Neither 'saints' nor 'prostitutes': Sexual discourse in the Filipina domestic worker community in Hong Kong

Sexuality is a locus of control not only between men and women, but across racial, class, and national divides. Discourse about sexuality is important because it is a commentary on these relations of power and the broader institutional arrangements that permit them. We examine sexual discourse among a particularly disempowered group of women-Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong. We look at how international development and migration policies, the conditions of domestic work, and Hong Kong popular culture have conspired to identify Filipina domestic workers with the sex industry. In response, the women construct an 'ethic of service' within their own communities which challenges the public discourse on the Filipina as 'prostitute.' Some women, however, see a contradiction within this response. They brazenly talk about sex, flaunt their sexuality, and mock other members in their all-female, church-based organizations by calling them 'saints.' This debate about prostitution and sainthood, we argue, is a commentary on unequal power relations between Filipinas and the broader community in which the women's moral identity and economic livelihood is tied to their sexuality. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.