Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Ecotoxicological Methodologies to Evaluate Biomarkers at Different Scales in Neotropical Anurans
Published on: April 28, 2023
Honourable señoras, liminal campesinas and the shameful other: re-defining feminities in Bolivia
1Institute of Population Health, Globalization and Health Equity Network, Ottawa, Canada. chantal.robillard@mail.mcgill.ca
Abstract:
'Whores', 'hookers' and 'prostitutes' are among the many labels used to represent women in the sex industry. As a result, some sex workers develop defence mechanism to cope with this negative labelling. The present study explored the intersecting sources of the 'whore stigma' and its management in the city of Tarija (Bolivia). Work involved the triangulation of (1) an ethnography of sex-related institutions; (2) semi-structured interviews with staff from the sex industry, municipal and health authorities and neighbours who lived close to sex trade establishments; and (3) life narratives of women in sex work and people of the general population conducted over two periods of six months each, in 2001-2002 and 2003. This paper describes the intersectional power differentials (of gender, ethnicity and class) in which 'whore stigma' unfolds in Tarija. It reveals how women in sex work created defence mechanisms to mediate the tension between honour and shame that defined their devalued condition as women, peasants, indigenous persons and sex workers. In conclusion, this article discusses a possible intersectional conceptualisation of the 'whore stigma' within this context and argues for the need for health promotion programmes to engage with these women's coping strategies.
Related Concept Videos
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Horney's Sociocultural Approach
Lateralization
Radical Formation: Elimination
X and Y Chromosomes
The germline cells such as egg and sperm cells carry only half the number of chromosomes, i.e., 22 autosomes and one sex chromosome. All eggs have an X chromosome, while sperm cells can carry an X or...
Incomplete Dominance