Gendered Topographies...

                Transnational (Counter) Topographies epitomizes the need for a transnational feminism class.  According to Pratt and Yeoh, the literature on transnational space is often gendered and masculinist and scholars are often apathetic to the many ways women navigate transnational space. As we saw with Ms. Tiny and Ms. B a couple of weeks ago, all women do not navigate space in the same way. They are not all subservient and victimized, and even when they do perform exoticism; they have more agency than scholars would like to believe. One of the reasons I appreciated Brennan’s What’s Love Got to Do with It?, is because she gives voice to Dominican and Haitian women in ways that we may not have been exposed to before. She shows us how intricately race and sex are intertwined to complicate the experiences of these women. For example, Haitian women and Dominican women fare differently in the realm of sex tourism because of colorism. According to Brenan, there are some places that won’t even house Haitian sex workers because of their nationality and skin complexion. For our research paper I want to explore this topic a little more, but those nuisances are important for understanding the different ways these women navigate space. The fact that they look out for each other and don’t have a “pimp” gives more agency to them than if we just thought about them as prostitutes. When we think about the role motherhood plays in the lives of these women, and how a lot of them become sex workers because they earn more money than they would working other gendered occupations. It is also important to pay attention to the ways in which women are often still tied to their responsibilities at home even with mobility. “Transnational processes may produce new spaces, but this does not mean that actors within these spaces are set completely loose from their social moorings” (163). This is evident in the way that sex workers perform love in hopes of marrying their clients. Even if they were to obtain a visa, they are still expected to send money back to their families who they may leave behind.  These narratives are extremely important, and should not be overlooked in the name of producing gendered topographies.