Trajetórias de vida de travestis e transexuais de Belo Horizonte: Ser “T” e “Estar Prostituta”

Abstract

This study focuses on the relationships of gender transvestite and transsexual identity and prostitution in Belo Horizonte, asking about which events in the life trajectory have influenced the experience of prostitution. It is a qualitative study with six transvestites and transsexual prostitutes in Belo Horizonte, selected through the "snowball" method. Data collection was done through semistructured interviews, and the script was built for the participants to talk about their personal trajectories, family and institutional experiences, as well as their insertion in public health, work and education policies. Content analysis made it possible to relate the trajectories of the participants, highlighting the points common to the group, in which the experiences experienced by transvestites in family, school institutions and discrimination and exclusion in the formal labor market contribute to the insertion in prostitution. Based on the analysis of the interviewees' speech, the need for a closer approach to Social Work in the struggle for the rights of the LGBT population is explicit.