Resource Extraction, Gender and the Sexual Economy in Hela Province, Papua New Guinea: “Everything has Changed”

Due to the wealth flowing from a large new liquefied natural gas extraction project, Hela Province has undergone immense socio-cultural changes. Many of these changes are well documented, but those pertaining to gender and sexuality have largely been overlooked. Our research used photovoice and interviews to examine how the local sexual economy has been affected by money flowing from the project. This methodology allowed the participants to creatively visualise and document their lived experience of the changes occurring. The research findings illustrate the complex and diverse ways in which one instance of resource extraction is impacting on people at the margins of large-scale developments and how this is shaping both gender relations and sexual relations.