Living the Perpetual Border: 'Bordering practices in the lives of Russian-speaking women engaged in commercial sex in Finland'

Abstract

As the external borders between Finland and its neighbouring countries have become more permeable for some migrants after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the EU enlargement, the internal borders have become more ubiquitous and enforced by various kinds of bordering practices. Drawing on a qualitative research on Russian-speaking women engaged in commercial sex in Finland, we have examined the everyday material consequences of policies and bordering practices. We have distinguished different sites in which everyday bordering takes place: rental markets, banking and law enforcement. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of analysing commercial sex from an everyday perspective. This perspective reveals that even women with formal citizenship can be subjected to various bordering practices due to the criminalisation of commercial sex and the stereotypes attached to Russianspeaking women. We have argued for the need to expand on the notion of “deportability” as it not only concerns non-citizens but also naturalised foreigners.

Keywords

• russian women
• borders
• commercial sex
• everyday bordering
• finland