@article{ref1,
title="Subjectivity, social suffering, liminality and suicide among prostitutes in Brazil",
journal="Urban Anthropology",
year="1999",
author="De Meis, C.",
volume="28",
number="1",
pages="65-101",
abstract="This paper shows how Brazilian women cross the line that divides the social space of the 'good women' from that of the prostitutes, a dichotomy that corresponds to two different sets of goals and urban spaces. Women's social roles and space in a Catholic culture like Brazil are those of the mother (the good woman), and the prostitute (the wretched woman). The former has as her space, home, a holy place, and the latter the underground, a cursed place. When a woman leaves the path of a good woman and becomes a prostitute she experiences a crisis that may lead to suicide attempts. Therefore, this rupture with the goal of being a good woman is not complete because, even when the woman stays in prostitution for many years, she remains attached to her former dream of being a good woman. In order to deal with these contradictions, the prostitute creates several defense mechanisms to separate her life in prostitution from her real and true essence, the one of a good woman.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0894-6019",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}