Introduction

Psychoanalytic theory has brought us a rich conceptual framework to understand splitting, disavowing affective experiences and containing them in psychic or intersubjective spaces we may need to symbolically throw out or torture, colonize. Psychoanalytic theories have also historically brought sexuality/ies (albeit often by pathologizing the “nonnormative”) front and center. Yet the supposedly “oldest profession” in the world, both the roles of the workers and their customers, has remained undertheorized.

As labor in general becomes globalized, prostitution also falls in line. But globalization in this area is quite complex. The labor of prostitution is also a labor of postcolonialism. Although we in the West may not be thoroughly conscious of who sewed our clothing or made our shoes, embarking on sex tourism renders the colonial aspects of this form of labor front and center. Indeed, the colonial dynamics are often a component of what is purchased. Sex tourism is a particular form of labor that needs to be explored.

In this symposium, the editors ask the readers to travel around the world to Cambodia, a land with a recent history of colonization, war, civil war, and recovery. Here the West continues to play a significant role, now in terms of economic growth that, like many such enactments, is also a form of economic colonization and violence—sex tourism.

Prostitution is an area that is an emotional hotbed for anyone attempting to theorize and conceptualize “agency.” Is selling one’s body a form of empowerment? Agency? What is consent? How can consent be conceptualized without a specific and individualized understanding of sovereignty and certainly how can it be legislated by Western organized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) when it cannot even be agreed upon between states in the United States? Or is it part of an ongoing dynamic of violence and abuse? An attempt at mastery? Where is desire in this mix? Does it matter?

This symposium asks these and more question