitutes’ and Aboriginal women in Canada as ‘easy squaws’. This analysis demonstrates how in reproducing false divisions between ‘virgins’ and ‘whores’ and between the ‘first’ and ‘third’ worlds, material, symbolic and discursive processes work to normalise unequal relations of power. 2 Table of Contents Summary........................................................................................................................................ 1 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 4 Preface............................................................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 6 Methodology............................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: The construction of ‘the prostitute’......................................................................... 9 2.1 Location: the prostitute body and behaviour ........................................................................ 9 2.2 Ideology .............................................................................................................................. 12 2.3 Prostitution as an identity.................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Summary of chapter............................................................................................................ 14 Chapter 3: Prostitution discourses........................................................................................... 15 3.1 History of the prostitution discourse................................................................................... 15 3.2 Prostitution as exploitation ................................................................................................. 16 3.3 Sex work as work................................................................................................................ 17 3.4 The trafficking discourse .................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4: Nepal........................................................................................................................ 22 4.1 Background to Nepal .......................................................................................................... 22 4.2 The trafficking discourse .................................................................................................... 24 4.2.1 Sex work in Nepal........................................................................................................ 24 4.2.2 Governmental and nongovernmental approaches to trafficking.................................. 25 4.2.3 Narratives of trafficking............................................................................................... 27 4.3 Women of the Badi caste .................................................................................................... 29 4.3.1 History/background...................................................................................................... 29 4.3.2 Badi positioning as ‘dalit’............................................................................................ 30 4.3.3 Dominant constructions of ‘the Badi woman’............................................................. 31 4.3.4 The physical and social space of Badi women in Nepal.............................................. 33 4.3.5 Impact of the trafficking discourse .............................................................................. 34 4.4 Summary of chapter............................................................................................................ 35 Chapter 5: Canada..................................................................................................................... 36 5.1 Overview of the historical marginalisation of the First Nations as part of Canadian nation- building ..................................................................................................................................... 36 5.2 Women and the colonisation process.................................................................................. 39 5.3 Dominant constructions of ‘the Aboriginal woman’ .......................................................... 41 5.4 Aboriginal women sex workers .......................................................................................... 44 5.5 The physical and social space of Aboriginal women in Canada ........................................ 46 5.6 Implications of the ‘Indian princess’ - ‘squaw’ dichotomy................................................ 47 3 5.7 Summary of the chapter...................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 6: Comparison between women of the Badi caste and Aboriginal women ............ 50 6.1 Racialialised, classed and engendered spaces of subordination ......................................... 50 6.1.1 Location, body and behaviour...................................................................................... 50 6.1.2 Representations of Aboriginal and Badi women ......................................................... 52 6.1.3 Ideology ....................................................................................................................... 53 6.1.4 Narrative histories........................................................................................................ 54 6.2 The ‘first world’/’third world’ dichotomy .......................................................................... 56 6.3 Resistance within sex work................................................................................................. 59 Chapter 7: Conclusion............................................................................................................... 62 Appendices................................................................................................................................... 64 Appendix 1: GAATW working definitions of trafficking ........................................................ 64 Appendix 2: Nepali trafficking narratives ................................................................................ 65 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 66 4 Abbreviations AATWIN Alliance Against Traffic in Women and Children AJI Aboriginal Justice Inquiry CATW Coalition Against Traffic in Women GAATW Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women INGO International Nongovernmental Organisation NAAT National Alliance Against Trafficking NGO Nongovernmental Organisation NIC Neighbourhood Improvement Committee NSWP Network of Sex Work Projects NWMP Northwest Mounted Police UN United Nations USAID United States Agency for International Development 5 Preface The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a comparison between how Badi women in Nepal and Aboriginal women in Canada are represented in discourses around sex work in an effort to gain insight into the operation of particular forms of gendered, classed and raced social exclusions. I seek to problematise the discursive constructions of both groups and to look at how dominant ideologies and values function as key mechanisms of subordination. My interest in this subject has arisen through my work in Nepal with a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) involved in advocating against the trafficking of women and children, as well as through my work as a street outreach worker in Canada which involved much interaction with Aboriginal women, many involved in sex work. Despite the vast historical, social and political differences between the two groups, I began to observe many similarities that exist, particularly in terms of stereotypes, stigmas and labelling. I also came to question the focus of ‘development’ on the ‘third world’ which allows the ‘first world’ to ignore the ‘third world’ that exists in its own marginalised areas. Although I have used some primary sources in the form of government documents and newspaper articles, this paper primarily draws on secondary sources in the development of its arguments. I am indebted to my supervisor, Jo Doezema for her inspiring activism, writing and resources and for her support in converting my vague ideas into focused arguments. I would also like to thank Anne-Marie Goetz for her extremely insightful comments. 6 Chapter 1: Introduction Since the 1980s, a frenzied hype has been generated in the media, academia and the development industry about the epidemic of trafficking in women and children both within and between
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