Professing Prostitutes: Everyday Performances of Resistance Among Brazilian Male Sex Workers

• In Event: Performing at the Margins: Latinas/os, Sexuality, and Shame

Abstract

Straight-identified male sex workers in Brazil (michês) struggle to redress inequalities in their interactions with gay American tourists. The michês in this ethnography reveal a system of subterfuge and resourcefulness (malendragem), through which they offer performative resistance. I detail several examples, focusing especially on a case study in which a sex worker takes on the role of tour guide and provides an alternative, bottom-up account for his client of social spaces that challenges dominant narratives.

Author

• Gregory Mitchell, Northwestern University