Sex Work, Essential Work: A Historical and (Necro)Political Analysis of Sex Work in Times of COVID-19 in Brazil

Betania Santos, Indianarae Siqueira, Cristiane Oliveira, Laura Murray, Thaddeus Blanchette, Carolina Bonomi, Ana Paula da Silva and Soraya Simões
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Betania Santos: Associação Mulheres Guerreiras (Warrior Women Association), Jardim Itatinga, Campinas, São Paulo CEP 13052-444, Brazil
Indianarae Siqueira: Coletivo Puta Davida, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil
Cristiane Oliveira: Independent Sex Worker, Vila Mimosa, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil
Laura Murray: Coletivo Puta Davida, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil
Thaddeus Blanchette: Coletivo Puta Davida, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil
Carolina Bonomi: Campinas State University (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo CEP 13083-896, Brazil
Ana Paula da Silva: Coletivo Puta Davida, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil
Soraya Simões: Coletivo Puta Davida, Rio de Janeiro CEP 20270-200, Brazil

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Brazil has made international headlines for the government’s inept and irresponsible response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, sex worker activists have once again taken on an essential role in responding to the pandemic amidst State absences and abuses. Drawing on the theoretical framework of necropolitics, we trace the gendered, sexualized, and racialized dimensions of how prostitution and work have been (un)governed in Brazil and how this has framed sex worker activists’ responses to COVID-19. As a group of scholars and sex worker activists based in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, we specifically explore the idea of sex workers as “essential workers”, but also of sex work as, essentially, work, demonstrating complicities, differences, and congruencies in how sex workers see what they do and who their allies in the context of the 21st century’s greatest health crisis to date.

Keywords: prostitution; COVID-19; sex worker activism; labor laws; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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