Constrained desire for mobility and the rejection of the victim subject: The negotiation of trafficking discourses in Brazilian sex workers’ narratives

Abstract

Trafficking in human beings is currently one of the most debated topics in international media and human rights discourses on human mobility and migration. In this paper, the political controversy of trafficking and forced prostitution is analyzed by means of Brazilian sex workers’ narratives, which are drawn from ethnographic research in the field of sex tourism in Rio de Janeiro. The social implication of international mobility as a “problem” or “danger” constructed by Brazilian media representations on trafficking has a strong impact on the interviewees. The violent stories circulating in the field of sex tourism lead some of the women to constrain their desire for mobility for fear of similar experiences. In contrast, most of the women with migration experiences distance themselves from media representations and repudiate the concept of victimhood. The analysis of interviews with Brazilian sex workers reveals that the focus on exploitation and violence does not consider the agency of the women and the...