The sexual dimension of migration: from sexual migration to changing lovescapes

Our paper surveys the growing body of academic literature that explores the sexual lives of migrants and the role of sexual boundaries in the migration process. We argue the systematic study of the sexual dimension of mobility can provide an important contribution to better understanding the migration experience. In recent decades, a series of important works have presented important analyses of the relationship between migration and sexual change. While they have succeeded in making visible the sexual dimension of migration, they have failed to coalesce into a recognizable research program. Nevertheless, it has never coalesced, however, into a systematic research program. We develop a conceptual framework around three theoretical perspectives: first, sexual migration, or the role of sexual aspirations in motivating specific forms of mobility; second, the sexuality of migration, or the sexual changes in practices, narratives and norms caused by the migration experience; and finally, the evolution of “lovescapes,” or the changes brought by migration to new and different collective systems of social expectations that structure erotic life.