@article{565ae7ccadf641e4a5cc356f1911ff02,
title = "Travel, sexuality and female Indonesian domestic migrant workers in Hong Kong",
abstract = "In Hong Kong Indonesian migrant domestic workers (IMDWs) face strict working conditions and are vulnerable to human rights abuses and exploitation. Nevertheless, travelling abroad has provided the opportunity for somewhat greater freedom, agency and the opportunity to express a more fluid sexual identity, than in their home country where there has been a push to a more conservative moral heterosexual agenda. This article examines a group of lesbian Indonesian migrant domestic workers, named PL. Through fashion and behaviour they challenge conservative and normative comportment of Indonesian women. In particular with reference to the growing concerns for sexual freedom in Indonesia, it is important to consider how same-sex relationships and gender-fluid activity is enacted outside of the national context. This research explores how IMDWs articulate their romantic and sexual needs in a foreign land which has created somewhat new identities, love relationships and life balance from what they may experience in their homeland.",
keywords = "Hong Kong, Indonesia, lesbian, LGBT, migrant domestic workers",
author = "Panizza Allmark and Irfan Wahyudi",
note = "Funding Information: Within Indonesia there has been a growing sentiment, associated with rising conservatism, against same-sex relationships. Humans Rights Watch have indicated there is an anti-LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) moral panic that has {\textquoteleft}engulfed Indonesia{\textquoteright} in recent years (Pearson ). In January 2018, twelve Indonesian transgender women, in Aceh, were detained by police and Sharia police who forced them to disrobe (Human Rights Watch ). In November 2018, ten Indonesian women were arrested in Padang, Indonesia, for what the police described as lesbian deviant behaviour{\textquoteright} (Barber ). These incidents are examples of recent violence and intolerance towards the Indonesian LGBT community. Anti-LGBT sentiment is supported by the government, and from the early 2000s there was discussion about criminalising homosexuality. In 2017, the petition to criminalise homosexuality was narrowly voted down by Indonesia{\textquoteright}s Constitutional Court. Nevertheless, there are fears that this will be revived. The United Nations{\textquoteright} High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra{\textquoteright}ad Al Hussein {\textquoteleft}pointed out that implications of the penal code{\textquoteright}s revision go beyond the criminalisation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, who already face persecution in the Muslim-majority country{\textquoteright} (Siddharta ). For example, there has been a growing backlash against gender activism. The 2019 Legislative election saw {\textquoteleft}a rise of religious identity politics{\textquoteright} and a small {\textquoteleft}group of conservative women launched the “Indonesia Without Feminists” social media campaign, which framed feminism as western and blasphemous{\textquoteright} (Winarnita ). This had prompted a change of the date for the Women{\textquoteright}s March Jakarta, united in the theme of #beranibersuara, or #daretohaveavoice, to after the elections to prevent it being part of the election campaign and the anti-feminist discourse by female candidates who support conservative family values. As Baden Offord highlights {\textquoteleft}the family principle in Indonesia – kekeluargaan – is the basic social thread that binds the Indonesian State together{\textquoteright} (, 145). He adds, in Indonesia, {\textquoteleft}any deviation from hetero-normativity is seen as dishonourable and shameful{\textquoteright} (Offord , 145). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, {\textcopyright} 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",
year = "2019",
month = sep,
day = "3",
doi = "10.1080/10304312.2019.1652042",
language = "English",
volume = "33",
pages = "630--642",
journal = "Continuum",
issn = "1030-4312",
publisher = "Taylor and Francis Ltd.",
number = "5",
}