ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses economic policies that are signified by terms like 'neoliberalism' and 'globalisation', and the relationship of these policies to sexual commerce. It shows that the relationship between 'neoliberalism' and sexual commerce is varied and complex. The terms 'neoliberalism' and 'globalisation' both describe economic policies that were promoted by a range of institutions, including some governments, corporate entities, and multilateral development banks, in the wake of the economic crises in the West during the 1970s. The problem of scale in social science research is fairly straightforward: it is the problem of drawing conclusions about individuals or localised social groups based, in part, on generalised statements about global or large scale historical processes. Sexual commerce involves some element of movement from one's place of origin. The idea that urban spaces for sexual commerce are fluid differs from the prevailing carceral logic of prostitution-abolitionism, which identifies brothels as fixed sites for prostitution, and therefore as sites of trafficking and violence.
