Madams, in prostitution: women in the sex business

• Grant number: 13/19879-2
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Urban Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Heloisa Buarque de Almeida
• Grantee: Letizia Patriarca
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this project is to investigate the meanings mobilized in the relation between women who work as prostitutes and the madams, or women who act as their agents, by means of an ethnography in brothels situated in Jardim Itatinga (Campinas - SP). I will discuss the urbanistic specificity and historical consolidation of this neighborhood which is directly intertwined with the business that occurs in its homes. The analytical approach undertaken in this study arises from the hypothesis that prostitution comprehends a conjunction of power relations, intersected by others axes besides gender - like class, race, generation and sexuality - that allow us to reassess our understanding of unequal relations lived by women in prostitution. I will, in short, engage in an ethnographic study of the act of procuring in houses of prostitution, so as to re-evaluate the relations of power and the figure of the madam in this business.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PATRIARCA, Letizia. The Brave: etnographing transvestites experiences in prostitution. 2015. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas São Paulo.