The ’red’ light at the end of the tunnel

Various studies approach work through the meanings that workers attribute to the activity they carry out, as is the case with this research, which investigates the meanings produced by a category far removed from formal professions: prostitutes. Through the analyses, it was possible to grasp some subjective meanings related to working in prostitution, such as the family nucleus, the income obtained from this activity, the desire to leave the profession in the future, sadness, loneliness, the possibility of meeting and relating to other people, prejudice, violence, among others. The analysis made it possible to understand the prostitutes’ workspace as an environment that permanently generates subjectivity. Analysing the subjective meanings of prostitutes in relation to the work they do was useful for understanding important aspects of the relationship between the research participants and the meanings they attribute to their work, and made it possible to show that relationships in the work space are permeated by countless others that occur in other social spaces where the subjects work.