Prostitutes in Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela (1935 – 1936): an approach from social history

Abstract

The 1930s marked the beginning of women's participation in public life in Honduras, with the emergence of the suffragette and anti-state protest movements, and in 1955 women’s citizenship rights were won. Among women's collectives, sex workers are a group usually ignored by national historiography, relegated to the status of a subaltern group whose immoral practices have had to be regulated by a benevolent State. This article has highlighted the role that prostitutes played in the society of the 1930s in Honduras, with a focus on their role as sex workers in an economy and state that was adverse to them. For this purpose, data from the Identification Register published by the Research Department of the National Police Station in the Police Magazine have been used, in the period from 1935 to 1936. Based on the information, the work and lifestyle of prostitutes are discussed, placing them as active agents -although persecuted and discriminated against by Honduran society. The data processing has been carried out quantitatively, while its analysis has followed the proposals of social history.