Sexual commerce and Transnational Experiences in South America at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

SCHETTINI CRISTIANA

Global South Sephis e magazine

IISH

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2010 vol. 6 p. 42 - 50

This article focuses on the transnational experiences of a specific group of European women associated with prostitution who lived in Brazilian and Argentinean cities at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although those women are considered in historiography as part of the ?white slave trade?, this text deals with other dimensions of their life and work experiences. I argue that the transnational dimension of social experiences of women identified as victims of pimps is fundamental in understanding their social networks and their strategies to deal with the prevailing social organisation of sexual commerce in each city. Their experiences also illustrate aspects of many other groups of immigrant workers in the period.