ABSTRACT
In Tomatlán, a small city on the Mexican Pacific Coast there is a tolerance zone in which a group of sex workers, separated from the rest of the city by a garbage dump, offer their services to local men. The women present themselves materially and symbolically as agents of regulation with respect to male sexuality, itself constructed as overwhelming and insatiable, which, were it not for services provided by the sex workers, would threaten the family-based social order. Through in-depth interviews with 19 sex workers and 5 municipal officials, this paper discusses how the sex gender system results in a series of borders that are both geographical and subjective. Such borders have to do with periphery and control, body and intimacy, and the boundaries of animality.
Subject(s)
Pleasure , Rural Population , Sex Work/psychology , Sex Workers/psychology , Sexual Partners , Female , Government Regulation , HIV Infections/prevention & control , Humans , Mexico , Risk Factors , Sexual Behavior/psychologyABSTRACT
En una pequena ciudad de la costa mexicana del Pacífico se encuentra una zona de tolerancia donde un grupo de trabajadoras sexuales, separadas del resto de la ciudad por contenedores de basura, ofrece sus servicios a los hombres de la localidad. Las mujeres se presentan, material y simbólicamente, como agentes regulatorias de una sexualidad masculina que se construye desbordante e insaciable y que, de no ser por ellas, amenazaría el orden social fundado en la familia. A partir de entrevistas realizadas con trabajadoras y con autoridades municipales, en este artículo se analizan las maneras en que un sistema de sexo-género produce localmente una serie de limites cuyos ejes son, al tiempo, geográficos y subjetivos: la periferia y el control, cuerpo e intimidad, y la frontera de la animalidad.
In a small city in the Pacific coast of Mexico there is a red-light district where a group of sex workers, separated from the rest of the town by trash containers, offer their services to local men. The women present themselves both materially and symbolically as regulatory agents of a male sexuality understood as overflowing and insatiable and which, were it not for them, would threaten a social order founded in the family. Drawing from interviews with sex workers and municipal authorities, this article discusses the ways in which a sexgender system produces local borders which are both geographical and subjective: periphery and control, body and intimacy, and the boundaries of humanity and heterosexuality.
Em uma pequena cidade da costa mexicana do Pacífico se encontra uma zona de tolerância onde um grupo de trabalhadoras sexuais, separadas do resto da cidade por contêineres de lixo, oferece seus serviços aos homens da localidade. As mulheres se apresentam material e simbolicamente como agentes reguladoras de uma sexualidade masculina que se constrói de forma transbordante e insaciável e que, se não fosse por elas, ameaçaria a ordem social baseada na família. A partir de entrevistas realizadas com trabalhadoras e com autoridades municipais, neste artigo se analisam as maneiras com que um sistema de sexo-gênero produz localmente uma série de limites cujos eixos são, ao mesmo tempo, geográficos e subjetivos: a periferia e o controle, corpo e intimidade e a fronteira da animalidade.
Subject(s)
Humans , Social Behavior , Social Control, Informal , Socioeconomic Factors , Libido , Women , Sex Work/ethnology , Sexuality/ethnology , Rural Areas , Poverty Areas , Family/ethnology , Mexico/ethnology , Qualitative Research , Women's Health/ethnologyABSTRACT
This paper examines the construction of a homoerotic social scene among Mexican migrants in California. It analyses the discourses of migrant men in the cities of San Diego and Fresno who identify themselves as heterosexual and have not had sexual experiences with men and those of members of civil society organisations doing HIV prevention work with migrant men, to show how an identity-based model of sexuality used by the HIV prevention organisations is counter to the strategic, non-identity-based model constructed by migrant men. With this incongruence as its starting point, the paper offers a critique both of the epistemological factors underlying the category of 'men who have sex with men' and the logic running through HIV prevention discourses that adhere to the Foucauldian notion of the deployment of sexuality, which demands both truth and coherence in subjects' sexuality.
