cover image Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, and Sex Trafficking in Tokyo

Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, and Sex Trafficking in Tokyo

Rhacel Salazar Parreñas. Stanford Univ, $21.95 (360p) ISBN 978-0-8047-7712-4

Parreñas (The Force of Domesticity) offers a scholarly, sociological portrait of Filipina hostesses and waitresses in Tokyo’s red-light districts that is clear and compelling enough for the lay reader. Through interviews with the women (and transgender hostesses), Parreñas illustrates why their diminishing numbers is not a “victory” in the global anti-trafficking campaign. Most Filipina hostesses are not, strictly speaking, “sex trafficked;” no statistics support the claim that they were coerced or that all provide sexual services. Furthermore, so labeling these women ignores the nuances of “gendered migration” and prevents them from pulling themselves and their families out of poverty. The book offers a complex study of the many facets of the Filipina hostesses’ lives and labor system, detailing their ambitions, reasons for migration, and the intricacies of hostess work. To write this book, the author herself worked as a hostess in a Tokyo nightclub; her immersion in the world lends the book powerful authenticity. (Oct.)