Maternidad y prostitución ¿contradictorias y excluyentes?

Abstract

This paper presents a study that explored the experiences of motherhood in women who are involved in street prostitution. For this work, motherhood is focused as a socially constructed institution linked to prescriptive social imaginary and gender control policies; and, in turn, prostitution was understood as a patriarchal social institution where the associated stigma brands the experience of those women who exercise it. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted in Barcelona, the results show that the 'maternal ideal' lives with the stigma of prostitution, although not negatively internalized as they have develop strategies to manage motherhood within a 'hidden life'; however, it is also envisaged that this management involves living often contradictory experiences in the exercise of prostitution.