Negotiating Sex and Sexualities: The Use of Sexual Tags in the Brazilian Sex Trade Workplace

Abstract

Based on data from participant observation and interviews with Brazilian sex workers and their clients, I examined the intersections of sexual and gender identities with sexual behaviors. Specifically, I was interested in how sex workers managed and negotiated their sexualities in the workplace. First, I described the layout and the social actors at a popular termas in a major Brazilian city. Then, I examined the interactions in the termas and how Brazilian sex workers use sexual identity terms to describe themselves. I argued that the use of these terms do not necessarily indicate sex workers' adoption of that sexual identity. Critical to them are the symbolic presentation of gender identity and the presentation of self at the work place. I developed a theoretical construct, sexual tags, which contributes to the literature by suggesting that sexual identity is situational and, more importantly, that the terms may not mean as much to the individuals or to be consistent with our understanding of what they ought to imply, especially when individuals are importing western terms to relate to their foreign clients. While using sexual tags does not preclude sex workers from eventually adopting that identity, it could also mean that some sex workers are claiming a sexual identity simply for strategic purposes. Another possible scenario is that sexual tags reflect the diverse interpretations of sexuality because of the available choices created by the situational manipulation of sexual meanings within a local context.