Abstract

SIMONETTO, Patricio. Sex, Intimacy and Money. Practices of Women that Sold Sex in the South of Buenos Aires Province, 1936-1960. Hist. Soc. [online]. 2020, n.38, pp.154-175. ISSN 0121-8417.  https://doi.org/10.15446/hys.n38.72258.

The aim of this article is to examine the practices with which female sex workers negotiated the conditions of their services with clients, policemen, couples and pimps once the system of regulated brothels in Argentina was abolished. This study is related to long-term research with the goal of describing the multiple configurations of the sale and purchase of sex in Argentina during the 20th Century. Towards this end, it analyses the testimonies found in trial records produced due to the application of the Social Prophylaxis Law (12331, 1936), that abolished the regulated prostitution system, of the Historical Justice Department of the south of the Buenos Aires province. Our approach crosses the historical point of view with the contributions of cultural, gender and sexuality studies to identify the practices and meanings with which these social actors commercialized sexual services. The article argues that there is a link between the practices of women that sold sex and their social group, the cultural legacy of the regulatory system and regional social dynamics. Finally, it contributes to a topic rarely studied by focusing on peri-urban or rural spaces after the abolition of regulated prostitution.

Keywords : prostitution; Argentina; judicial process; social history.

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