Transnational sex, sexual exploitation and tourism in Forteleza during the World's Cup: The effects of anti-trafficking in persons operations on the dynamics of sexual markets

• In Event: Securitization and the Effective Criminalization of Sex Work in Brazil

Abstract

We analyze how the policies of confronting human trafficking, sexual exploitation, the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and "sex tourism" implemented within the framework of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Fortaleza affected the people involved in that city's sex markets. We argue that, during the World's Cup, mobilizations against the sexual crimes had the effect of managing transnational flows of sex and money, not prohibiting this. Key to this management has been thrown the notion of a positive sexuality, associated mainly with "security" as opposed to "dangerous" sex and potentially criminal with people who are "vulnerable". Through these constructions, the sexualization of Brazilian women ended up being compatible with the policies enacted to cope with to sexual crimes during the cup, becoming configured as part of the Brazilian government's official spectacles during the World's Cup.

Author

• Ana Paula Luna Sales, UNICAMP