Precarious Empowerment
Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Chile's Santiago
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:30th May '25
£39.99
This title is due to be published on 30th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£145.00(9781032526812)
Precarious Empowerment: Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Chile’s Santiago provides a textured and telling exploration into the lives and experiences of sex workers in Chile, their encounters with discrimination and economic precarity, and their empowered resistance.
Set in and around ‘tinted cafes’—spaces hidden from public view where women dance for their male clients and perform sexual services—within Chile’s capital city of Santiago, author Pilar Ortiz traces connections between sex work in the present day and the lasting legacies of colonialism and gender and sexual norms. Drawing on her careful ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews with the workers and their clients, the book reveals the many challenges women face at the intersection of class, racial, and gender inequalities. It also documents their resistance to stigma and stifling social norms and predetermined gender roles. In their practice of sexual labor, the book argues that women display a considerable degree of agency, mobility, and empowerment. Within this contentious space, the author explores how sex workers negotiate inequalities and exclusion and how they are poised to do so in a rapidly changing political and social climate.
Exploring experiences of exploitation and resistance within Chile, this book speaks to the much larger question of agency versus oppression in conversations about sexual labor worldwide. Its compelling analysis will captivate those interested in scholarly studies of sexual labor and the ways it is performed and shaped across hierarchies of race, class, and gender.
"Pilar Ortiz’s brilliant and insightful ethnography of Santiago’s “cafés con piernas” situates them as a transnational space where we can see the intersection of immigration, work, globalization, and sexuality. Rather than treating women as victims of their marginality, Ortiz illustrates the complex relationship between agency and exploitation. It's a must-read book for scholars interested in work, labor, transnationalism, and neoliberalism."
Carolina Bank Muñoz, Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College and City University of New York, Graduate Center. She is the author of Building Power from Below: Chilean Workers Take On Walmart and Transnational Tortillas: Race, Gender and Shop Floor Politics in Mexico and the United States.
"Writing with elegance and an eye for detail, Ortiz provides a fascinating account of the intricacies of Chile's geography of sex work. It is sophisticated, yet teachable. Her interlocutors appear as full subjects readers will care about and the analysis is sharp."
Gregory Mitchell, Chair and Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Williams College. He is the author of Panics Without Borders: How Global Sporting Events Drive Myths about Sex Trafficking.
"Precarious Empowerment is much more than an ethnography of erotic businesses that masquerade as coffee shops in Chile. The author contextualizes these workplaces within the country's political economy and shows that sexual labor in these shops, while stigmatized and criminalized, can be superior to other jobs available to poor women, affording them greater autonomy at work and enhancing both their income and self-esteem. A 'must read' for anyone interested in sex work in the Global South."
Ronald Weitzer, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, George Washington University, and editor of Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and Erotic Dancing.
ISBN: 9781032535869
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
204 pages