Looking Through the Window: Prostitutes and Their Neighbours (Rio de Janeiro, Early Twentieth Century)

• Autores: Schettini Pereira, Cristiana
• Año de publicación: 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: PROSTITUTION; URBAN RENEWAL; RIO DE JANEIRO; BUENOS AIRES
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

This article analyses some of the debates on the regulation of sex trade in Rio de Janeiro and the enforcement of a particular set of non-regulationist policies at the beginning of the First Republic (1889-1930). I argue that against the background of conflicts in local politics and labour relations, non-regulationist policies in Rio de Janeiro opened up unexpected possibilities for prostitutes, who reinterpreted the available law in their dealings with neighbors and other workers. The historical process of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, together with the consolidation of an authoritarian republican regime, created the conditions that allowed Rio de Janeiro's police to enforce a particular policy of surveillance and control of specific groups of prostitutes. This policy resulted in the increasing clustering of prostitutes particularly those who used to parade themselves in the doors and windows of their own homes in designated urban spaces. Although this process had a significant impact on the relationship between the groups of prostitutes and other workers and neighbours, it nevertheless failed to dissolve their bonds.
Fil: Schettini Pereira, Cristiana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales; Argentina