Classy Whores: Intersections of Class, Gender, and Sex Work in the Ideologies of the Putafeminista Movement in Brazil

• Published in: Contexto internacional 2018-12, Vol.40 (3), p.549-571
• Main Authors: Blanchette, Thaddeus, Silva, Ana Paula da
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brazil; Domestic violence; Ethnography; Feminism; Gender; Hegemony; Historiography; Ideology; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; Intersectionality; Leadership; Marriage; Narratives; Prostitution; Putafeminismo; Race; Sex industry; Sex workers; Slavery; Whores; Workers' rights; Working class
• ISSN: 0102-8529; 1982-0240; 1982-0240
• DOI: 10.1590/s0102-8529.2018400300007

Abstract Brazil’s sex workers’ movement has long challenged hegemonic narratives about the sale of sex. In recent years, anti-prostitution sentiment has grown in Brazil, threatening sex workers’ rights. Simultaneously, the death of activist Gabriela Leite has lead to a renewal of leadership and a reformulation of theoretical approaches in the movement. In this context, putafeminismo is becoming established as an intersectional approach to race, class, and gender rooted in local historical contexts. The present article, based on 12 years of ethnography in sex workers’ movements, presents putafeminista understandings of sex, gender, race/color, and work. Inspired by Leite’s recovery of whore/puta as a self-identifier for sex workers, and rooted in feminist anthropology and historiography, putafeministas seek to resituate the term as a broader/deeper category. Putafeministas recover puta as a term applied to women working outside the family, unprotected from sexual violence. Looking at Brazilian history, they situate the sale of sex as a practical inevitability for a racially-identified female working population, whose horizons of possibility were bounded by cheap labor, marriage and prostitution. Finally, putafeministas use puta as a bridge to working class experiences more generally, questioning pornophobic understandings of ‘sexual slavery’ in a historical context in which women were often actual chattel. Resumo O movimento de trabalhadoras do sexo do Brasil tem desafiado as narrativas hegemônicas sobre a venda de sexo por um tempo. Nos anos recentes, um sentimento anti-prostituição tem crescido no Brasil, ameaçando os direitos das trabalhadoras do sexo. Simultaneamente, a morte da ativista Gabriela Leite tem levado a uma renovação da liderança e reformulação de abordagens teóricas no movimento. Neste contexto, putafeminismo está se estabelecendo como uma abordagem interseccional para raça, classe e gênero enraizados em contextos historicos locais. O presente artigo, baseado em 12 anos de etnografia sobre os movimentos das trabalhadoras sexuais, apresenta entendimentos putafeminista de sexo, gênero, raça/cor e trabalho. Inspirado pela recuperação de Leite de ‘puta’ como um auto indicador para as trabalhadoras sexuais, e embasado na antropologia e historiografia feminista, putafeministas procuram resituar o termo como uma categoria mais ampla e profunda. Putafeministas recuperam ‘puta’ como um termo aplicado a mulheres trabalhando fora da família, desproteg