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A Dive into the Depths of Human Intimacy

Call girls, prostitutes and escorts: what is the freedom of the body in the virtual world?
  • José João Name

    José João Name, physician and photographer. He holds a master’s degree and a PhD in Social Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUCSP). He has published Um mundo além das palavras (2001), Fotografia da metrópole: fotogenia e aura (2010), Imagens da metropolis: fotografia, aura, produção e recepção (2016). He has also published numerous scientific articles in the medical field of Nutrition and Public Health. He is a postdoctoral researcher in Communication and Semiotics at PUC-SP.

    and Norval Baitello Junior

    Norval Baitello Junior, professor of Media Theory and Culture Ecology in the Postgraduate Degree in Communication and Semiotics at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Researcher at CNPQ and director of the Flusser Archive São Paulo. Among other books, he has published Flussers Völlerei (2007), La era de la iconofagia (2008), Existências Penduradas (2019), The Photography and the Worm (2021), Das gesetzte Denken (2023).

Published/Copyright: July 11, 2023
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Abstract

This article is a report on ongoing field research and the exponential growth of the environment in which sex workers, prostitutes, call girls, and escorts operate. We look at the complexity of the conditions of such work and consider the socio-psychological and media vectors that make up the context from which its actors and stereotypes emerge. With the explosion of websites offering virtual or real sex, there is also a continuation of oppressive and violent male practices in this sector, restricting the freedom of choice for women who work professionally in this field. These practices reproduce the power relations and the exclusion that has always been present in society, and are also now more diffuse as virtual reality has come to play an important role in social practice.

About the authors

José João Name

José João Name, physician and photographer. He holds a master’s degree and a PhD in Social Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUCSP). He has published Um mundo além das palavras (2001), Fotografia da metrópole: fotogenia e aura (2010), Imagens da metropolis: fotografia, aura, produção e recepção (2016). He has also published numerous scientific articles in the medical field of Nutrition and Public Health. He is a postdoctoral researcher in Communication and Semiotics at PUC-SP.

Norval Baitello Junior

Norval Baitello Junior, professor of Media Theory and Culture Ecology in the Postgraduate Degree in Communication and Semiotics at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Researcher at CNPQ and director of the Flusser Archive São Paulo. Among other books, he has published Flussers Völlerei (2007), La era de la iconofagia (2008), Existências Penduradas (2019), The Photography and the Worm (2021), Das gesetzte Denken (2023).

References

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Published Online: 2023-07-11
Published in Print: 2023-06-27

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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