Abstract

FUQUENE SALAS, Jeny Paola  and  BARRERA CASTELLANOS, Johan Arturo. Migration and male sex work. The case of Venezuelan males in Bogotá (2017-2018). Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.43, n.1, pp.59-80.  Epub Apr 04, 2020. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v43n1.79112.

It is possible to observe itinerant characteristics such as migration in male sex work. This phenomenon is linked to the historicity of sex-service. The article addresses the case of Venezuelan males engaged in the sex trade in Bogotá, Colombia, on the basis of the results of a research project with a qualitative approach associated with the formulations of social constructionism. In conformity with this methodology, seven semi-structured interviews were carried out. together with participant observation exercises and a bibliographic review of fifty-seven texts related to migration and the male sex trade.

The body of the article presents the configuration of actions deriving from migration in Venezuelan men engaged in sex work in Bogotá as a response to a context of displacement in which basic needs are unsatisfied and violences and insecurity prevail. These facts influence the diverse actions carried out by subjects with respect to their activities as migrants in Bogotá, a city in which the country's migration flows have concentrated historically. Therefore, the article describes a process in which integration and adaptation to the context occur through the establishment of instrumental and information networks associated with the migration process and the dynamics typical of the sex trade.

In this sense, our research shows that sex work is not merely a result of the professionalization of this sector, but rather, a significant economic activity that people engage in to meet the basic needs that were insufficiently provided in their context of origin (Venezuela). Likewise, the study observes how the adaptability of the sex-server to the environment influences the permanence or transition of sex-servers to other territories, as part of the configuration of these workers' immediate migration project.

Descriptors: clandestine work, social capital, migration, Venezuela.

Keywords : migration; migration project; networks; sex-server; sexual work; Venezuela.

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