Waiting and wanting to desire: the sexual lives of migrant men in transit

This paper explores migrant men's sexual and affective desires, the constraints on their sexuality, and how unmet needs are managed during migration and transit across Europe. Drawing on participant observation and repeated in-depth interviews with 39 migrant men in Brussels and Calais, the analysis shows that sexuality is neither suspended nor fully enacted, but shaped by legal precarity, material insecurity, homelessness, the volatility of mobility, and religious, cultural, and moral constraints. While participants expressed the wish for intimacy and affection, these desires were frequently managed through situational sexual encounters, intentional abstinence, refusal, or self-restraint. Findings demonstrate how legal surveillance extends into the sexual realm, impacting men's sexual behaviours and rendering sexuality a site of self-monitoring. By foregrounding migrant men's lived experience, this paper challenges narratives of migrant male hypersexuality and highlights how migration policies may govern not only borders, but also bodies, desires, and sexuality.