FAR FROM “SELLING THE BODY”. BODY AND SYMBOLIC MANAGEMENT IN SEX WORKERS

Abstract

This paper analyzes the forms of self-management of the body, understood as the production of body and symbolic frontiers that women sex workers hold in relation with their clients, discussing the notion of “selling the body” as a scientific and political argument used to justify the government of women’s bodies. Through a reflexive ethnographic approach that privileges native discourse, we will specially attend to the creation of notions such as working tool, the provision of sexual services and the selection of clients as precise ways of regulating the involvement of the self and intimacy in the exchanges of sex for money. This implies shedding light on the process of learning how to deal daily with relationships in the world of prostitution, understanding that management of body boundaries, borders, familiarities and hierarchies is an integral part of monetary relations in the contemporary world. In this sense, we will seek to make a contribution to the fruitful relationship between body and sexualities studies and sociology and economic anthropology.