Can't buy me love? Money, romantic relationships and slippages in commercial sex in Argentina.

MORCILLO SANTIAGO

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Conferencia; IX IASSCS Conference ¨Sex and the Marketplace: What´s Love got to do with it?"; 2013

International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS)

In western cultures sex and affection are linked in various ways but money seems to entangle those links. In this paper I analyse the various ways in which women who perform commercial sex deal with their romantic relationships and money in their personal and professional life. Method The paper draws from fieldwork in different settings of commercial sex, and in three cities of Argentina: Buenos Aires (the metropolis), Rosario (a mid-sized city) and San Juan (a small city). I conducted interviews, observation and informal conversations with women who perform commercial sex, and who either belong to "pro-sex work" or "abolitionist" movements or have no participation in organizations. Results I consider some of the emotions and attitudes of women engaged in commercial sex towards partners and regulars clients, called ?clientes amigos?. I focus on the complex slippage between these categories and the meaning of money flows and the various gifts (regalitos) given in these relations. I describe the modalities under which these women hold (or refrain from) romantic relationships and disadvantages and consequences that it involves for performing commercial sex. Conclusions Although women interviewed gave more homogeneous meanings to money, romantic feelings triggered divergent positions all of which are put at stake when performing commercial sex. This leads me to raise questions on how doing commercial sex may reinforce or problematizes common conceptions of romantic love.