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The Au Pair Body. Sex Object, Sister or Student?

Document number
1491
Date
2007
Title
The Au Pair Body. Sex Object, Sister or Student?
Author/publisher
Rosie Cox, Birkbeck, University of London, European Journal of Women's Studies 2007; 14; 281
Availability
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Document type(s)
Media/News, Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
DOI: 10.1177/1350506807079015, Au Pairs, Employment Agencies, Migration, Labour exploitation, Domestic labour, Sex work, Sexual exploitation,
Summary
The employment of au pairs to provide childcare, cleaning and other domestic services has been steadily increasing in the UK. This article provides an analysis of representations of au pairs in the British press and on the websites of agencies placing au pairs. This analysis seeks to understand how such imaginings of au pairs affect their life in Britain and how au pairs themselves respond to such imaginings. It argues that the competing portrayals of au pairs as both sexual sirens and committed carers works with other ambivalences in the scheme to facilitate the growth of au pair employment in Britain while simultaneously denying their place as an important source of domestic labour for British families.
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