Shifting Boundaries: Sex and Money in the North-East of Brazil

Abstract

In this article I examine how discursive divisions between commercial and non-commercial sex are produced in a context of heterosexual sex tourism in Fortaleza, in north-east Brazil. Here, notions of sexuality, `race', class and gender create a complex discursive framework for sexual encounters crucial to understanding the participation of local women from different social strata. These categories also have effects on the organization of the sex industry directed at tourism.