The Economy of Prostitution in Salvador da Bahia
by Brigitte Furrer

As in most western societies clients of sex sellers in Brazil are mainly men. Among these only a small group of homo- or bisexuals desires male prostitution. Thus the market situation makes it much easier for women to earn money through prostitution, and even more so since the demand for sexual services has expanded a lot through sex tourism within the last twenty years. Prostitution with both foreigners and natives offers easy money for little work. Because selling sex in Brazil is legal, this option is much more attractive than robbery or any other criminal activity for women living under precarious economic conditions. In accordance with this economic explanation in a lot of studies in Salvador most women working in prostitution are low skilled and come from urban poor income families. It is obvious that not all poor women are engaged in prostitution, therefore poverty alone can not fully explain this phenomenon. To clarify the reasons a comparison of  16 case studies of women was done in Salvdor Bahia about their survival strategies. 8 women – 6 have 1 or more children - live on the income of their relatives, only 1 mother on her husband’s income. The majority can not work because of motherhood or because they could not find a job. Their family ties were strong enough for them to get help in times of crisis and guarantees them some protection against the violence of male tyrants and parasites.

The case studies make it clear that the 8 women working in prostitution are alienated from their family and traditional values. Their family and potential husbands - men from urban poor income families – pose the same risks that they run in prostitution: Violence and abuse. Such a life in poverty is not an option for them and they prefer to maximize their income through prostitution. For these 8 women earning money with prostitution means a rational economic choice: little work for easy money. Additionally prostitution with tourists offers them  potential husbands with high incomes and a life in better cirumstances.

For these women it is much easier to step over the rules and strong moral codes in Brazil: Their family ties and their faith in community are broken.   

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Contact addresses

In Brazil:
Cecilia M.B. Sardenberg
NEIM (Núcleo de Estudos Interdisciplinares sobre a Mulher)
Universidade Federal Salvador da Bahia
Estrada de São Lázaro, n.º 197 – Federação
CEP - 40.210-730 - Salvador-BA
Brazil 

Tel/Fax: 0055 71 237 82 39
e-mail: neim@ufba.br
http://www.ufba.br/~neim/

 

In Switzerland:
Brigit Furrer
C/o Ethnologisches Seminar
Universität Zürich
Freiensteinstrasse 5
8032 Zürich, Switzerland
brigitfurrer@hotmail.com