Framing the Mother Tac: The Racialised, Sexualised and Gendered Politics of Modern Slavery in Australia

P. G. Macioti, Eurydice Aroney, Calum Bennachie, Anne E. Fehrenbacher, Calogero Giametta, Heidi Hoefinger, Nicola Mai and Jennifer Musto
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P. G. Macioti: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Eurydice Aroney: Department of Journalism, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Calum Bennachie: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Anne E. Fehrenbacher: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Calogero Giametta: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Heidi Hoefinger: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Nicola Mai: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK
Jennifer Musto: Department of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: Centred on the slavery trial “Crown vs. Rungnapha Kanbut” heard in Sydney, New South Wales, between 10 April and 15 May 2019, this article seeks to frame the figure of the “Mother Tac” or the “mother of contract”, also called “mama tac” or “mae tac”—a term used amongst Thai migrants to describe a woman who hosts, collects debts from, and organises work for Thai migrant sex workers in their destination country. It proposes that this largely unexplored figure has come to assume a disproportionate role in the “modern slavery” approach to human trafficking, with its emphasis on absolute victims and individual offenders. The harms suffered by Kanbut’s victims are put into context by referring to existing literature on women accused of trafficking; interviews with Thai migrant sex workers, including Kanbut’s primary victim, and with members from the Australian Federal Police Human Trafficking Unit; and ethnographic field notes. The article unveils how constructions of both victim and offender, as well as definitions of slavery, are racialised, gendered, and sexualised and rely on the victims’ subjective accounts of bounded exploitation. By documenting these and other limitations involved in a criminal justice approach, the authors reveal its shortfalls. For instance, while harsh sentences are meant as a deterrence to others, the complex and structural roots of migrant labour exploitation remain unaffected. This research finds that improved legal migration pathways, the decriminalisation of the sex industry, and improved access to information and support for migrant sex workers are key to reducing heavier forms of labour exploitation, including human trafficking, in the Australian sex industry.

Keywords: modern slavery; antitrafficking; sexual humanitarianism; Mother Tac; debt bondage; Australia; migrant sex work; bounded exploitation; sex work; sex work decriminalisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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