Intimacies in Tension: Bodily labour across sex work and domestic work in Southern Europe

Abstract

This paper analyses domestic work and sex work as interrelated forms of intimate labour in Southern Europe, with a focus on Spain, Italy, and Malta. Despite their distinct regulatory regimes and social perceptions, both sectors rely on the commodification of bodily presence, care, and emotional engagement, often performed by migrant and racialised women. Inspired by feminist scholarship on intimate labour, the paper explores how intimacy, exploitation, and agency are negotiated differently across these two sectors within the specific socio-political and cultural configurations of Southern Europe. Drawing on the analysis of secondary sources and extensive qualitative fieldwork with sex workers and domestic workers in Spain, Italy, and Malta, the authors interrogate what makes these contexts distinct and how workers strategically navigate precarity, stigma, and legal ambiguity. The paper identifies convergences and divergences in the lived experiences of domestic workers and sex workers, particularly in how they experience boundaries of care, control, and commodification. The research findings highlight the need for greater comparative research, especially in regions like Southern Europe where such scholarship remains fragmented.