Kamala Kempadoo

Last updated

Kamala Kempadoo
Born
England
Alma mater Ohio State University (Master's)
University of Amsterdam (BA and Doctorandus)
University of Colorado-Boulder (PhD)
Employer York University
Known forWriting and teaching about sexual labour and anti-trafficking.
Father Peter Kempadoo
Relatives Oonya Kempadoo and Roshini Kempadoo (sisters)

Kamala Kempadoo is a British-Guyanese [1] author and sociology professor who lives in Barbados and Canada. She has written multiple books about sex work and human trafficking and won awards from the Caribbean Studies Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for her distinguished and lifetime achievements.

Contents

Early life and education

Kempadoo was born in England to Guyanese parents Rosemary Read Kempadoo (teacher and part-time writer) and Peter Kempadoo (development worker and writer). [2] She is the second oldest of nine siblings. [2] Her seven sisters include Oonya Kempadoo and Roshini Kempadoo; she has one younger brother. [3]

Kempadoo has a BA and a doctorandus degree in social sciences from the University of Amsterdam, a master’s degree in Black Studies from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D in sociology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. [2]

Career

Kempadoo has worked in research since the early 1990s with an initial focus on sexual labour in the Caribbean, before shifting to focus on sex work in general and anti-trafficking in low income countries. [2]

She joined York University in 2002, where she worked as professor to advance the understanding and promote the study of sex work, Caribbean studies and Black radical thought. [2] At York University, she has held academic appointments in social science, political science; gender, feminist and women’s studies; social and political thought; and development studies. [2]

Kempadoo has had academic affiliations with the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill in Barbados and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies. [4]

In 2018, she was awarded the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality's Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award for her contributions to the field of sexuality studies. [2] She was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) in the same year. [5] [4] The CSA said that Kempadoo is "one of the most important scholars and influential thinkers on the global sex trade, sex work, human trafficking, and sexual-economic relations." [5]

Views

Kempadoo is proponent for the decriminalisation of sex work [2] [6] and has spoken about how shadism affects the earning potential of sex workers in Curacao. [7]

Personal life

Kempadoo has previously lived in the UK, Netherlands, United States, and throughout the Caribbean. [8] Since 2002, she has been based in Canada and since 2005 lives part of the year in Barbados. [4]

Selected publications

Books

Papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex worker</span> Person who works in the sex industry

A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry. According to one view, sex work is voluntary "and is seen as the commercial exchange of sex for money or goods". Thus it differs from sexual exploitation, or the forcing of a person to commit sexual acts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex tourism</span> Travel to engage in sexual activity

Sex tourism is the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships, in exchange providing money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly operates in countries where sex work is legal. The World Tourism Organization of the United Nations has acknowledged that this industry is organized both within and outside the structured laws and networks created by them.

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Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.

Prostitution in Finland is legal, but soliciting in a public place and organised prostitution are illegal. According to a 2010 TAMPEP study, 69% of prostitutes working in Finland are migrants. As of 2009, there was little "visible" prostitution in Finland as it was mostly limited to private residences and nightclubs in larger metropolitan areas.

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Prostitution in Jamaica is illegal but widely tolerated, especially in tourist areas. UNAIDS estimate there to be 18,696 prostitutes in the country.

Prostitution in Belize is legal, but the buying of sexual services is not. Associated activities such as operating a brothel, loitering for the purposes of prostitution and soliciting sex are also illegal.

Prostitution in Cuba is not officially illegal; however, there is legislation against pimps, sexual exploitation of minors, and pornography. Sex tourism has existed in the country, both before and after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Many Cubans do not consider the practice immoral. In Cuban slang, female prostitutes are called Jineteras, and gay male prostitutes are called Jineteros or Pingueros. The terms literally mean "jockey" or "rider", and colloquially "sexual jockey", and connote sexual control during intercourse. The terms also have the broader meaning of "hustler", and are related to jineterismo, a range of illegal or semi-legal economic activities related to tourism in Cuba. Stereotypically a Jinetera is represented as a working-class Afro-Cuban woman. Black and mixed-race prostitutes are generally preferred by foreign tourists seeking to buy sex on the island. UNAIDS estimates there are 89,000 prostitutes in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex workers' rights</span> Human, health, and labor rights of sex workers and their clients

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Prostitution in Suriname is illegal but widespread and the laws are rarely enforced. Human trafficking and Child prostitution are problems in the country. Prostitutes are known locally as "motyo". UNAIDS estimate there to be 2,228 prostitutes in the country.

