Differentiated intimacies: intimate labor, exchange practices, and gendered migration to Hong Kong

Abstract This article analyzes the intimacies that migrant sex workers from the Philippines forge with men from Global North countries in the global city of Hong Kong. It argues that the constitution of these migrant intimacies is shaped by a migration regime of differential inclusion that fosters inequalities between highly skilled migrant men and migrant sex workers who attend to their intimate needs. It examines the process by which migrant sex workers form differentiated intimacies with men, including nightly clients, regular clients, and boyfriends and provide intimate labor that they then leverage into varied forms of resources necessary to facilitate their migration. This article adds to the literature on labor and migration by illustrating how migration regimes shape work conditions and the dynamic intermingling of intimacy and economy among differently situated migrants in global cities. This article’s findings are based on ethnography conducted in Hong Kong between 2010 and 2019 and interviews with migrant sex workers from the Philippines and male clients from the Global North.