Precarious Moral Economy: Female Sex Workers in Post-Socialist China

Abstract

Published by Madridge Publishers Introduction This article examines what I describe as a “fleeting moral economy,” a system of culturally shared mores formed among migrant women who are engaging in illegal and stigmatized activities in urban areas. I suggest that the rationale or norm for the particular value of reciprocity varies not only by the complexity of a society or a culture, but also varies due to specific networks or communities depending on their particular circumstances, especially level of resource needs. This short communication is the product of my 27 months of ethnographic field work in post-reform southern China. By ‘female sex workers,’ I mean women whose primary mode of livelihood is the sex trade, who participate in the activities on a daily basis, and who largely think of themselves as professional sex workers (xiaojie). In my field sites, a female sex worker usually works at various sex venues (e.g., brothels, massage parlors, night clubs, etc.) and/or through various work modes (e.g., via madams and brokers, second wife, escorts, etc.), and often simultaneously. As to the business operation of sex work, participants enjoyed flexible work schedules, did not have a formal contract, and paid madams a commission [1,2]. My participants were largely from families of low socioeconomic status and less education (e.g., elementary school dropouts through junior high school graduates). In China, female sex workers are predominantly young, unmarried, and less educated, having migrated from poor rural areas to towns or cities [3,4]. According to data from my 175 indepth interviews, women in the sex trade are thirty years old on average and make 4,887 CNY (roughly $820) per month (Table 1) – a sum roughly two to three times greater than recent college graduates in the region earn and considerably more than women can make in their villages where they are unlikely to find any paid work at all [1,2].