This paper seeks to connect the gift of birth and maternal bearing, broadly conceived, to the question of responding to the need of the Other and to the idea of home or oikos in a sex work economy. To do this, it problematizes the concepts of home and maternal bearing by locating them both within and outside one’s native geographic space and the feminine/maternal body. In this way, it conceives of responsibility to the Other in a sense that is not tied to causation (what the other has done prior to an encounter with him/her) or self-interest (what is gained through such an encounter), thereby probing into a radical view of ethics. By so doing the paper seeks to offer fresh insight on sex work based on the discourse of the gift in terms of interactions within/between home and diapora.
Key words:
Other, gift, responsibility, time, maternal bearing, ethics.