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Rescuing Sex Work from Anti-Trafficking: Theorising Anti-Trafficking Politics from the Philippines.
Widely hailed as a global pioneer in anti-trafficking, the Philippines offers a revealing lens on the unintended consequences of “protective” governance. This talk unsettles assumptions about anti-trafficking as a straightforward human rights victory and explains how carceral and donor-driven interventions have intensified the precarity of sex workers and undermined their agency. Drawing on findings from a collaborative ethnography with sex workers in the Philippines, it foregrounds vernacular forms of resistance by sex workers and raises complex questions about feminist engagements with the state on questions of labour, gender, rights, and sexual violence.
Date:
27 January 2026, 17:00
Venue:
St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details:
Dahrendorf Room
Speaker:
Dr Sharmila Parmanand (LSE)
Organising department:
Oxford School of Global and Area Studies
Organiser:
Professor Jacob Ricks (Singapore Management University)
Organiser contact email address:
osga.ea@area.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
ASEAN Institute seminar series 2026
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editors:
Charlotte Guillain,
Faith Inch
