ABSTRACT
The field of discussions about prostitution in Argentina is dominated by the collision between abolitionists and those who believe that commercial sex can be regarded as a type of work. Sex workers have been unionised since the 1990s in the Association of Sex Workers of Argentina (AMMAR), but they have not always participated in the discussions of the feminist movement, but have a longer trajectory within syndicalism. However, in recent years, the union has broken into the arena proposing a more inclusive idea of feminism. With this process, the controversy about prostitution has intensified, but so has the rhetoric of the right to use one’s own body, not least down to the growth of the feminist movement in Argentina since 2015 and the struggles for the legalisation of abortion that have, since 2018, occupied the streets with huge protests. From an ethnographic perspective, this chapter explores how sexual communities and the economic and political order shape each other, creating new languages inspired in but also renewing traditional political movements and the sphere of commercial sex workers.
