Do acesso à garantia: estratégias de acesso e controlo entre clientes e trabalhadoras de sexo na terminal rodoviária, Cidade de Maputo

Abstract

The present study analyzes the conflicts that occur between a group of sex workers in the stalls located near the customs goods terminal in the city of Maputo. In the literature, the subject is discussed in the light of two perspectives. The first, which shows that conflicts occur between native and immigrant prostitutes over the dispute to maintain or conquer the territory of work, and the second, which argues that the conflict occurs because some prostitutes, including immigrants, sell their sexual services at prices below the pre-established. These perspectives make it possible to understand the conflicts between sex workers motivated by the interest in maintaining or conquering the territory of work and those conflicts motivated by the fact that some sex workers charge prices below the stipulated level. However, when exploring these conflicts only among sex workers, they lose sight of the wider context of the occurrence of these conflicts, as well as losing sight of other actors in the process. Based on the data collected from an ethnographic work carried out in some stalls with sex workers, customers and vendors, the present study allows us to understand that conflicts in sex work occur in a context where female workers want access and control from clients as well as younger sex workers. For their part, clients want access and control to sex workers. Thus, in the face of this competition, conflict occurs whenever more than one person is interested in ensuring control, whether of clients or sex workers. Unlike studies that explore conflicts in a territorial and financial dimension, restricted to sex workers, this study shows that in addition to sex workers, conflicts also involve clients in sex work on a daily basis, and result from the interest in access and permanent control of each group over the other.