Territorial moralities and prostitution in Londrina

Abstract

This research analyzes power relations in the urban space of the city of Londrina, Paraná, guided by street prostitution. The general objective is to identify sociospatial functions correlated to territorial moralities. It is based on a case study, centered on content analysis of news reports that sought to capture the tension between the residents of a residential neighborhood and a group of prostitutes who articulated themselves to perform their work during the daytime, in the face of restrictive measures of the Covid-19, which included the prohibition of the circulation of people without justification of essential or emergency health service between 11 pm and 5 am on the avenues and public squares. The results show a dimension of the production of segregation directly related to the stigma of "being a prostitute", with effects on urban vulnerability and the condition of sub-citizenship. Based on Elias' established-outsiders theoretical model, we develop the concept of territorial morality to make intelligible the moral panic triggered by the presence of prostitutes in a residential neighborhood. The final considerations demonstrate that the stigma of "being a prostitute" has a relevant morally disempowering territorial component that, by moving in forbidden territories, reinforces the hegemonic morality promoting socio-spatial segregation.

Keywords: prostitution, socio-spatial segregation, stigma, covid-19.