A percepção do cuidado com a saúde de travestis e mulheres transexuais vivenciando a prostituição na cidade de Manaus/AM: análise compreensiva dos discursos

Abstract

Travesti and transsexual women suffer constant violence, being stigmatized and marginalized from society by subverting the patterns of gender roles. When these are in the context of prostitution, the debate does not remain central to the discussions, especially in the sphere of public policy. Thus, the present research is relevant in this theme due to the lack of theoretical reference and the knowledge gap in the scenario of northern Brazil. Therefore, we sought to understand the perception of the care of transvestites and transsexual women experiencing sex work in the city of Manaus (AM). An analysis was conducted with the support of the phenomenological method of research, interviewing three transvestites and two transsexual women. A triggering question was presented to start the interviews: Tell me about how you take care of your health by being a trasvesti (or trans woman) sex worker. The recordings had an average of 50 minutes length and all were fully transcribed. The comprehensive analysis had Martin Heidegger's theoretical support and his existential phenomenology, and four thematic categories were found. The first, “I am who I am, I am what I feel, I am myself,” deals with participants' experiences on how they identify with gender and the differences in their understanding of transsexuality and travestility. The second category, “In the work I do, prejudice, violence and insalubrity: the faces of an experience”, deals with the experiences of prejudice, violence and the dimension of the places where they develop their work. “A look at the institutions: health and public safety” is the third category that refers to the participants' conception of health and public safety systems. The last category, “Being-with-the-Other: Care Relationships”, addresses the experiences and perspectives regarding the family's gaze, as well as their understanding of care during sexual activity work. Thus, this research contributed to the understanding of care through the possibility of being of this population beyond a mere identity category, as well as their world experience in the context of prostitution. It was possible to broaden the understanding of which factors belonging to their relational worlds make it difficult or easy for them to open as travesti and transsexual sex workers women.