“Toxic "Flowers at night”: an analysis of prostitution in Belém during the military- civil dictatorship (1970-1976)

Abstract

This article investigates censorship practices against prostitutes in the city of Belém/PA, who worked in the so-called “meretrício zone”, and in the peripheral neighborhoods, based on news from the newspaper A Província do Pará, in the period from 1970 to 1976. The study is based on intersectional analysis of gender and class. The objective is to understand the repression suffered by adult women and even children and adolescents exploited in the capital of Pará. From the analysis of that newspaper, intending to build a perspective of who these women are who ended up prostituting themselves and, consequently, being persecuted by the State. It is assumed that the gender debate should not be separated from the class discussion. The research seeks to evidence such narratives, in the 1970s, from the journalistic discourse.