Dos estigmas a uma autonomia possível: enquadramentos comunicacionais e narrativas pessoais sobre as experiências de ser prostituta

Abstract

This work aims to understand Brazilian digital media visualization of prostitution and female sex workers, relating these perceptions to women’s narratives about themselves and their experiences. Focusing on 4.211/2012 Law Project, which proposes sex work regulation as a profession, we intend to identify internet media frames about this discussion as well as the existence of some space for sex workers experiences and opinions expressions. Considering that interaction with these stigmatized group members may give rise to sex work understanding beyond hegemonic representations and stereotypes, sex workers’ voices are privileged in this work, attempting to relate them to the valuated communicational content. Theoretically, sex work, gender and sexuality studies are articulated to narrative and media framing concepts. Empirical research methodology was divided in three phases. First, we did an ethnographically inspired survey on Porto Alegre’s Núcleo de Estudos da Prostituição (Sex Work Studies Centre), a NGO supporting and congregating prostitutes, where collection of several sex workers stories and trajectories was possible. This first-part work also consisted of interviewing in a deeper way eight sex workers. Aiming to identify internet media frames about prostitution’s regulation, second-part work consisted of 65 media texts analysis, written by different authors and publicized on news’, feminists’, religious’, blogs’, NGO’, political parties’ and governmental websites. Interviews and social interaction with sex workers lead us to highlight the urgency of thinking this phenomenon without tracing steady explanations about its meaning in these people lives. Analysis allowed us to draw similarities and divergences between sex workers’ narratives and communicational understandings about prostitution, as well as visualizing our society dispute regarding sex work meanings.