How many "travas" are used to make a "ploc"? The family place for transvestites who prostitute themselves in Aracati (CE)
Transvestites; Transvestility; Family; Prostitution; Aracati.
The main objective of the work is to analyze patriarchal gender relations within the family as one of the determinants that act in the forced insertion of transvestites in the activity of prostitution in the municipality of Aracati, a city located on the east coast of the state of Ceará. The path taken so far begins in 2009, where there is a first approach to the topic of transvestism. This work intends to expand the investigation into the relationship between the construction of the transvestite person who prostitutes themselves in the so-called "ploc" in the city of Aracati by carrying out comparative research by re-examining the data obtained between 2009 and 2016 and comparing it with the new data obtained in 2023. Based on this, the work proposes: analyzing the socio-historical meaning of transvestite prostitution in the Brazilian context with an emphasis on the northeast region; understand the impact of prostitution on the transvestites subject to this research; describe the characteristics that surround the daily work of transvestites in prostitution in Aracati (CE); examine the way these people respond to economic and social difficulties and finally analyze the impact of the Brazilian patriarchal structure on the transvestites' blood families and the way they managed their daughters' transvestite process, from the latter's perspective. The research data is the result of a bibliographical survey and semi-structured interviews composed of a flexible script with open and closed questions where transvestites had the opportunity to express their perceptions about the themes in focus.