Global Intimacies: Sex, Power, Gender and Migration

Explore how freedom of movement impacts sex, gender and our ideas of intimacy

In this time of global capitalism, travelling between countries for work and leisure is common. Global mobility has blurred the boundary between strangers and changed the meaning of intimacy.

This course will develop your understanding of how our notions of intimacy have been changed by the intersection of money, mobility, and power with gender, love, and sex.

Discover the socio-cultural impact of migration, from domestic work to sex work

Through an exploration of common migration practices in society today, you’ll explore the shifting meaning of intimacy.

As you explore ideas on gender migration and domestic service, you’ll consider the millions working abroad in intimate settings as nannies or caretakers, as well as those in cross-border marriages, and living in transnational families.

You’ll also discuss LGBTQ+ migrants, sex tourism, and overseas surrogacy as you examine how global mobility is challenging traditional ideas of femininity and masculinity.

Explore feminism, queer and gender studies, globalisation, and migration studies concepts

You’ll be introduced to scholarly approaches to gender and queer studies, as well as ethnographic case-studies on globalisation and migration.

You’ll analyse how capitalism and its resulting economic disparity is challenging our concept of love, labour, and sex and ponder the agency of the individual in a capitalist society.

Learn with cultural anthropology and gender studies expert, Francisca Y K Lai

Holding a PhD in cultural anthropology with an emphasis on gender studies from Purdue University, Francisca is highly experienced in the intersection between gender, sexuality, and migration.

Francisca has also published an academic book as well as multiple international journals on the topics of gender, sexuality, and migration.

This course is designed for anyone interested in gender studies, sexuality issues, and migration studies.

It will be of particular interest to those with an academic interest in the intersections of sex, love, and labour in the context of global capitalism.

• Migrant Domestic Workers
• Introduction
• Gender and Feminism
• Labour Migration in a Global Economy
• Evolving Definitions of Intimacy
• Cross-Border Marriages and Sex Tourism
• Cross-Border Marriages
• Sex Tourism
• Transnational Mobility, Gender, and Intimacy
• LGBT Migrants and Asylum Seekers
• Cultural Construction of Sexuality
• Sexuality and Migration
• LGBT people seeking asylum
• Understanding Sexuality and Migration
• Transnational Surrogacy
• Surrogacy and Culture
• Surrogacy evolving into a transnational industry
• Construction of motherhood