Realidades marginadas: experiencias de las trabajadoras sexuales en el contexto post Covid-19 Cuenca 2022-2023

Abstract

There are different ways of defining the act of exchanging sex for money; each of them is based on different political and philosophical approaches and will have different implications. From these lines, we start from the notion of "sex work". Sex work is not treated, or is inadequately treated, in public policies, which make the rights of sex workers invisible, seeking to regularize their situation without addressing their labor rights. This research focuses its analysis on identifying the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic regarding the working and self-care conditions of sex workers from a gender and feminist approach, who, in addition to being a socially vulnerable and stigmatized group, are also one of the most productive sectors of the powerful sex industry, where the State is not present and, if it is, it is from a punitivist perspective with people who engage in sex work. This research was carried out using a qualitative methodology, in which an in-depth interview was used. It was applied to five people who were chosen by convenience sampling (purposive sampling). The number of interviews was reduced due to the difficulties of access to the population group. In addition, the instrument we used responded to the specific objectives set out, in which sections related to working conditions and self-care and experiences of sex workers in their diversity of realities were generated. An attempt was made to construct a document of criticism and reflection, in which the systematic violence that accompanies sex work, which has shown a significant increase in the context of the pandemic, was analyzed and evidenced. Violence against women for the fact of being women, especially those who do not conform to what is established and socially sanctioned for "good women". In addition, the reality of the impact of the pandemic on sex workers was recognized and the urgent needs were evidenced, where the lack of research in this regard prevents the implementation of actions to ensure better working conditions and self-care for women engaged in sex work.