The Intersectional Racialisation of Migrant Sex Workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

In 2003, Aotearoa New Zealand decriminalised sex work by passing the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA). As migrant sex workers (MSWs) on temporary visas are excluded from the protections guaranteed by the PRA as they may be deported by Immigration New Zealand (INZ), making them more exploitable. Anti-immigrant commentary from politicians before and during the 2017 – and more recently the 2023 – election campaign exacerbated these vulnerabilities. The subsequent formation of the Labour-led Coalition Government in 2017 with New Zealand First (NZ1st) and the introduction of more restrictive migration policies coincided with more activity by INZ against MSWs. In this article we will argue that the anti-immigration rhetoric and interventions that framed and followed the 2017 election campaign echo historical, racist attitudes towards Chinese migrants. At the same time the criteria of vulnerability according to which INZ targets Asian MSWs show the shifting of profiling from a race-centric to a more intersectional approach including gender, age and class, which mirrors a shift towards neoliberal governance and sexual humanitarian forms of migration management.

Keywords: sex work, New Zealand, migration, neoliberalism.