Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 45

Ever since October 2013, this bank entered into
an agreement with the sex professionals via the
Association of Prostitutes of Minas Gerais
(APROSMIG). For these women, the program
was profitable: they were furnished with cards
and credit card processing machines along with
direct access to lines of credit with the lowest interest rates. The contract provisions also safeguarded the security and safety of their clients.
The Caixa Económica Federal “offers everyone
the opportunity to have access to bank services
like a checking account, special checks and credit
cards. Bank clients who have a CNPJ can also
gain access to services such as receiving payments via credit and debit cards.” In this way,
there is no way to see the agreement or arrangement between the bank and sex professionals. For
the women, another way this is progress is that
they no longer had to pay up to 20% to any sort
of agent. The APROSMIG president even created
a motto: “Achieve orgasm first, pay later.” Problems with this sort of contract came after the
World Cup, when they had to declare their accounting to the Housing Minister, who charges
taxes on rents.
For Brazilians, the legacy of the Cup of Cups may
be infamous, because the whole thing failed (DIP,
2012). Organization for the event had the goal of
watching out for FIFA, sponsors’ and Brazilian
lenders’ interests, all the interests of those involved in the construction of the stadiums and a
number of public transit initiatives.
Final considerations
So, what do women have to do with the World
Cup? Women in host cities—Salvador, Fortaleza,
Recife and Natal—mobilized around this question when they saw that the Cup of Cups would
not guarantee anything. The tournament was not
concerned with minimizing poverty, exploitation
or sex tourism; nor were there any significant outcomes regarding these issues. Sex workers earned
good money. And, even though it has been in the

works since 2003, the bill to regulate prostitution
has not been approved due to civil society’s political and religious conservatism. The financing offered by the Caixa Económica Federal did not
resolve the problem because prostitutes, as selfemployed individuals, have to report the earnings
through an accountant.
Some cities on the World Cup circuit also experienced a sort of “social cleansing”: the disappearance of beggars, prostitutes, and transvestites. Of
course, many of these individuals did not have the
opportunity to use a credit card machine, since
tourists complained of the high prices, for which
many decided to have fun without women.
At least the Federal Government approved one
law that made the sexual exploitation of minors a
heinous crime. Although expressing concern by
attempting to combat sex tourism, human trafficking, and the sexual exploitation of minors, the
government adopted palliative measures to solve
the problem - a problem that continued after the
World Cup, because the main focus was on tourists and not on our Brazilian citizens.
Regarding sales of local products, the World Cup
did not result in great profits, particularly for the
Olinda tapioqueras (tapioca cake sellers)16, who
are their families’ main earners.
They were not able to use their profession to improve their families’ financial situations during
the World Cup.
Dissatisfaction with the World Cup had to do with
commerce. Due to FIFA interference, cities emptied out and sales people in Salvador suffered
from decreased sales.
In the end, beggars, prostitutes, and minors who
sell themselves once again took up with their
prostituting positions. The idea of the available
black women—sensualized and described as they
were between the lines of Freyre’s Casa Grande
y Senzala—will endure in our society, a place
where white women are for marrying, mulatto
women are for fornicating, and black women are
for working.

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