April 23, 2023
Comparing and Contrasting Sexual and Reproductive Labor
Capitalism has a long history of viewing women as potential capital gains rather than as human beings. However, the way oppression works against the perceptions of women differs among distinct groups. Under capitalism, exploitation varies between sex work, surrogacy, and Black women’s reproductive labor under slavery. Despite the differences, each of these shares the desire to have autonomy over one’s body and sexual and reproductive freedom.
Surrogacy and sex work tend to be associated and stigmatized together based on the misconception that surrogates must have sex with the consumer for fertilization. This is one of the few similarities between these two forms of care labor, in addition to the aspect of choice. Voluntary choice and coercive choice are present in both surrogacy and sex work, however, in contrasting ways. While surrogacy is typically assumed to be voluntary, the conditions that sway women into it are rooted in poverty, particularly for women in the Global South. This group of women is referred to as a breeder class, which is defined as women who are “desperate enough to sell their reproductive labor and to allow brokers to sell off the human fruits of their labor” (Weinbaum 2019: 46). The state of desperation shows that although these women are willingly choosing to become surrogates, they are being coerced by their poor living conditions. On the other hand, sex work is usually seen as a coercive choice even though many choose to become sex workers based on better working conditions and making more money. Simply put, these women choose sex work the same way that a person decides to switch to a job that has a better environment with more benefits. As discussed in Dealing in Desire by Kimberly Kay Hoang, Vietnamese sex workers practiced in bars where sex work was done “according to strict moral codes oriented toward freedom and consent rather than forced labor” (2015: 105). The bodily autonomy given to these women allowed them to work in a safe environment where they could actively choose which men they wanted to go home with. The women in the bars spoke highly of their experiences as sex workers and even said that “life in the factories [...] was much worse than life in the bars” (Hoang 2015: 108). In comparison to surrogates feeling the need to choose reproductive work, these sex workers wanted to do it. The differences between surrogacy and sex work display how the conditions surrounding choices determine whether they are coercive or voluntary, which is needed to understand the freedom of said decisions.
Moreover, on the theme of choice, it is essential to point out that when it comes to Black women’s reproductive labor under slavery, there was no choice, neither voluntary nor coercive. These women were stripped of reproductive freedom regarding the having and keeping of babies in the same way that they were stripped of their status as free human beings. Since “slavery increasingly relied upon slave breeding,” Black women’s bodies were commodified by their masters to grow their profit which extended this inhumane labor to the next generation (Weinbaum 2019: 30). The dehumanizing demonstrated here reduced Black women’s values to their reproductive capabilities, which Black women are still scrutinized about today. Similar to surrogacy in the Global South, slave women provided the labor of pregnancy just to have their child taken away from them once born. The reproductive work of each respective group was rooted in a type of enslavement: economical for surrogates and physical for Black women. Surrogates and Black women alike were denied the “right to be recognized as the ‘rightful’ mother of the children” they gave birth to (Weinbaum 2019: 47). Despite the foundational similarity, Black women were expected to provide care labor following the birth, but not to their children. They were forced to become wet nurses of White women’s babies and care for these kids more than their own. Even after slaves were freed, Black women were still expected to be better caretakers to White families rather than to their own. However, obeying these expectations resulted in further stereotypes of Black women as mothers since reproductive care labor forced them to be “the best nanny and the worst mother” (Hartman 2016: 171). While acknowledging the immense difference of enslavement, the coercing choice of being caretakers is an experience shared amongst surrogates and freed Black women in their attempts to provide for their children.
When it comes to comparing sex work and Black women’s reproductive labor under slavery, there are limited similarities to draw on. Although both are care labor, sex work involves the aspect of choice (assuming that it is voluntary), which is nonexistent for slave women. The way that these two groups are racialized also differs greatly. Regarding Asian sex workers, they are looked at from a white saviors perspective that creates two common tropes: “the exotic doll and the helpless victim,” (Hoang 2015: 3). Comparatively, Black women are racialized as people who are unfit to be mothers, overly sexual, and uncontrollable. Whereas Asian sex workers are fetishized by White men, Black women are repressed by them. It is also important to point out that not all sex workers experience racialization but those in Vietnam are. The labor these groups partake in, while being care labor, consists of different levels of human interactions. Asian sex workers use their clients’ fetishes to make money while having physical and emotional relations with the men they cared for. Since men were paying them for emotional connections, sex workers associated care with money “while men associated care with emotions” (Hoang 2015: 123), giving sex workers the upper ground to have autonomy over their bodies and choices. In opposition, Black women under slavery were stripped of their autonomy and had no control over their bodies, choices, or even human contact. They were alienated from their families and communities by slave masters in an attempt to dehumanize the women and gain more control over their bodies. Black women under slavery did not receive benefits for their reproductive labor as sex workers did, since they were stripped of physical and emotional affection from anyone. Considering that what sex workers do is affective labor, the majority of their jobs consisted of some type of affection, even if they were the ones giving it. The contrasting of Black women’s reproductive labor under slavery and Asian sex workers’ experiences can show us the degrees of oppression that exist in the same space of bodily care labor.
By observing the differences and similarities amongst reproductive care labor in varying instances, we can examine how each is intertwined in capitalism, and particularly, the way that racializing and sexualizing aid this. Factoring in aspects such as choice, reproductive freedom, and the root of oppression, commonalities can be seen amongst sex work, surrogacy, and Black women’s reproductive labor under slavery. However, it is arguably more important to acknowledge the difference in injustices that can occur in the realm of sexual and reproductive freedom. Ultimately, recognizing the distinctions and connections can help us understand the inequalities that people with female reproductive systems experience by unpacking the history of how capitalism has taken advantage of them for personal gain.