Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Santiago, Chile

Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Santiago, Chile

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center 9-2020 Precarious Empowerments: Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Santiago, Chile Pilar Ortiz The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4072 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] PRECARIOUS EMPOWERMENTS: SEXUAL LABOR IN THE COFFEE SHOPS OF SANTIAGO, CHILE by PILAR ORTIZ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2020 ã 2020 PILAR ORTIZ All Rights Reserved ii Precarious Empowerments: Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Santiago, Chile by Pilar Ortiz This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy _________________ _______________________________________________ Date Victoria Pitts-Taylor Chair of Examining Committee _________________ _______________________________________________ Date Lynn Chancer Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Sharon Zukin Carolina Bank Muñoz Lynn Chancer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Precarious Empowerments: Sexual Labor in the Coffee Shops of Santiago, Chile by Pilar Ortiz Advisor: Victoria Pitts-Taylor Precarious Empowerments analyzes sexual labor in ‘tinted cafes,’ spaces hidden from public view where women dance for their male clients and clandestinely perform sexual services. Drawing from an embodied ethnographic account of the everyday lives of five coffee shops that fit into the lower status ‘tinted cafes’ where sexual labor is common, this thesis examines sex workers’ experiences at the intersection of class, racial, and gender hierarchies. From an intersectional perspective, my study examines how inequalities based on class, gender, race, nationality, and body capital are reproduced and contested by sex workers. Based on the multiple facets of the precariousness marking sex workers’ experiences, beyond socioeconomic marginalization, it asks; how are inequalities reproduced through women’s embodied labor? How do women negotiate inequalities and exclusion? In intertextuality with the literature on sexualized and emotional labor in the global South, this thesis explores sex work as a service that embodies gendered, transnational social structures, but also as a practice that represents sex workers’ resourcefulness and resilience. Moving away from conceptualizations of sexual labor as a totalizing patriarchal oppression per se, it conceives sexual labor as situated and operating relationally with other forms of exclusion. Interweaving an ethnographic narrative with a theoretical and a historical iv contextualization, Precarious empowerments reveals how differences in terms of class, gender, race, and nationality are integral to the daily practices and the consumption of sexual services in ‘tinted’ coffee shops. Women’s empowerment gains value when seen in opposition to hegemonic power relations and the social and symbolic dimensions of the precarity marking working-class women’s lives. Sex workers’ narratives point to the strategies, arrangements, and resources they rely on to improve their socioeconomic status, how they face stigma, and the tactics used to navigate a context simultaneously marked by precariousness and condemning the work they perform. Understanding how sex workers experience this precarity, due to the criminalization and the stigmatization of their labor, highlights the need for a radical transformation in how sex work is signified and addressed by the Chilean state and society. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS - For Eduardo, who passed away too soon but yet found mysterious ways to help me with this research I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported my academic pursuits throughout the years, helping me become the scholar I am today. Firstly, I thank my family’s political inheritance, especially my father, Eduardo Ortiz, for talking to me about social injustice and inequality early in life. I would like to recognize my committee for their feedback, support, and encouragement during this process. I consider myself truly privileged to work with astounding women, scholars, and teachers. My dissertation would not have reached this stage without their invaluable feedback. I want to begin expressing my appreciation to Sharon Zukin, who I met in 2008 when I was an M.F.A. student at Hunter College. Her Research Seminar in Urban Sociology challenged my thinking about urban processes, inspired my research, informed my media work, and motivated me to pursue a Ph.D. to strengthen my theoretical grounds. I am grateful to Sharon’s support and advice despite my research’s central focus drifting away from her main research interests and for challenging me to think more deeply about ‘the urban.’ I applied to the Graduate Center promising to continue developing research in Urban Sociology, but two significant events brought me off-track. One was a life-changing bicycle accident that turned the beginning of graduate school into a simultaneous recovery process, inviting me to reflect on the experience of disability and healing. Additionally, Victoria Pitts- Taylor’s Contemporary Theory class radically impacted the course of my research, as it expanded my interests in new directions. Without forgetting my Marxist legacy, I fell in love with feminist theories of the body, feminist epistemologies and metaphysics, and gender and sexuality theories. Feminist works inspired me to bring my personal world into my research as I vi disentangled this new body of theory. I am grateful to Victoria for inspiring this shift in my work, supporting my project, and her assertive advice throughout this process. Seeking for an advisor who could help me understand the Chilean context, I met Carolina Bank Muñoz later in my graduate student life, following fellow students’ recommendations. She soon became fundamental support in the development of this dissertation. I am deeply thankful for Carolina’s insightful comments, her dedication and criticism, and her work about Chilean workers’ struggles. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to Lynn Chancer for belatedly joining this committee. I am thankful to Lynn for helping me complete this project's final stages and for her very constructive feedback. Lynn's insights on feminisms' discussion about sexual labor have posed new questions for me to consider in this research's future embodiments. This dissertation emerges from an intent to bring together my different interests: social inequalities; urban processes; and bodies, gender, and sexualities. It also responds to concern about uncovering the many divisions across Chilean society. I am indebted to the City University of New York for the opportunity to pursue an M.F.A. in Integrated Media Arts and a Ph.D. in Sociology, bringing treasured professors, colleagues, and friends to my life. I am grateful for the stimulating exchanges and good memories I take from my graduate student years and my comrades’ immense generosity in sociology and neighbor departments. Specifically, I am most grateful to Guillermo Yrizar, Sara Martucci, Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, Erin Michaels, Marnie Brady, Emily Campbell, Benjamin Haber, Hamad Sindhi, Sebastián Villamizar, Andreína Torres, Cecilia Salvi, Hiroyuki Shibata, Susanna Raab, and Kate Sheese. I express my sincere gratitude to my friends who have supported me throughout this process, those who I admire and from whom I learn every day: Francisca Benítez, Amalia Leguizamón, Constanza Vergara, Johanna Unzueta, Felipe Mujica, Salvador Mujica, Paola Velázquez, Laura Chipley, Francisca Caporali, Tamara Gubernat, Lina Rojas, and Janet Merkel. Special thanks to Alejandra Andueza vii for methodological advice and Claire Linn for her thoughtful edits. I express infinite appreciation to the study group Nación, Otredad, Deseo for inviting me to their seminars, conference panels, and publishing a chapter as part of the book Nación, Otredad, Deseo: Diferencia en tiempos multiculturales (2019). I am indebted to Victoria Passache and NOD members Antonieta Vera, Rosario Fernández, and Isabel Aguilera for their encouragement and valuable feedback at the early stages of the book chapter, Cuerpos engenerizados y representación de la Otredad: Etnografía situada en los ‘cafés polarizados’ de Santiago. I am most thankful to Marisa Hansel, Verónica Guzmán, and Verónica Pizarro for helping me get through difficult times and physical pain, teaching me how to quiet my head to get the job done, and helping me become a better human. I am indebted to my family for their love and support, which has allowed me to take risks and follow my intellectual and creative desires. Special thanks go to Marta Borgoño, Rodrigo Ortiz, Lissette Flores, Luis Flores, Lala Infante, Luis Borgoño, and Virginia Jelvez. Love and appreciation to my nieces Amalia, Emma, and Milena Ortiz, for bringing joy to our lives. Lastly, I express my heartfelt gratitude and admiration to the women who welcomed me in their lives and shared their stories with me. Particularly, I recognize Verónica, Debora, Lissette, Mónica, Daniela, Stacy, Andrea, Nico, Estrella, and everyone who participated

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