"This Certification is Not a Permission" Regulation of Prostitution and Public Health in Oaxaca de Juárex (Mexico)

Abstract

In this paper, I propose to reflect on how feminine prostitution is regulated in the municipality Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico, and the specific configurations assumed by the municipal public health. We will see how, through an updated form of ‘classic regulation’, the body of the prostitute is still considered a dangerous vector of infection, and how little attention is paid to women’s ‘integral health’. The regulation, however, allows registered prostitutes in the city of Oaxaca to enjoy some room for maneuver, at the expense of other sectors of the prostitutional population.