Prostitution in Guyana is illegal but widespread. Prostitution law is antiquated and dates from the colonial era. Law enforcement is inconsistent and sex workers report violence and abuse by the police. Many turn to prostitution for economic reasons and the lack of other job opportunities. Prostitution continues to receive greater public attention due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among prostitutes. Prostitution in the country is separated into three types: "uptown", servicing affluent clients, "downtown", servicing the working classes, and mining sites. UNAIDS estimate there to be 6,000 prostitutes in the country.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in the Americas</span>

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Prostitution in the Dutch Caribbean is legal and regulated. At least 500 foreign women are reportedly working in prostitution throughout the islands. Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Curaçao are sex tourism destinations.

Prostitution in Barbados is legal but related activities such as brothel keeping and solicitation are prohibited. The country is a sex tourism destination, including female sex tourism.

Sexual economics theory is a highly controversial hypothesis found in the field of evolutionary psychology. The theory purports to relate to how male and female participants think, feel, behave and give feedback during sex or relevant sexual events. This theory states that the thinking, preferences and behavior of men and women follow the fundamental economic principles. It was proposed by psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist views on the sex industry</span>

Feminist perspectives on sex markets vary widely, depending on the type of feminism being applied. The sex market is defined as the system of supply and demand which is generated by the existence of sex work as a commodity. The sex market can further be segregated into the direct sex market, which mainly applies to prostitution, and the indirect sex market, which applies to sexual businesses which provide services such as lap dancing. The final component of the sex market lies in the production and selling of pornography. With the distinctions between feminist perspectives, there are many documented instances from feminist authors of both explicit and implied feminist standpoints that provide coverage on the sex market in regards to both "autonomous" and "non-autonomous" sex trades. The quotations are added since some feminist ideologies believe the commodification of women's bodies is never autonomous and therefore subversive or misleading by terminology.

References

  1. ↑ "Connecting our arrival". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "York University professor recognized for work in sexology — Ron Fanfair". 6 July 2019. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  3. ↑ "Celebrated Guyanese writer Peter Kempadoo passes away - Stabroek News". archive.ph. 25 March 2022. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "About the Contributors". 20 April 2021. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Caribbean Studies Association » Dr Kamala Kempadoo, the 2018 recipient of the CSA Lifetime Achievement Award" . Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Call to make sex trade safer". www.nationnews.com. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  7. ↑ "Not Only On The Streets". Barbados Advocate. 4 March 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Kamala Kempadoo". 7 August 2020. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "Beyond 'raid and rescue': time to acknowledge the damage being done". openDemocracy. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  10. ↑ Whisnant, Rebecca (2007). "Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights (review)". Hypatia. 22 (3): 209–215. ISSN   1527-2001.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "kempadoo | Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies". 23 April 2021. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  12. ↑ Schauer, Edward J. (June 2007). "Book Review: Kempadoo, K. (2004). Sexing the Caribbean: Gender, Race, and Sexual Labor. New York: Routledge, Pp. ix, 272". International Criminal Justice Review. 17 (2): 138–139. doi:10.1177/1057567707302512. ISSN   1057-5677. S2CID   143839652.
  13. ↑ "The Topeka Capital-Journal". www.cjonline.com. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  14. ↑ Allman D. Book Review: Gender and Human Rights Gargi Bhattacharyya, Traffick: The Illicit Movement of People and Things (London and Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2005, 220 pp., £13.99, pbk.) Kamal Kempadoo with Jyoti Sanghera and Bandana Pattanaik (eds.), Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work and Human Rights (Boulder & London: Paradigm Publishers, 2005, 247 pp., £68, hbk.; $21.85, pbk.). Millennium. 2006;34(2):599-602. doi:10.1177/03058298060340021707
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