Lesbi migrant sexuality: Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong
Abstract
This dissertation concerns the experiences of Indonesian migrant domestic workers who are or have been in a same-sex relationship in Hong Kong. The timeframe of my research spans two years, from 2010 to 2012. By studying the construction of gender and sexuality in the context of individuals who are moving for one or more periods of time for employment opportunities, the research aims to understand how these migrant women negotiate their existence when subjected to webs of discourses—local gender ideologies and family expectations in Indonesia, gender expectations while in the home of their Hong Kong employer, and lesbi culture. I explore how their experiences and imagination reshape their sexual subjectivities in different stages of migration. My work suggests that both gender and sexuality are fluid and may shift when individuals are subjected to new gender/sexual discourses, particularly in unfamiliar social contexts, such as those of the migrants in this study. I show that migrant women are in fact, sexual agents, despite the constant surveillance in the training centers in Indonesia and the lack of spatial mobility in Hong Kong. The experiences of these migrant women provide us with new perspectives to rethink the concepts of sexuality and gender, as well as the sexual agency of migrant women workers.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Blackwood, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Cultural anthropology|GLBT Studies|South Asian Studies|Gender studies
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