The Athletico-Military-Industrial-Complex

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

Abstract

The globally-recognized sport mega-event has been heralded as a military industrial complex trade show, meant to debut both the latest in athleticism and in security-related (and even military) technologies to the avidly spectating world. This paper will examine the intersection between mega-event security apparatuses and local, informal economies. It will view the sport mega-event as an "imagined" target of terrorism (following the work of Atkinson & Young, 2012) to further interrogate the strategies employed to combat the threat of foreign influence – yet still operate at the service of the FIFA/Olympic family. Sex work will be used as a case to examine the impact on informal economies, and the manner in which local bodies (particularly those deemed socially undesirable) are forced to circumvent these globally-determined processes of militarization.

Author

• Amanda De Lisio, University of Toronto