Female prostitution, feminisms and diversity of trajectories

Abstract

This article analyzes the key features of the literature about prostitution, including the main feminist perspectives on this issue, pointing limitations, advances and complexities. Then, it presents parts of an ethnographic research about street female prostitution in an urban context, specifically in Oporto, which demonstrates how the experiences, motivations, meanings and life trajectories of sex workers are diversified, but also have common traces. Key words: prostitution, sex work, feminism, ethnography, trajectories.