Abstract
This essay reflects our doctoral research experiences at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. It aims to understand the new challenges and measures adopted in relation to fieldwork with sex workers and victims of domestic violence in Covid-19 times. Our work includes ethnography and participant observation in prostitution houses, LGBTQI+ institutions and spaces of support for the victims of domestic violence. We seek to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of conducting anthropological research during the pandemic.
Highlights
In the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, many anthropologists have faced the challenge of how to proceed with their ethnographies
To address different experiences of social isolation due to Covid-19, two interviews were conducted with Brazilian transvestites, one who has been a sex worker in Lisbon, Portugal for 18 years, and one who has worked for more than 20 years as a social activist in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
We argue here that the ways in which sex workers and their clients are dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be investigated with a new urgency
Summary
In the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, many anthropologists have faced the challenge of how to proceed with their ethnographies. To address different experiences of social isolation due to Covid-19, two interviews were conducted with Brazilian transvestites, one who has been a sex worker in Lisbon, Portugal for 18 years, and one who has worked for more than 20 years as a social activist in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Throughout their life trajectories, they have been removed from school, the labor market and even from their families." For this reason, the challenge of isolation, imposed on all social groups, was not necessarily considered to be the worst experience of the Covid-19 pandemic for transvestites and transsexuals who were active in the sex market (Piscitelli 2005). It is important to remember that Covid-19 and social isolation are having an impact on the lives of the most marginalized sex workers (including transvestites and transsexuals) and this has led to the accentuation of a double violence (of gender and domestic) in Brazil and Portugal. The Portuguese government created a distance service user plan with support structures and a short messaging service reinforced by a telephone line, and created shelters with a total of 100 spaces each
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