The personal politics of private life in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): sexualities, space, migration and identity politics in motion.

Activism on sexuality and sexual politics in South and West Asia has been increasing in the last two decades, resulting in challenges and opportunities to negotiate sexual subjectivity, intimacy and politics. But some people articulate a desire to disentangle sexual politics from identity politics. Against this background, a two-pronged investigation of the intersections of sexuality and migration was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the aim of understanding the role of sexuality in compelling migration. Data were collected by means of qualitative interviews and participant observation. Findings identify the existence of two contrasting forms of sexual politics: the strategic deployment of sexuality to affect social and political change, and activism with the goal of rethinking ideas and norms about sexuality. Challenges to sexual subjectivities resulting from the tethering of sexual politics to LGBT identity politics act as something of a 'push' factor for some individuals, encouraging them to migrate from places such as Iran, Pakistan and Nepal to the Persian Gulf countries in search of space in which to explore their bodies and sexualities.

Seduction and the self: movements through precarity, race and sexuality in Japanese host clubs.

In this article, I build on the notion of precarity to argue that Japanese host clubs are sites in which a particular kind of intimacy and sense of 'belonging' are produced. The analysis highlights host clubs as necessary spaces among many in the precarious economy and as important venues for the production of subjectivity for the male hosts (both migrant and Japanese) as well as for the migrant women who frequent these establishments. In particular, host clubs provide a lucrative employment opportunity for young men - particularly young men who are migrants from the rural parts of Japan or the Philippines (and often Japanese-Filipino young men) who are trying to make a living in the context of what has been characterised as 'precarious Japan'. I draw on extended ethnographic fieldwork to show how the host clubs, though a part of the precarious economy, provide sites of home and belonging for both hosts and their clients.

Race, space, place: notes on the racialisation and spatialisation of commercial sex work in Dubai, UAE.

This paper focuses on the perceived racialisation and resultant spatialisation of commercial sex in Dubai. In recent years, the sex industry in Dubai has grown to include women from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, East Asia and Africa. With the increase in sex workers of different nationalities has come a form of localised racism that is embedded in structures and desires seen within specific locations. The physical spatialisation of sex work hinges on perceived race and produces distinct income generating potential for women engaged in the sex industry in Dubai. The social and physical topography of Dubai is important in marginalising or privileging these various groups of sex workers, which correlates race, space and place with rights and assistance. I begin with a description of the multidirectional flows of causality between race, space, place and demand. I then discuss how these various groups are inversely spatialised within the discourse on assistance, protection and rights. The findings presented here are based on ethnographic research conducted with transnational migrants in the UAE in 2004, 2008 and 2009.

Passionate uprisings: young people, sexuality and politics in post-revolutionary Iran.

This paper examines the sexual and social practices of young people in contemporary Iran. Young people in urban areas live under the rubric of a fundamentalist, Islamist regime which restricts social freedoms such as premarital heterosexual contact, homosexual encounters, dancing, alcohol consumption and large group gatherings. Drawing on close focus research and individual and group inteviews, this paper seeks to analyse young people's responses to these constraints. Findings suggest that many young adults use their 'rebellious' social behaviour to make political statements against a regime that dissatisfies them; saying, in their own words, that they are enacting and bringing about a 'sexual revolution'.