Negotiating boundaries: the sex work identities of ‘bar girls’ in Nazareth, Ethiopia

Abstract

Social relationships, and the spaces through which they are encountered, are integral to young people's construction of identity. How they negotiate interactions with peers, family and others is important for young people's understanding of who they are and how they fit into their communities. Although research within the new social studies of childhood has focused to some extent on children's family and peer relationships, little attention has been given to the particular dynamics inherent in the relationships of working children. This article therefore focuses on the lives of young commercial sex workers in Ethiopia, and explores how the spatial and temporal performances of multiple fractured identities are used in the negotiation of relationships that take place within and beyond the spaces of sex work. Qualitative research was carried out with 30 teenage ‘bar girls’, aged 14–19, who are engaged in sex work in Nazareth, to explore the processes that influence and shape their lives. Drawing on a conceptualisation of performativity that recognises the spatiality of performative identities, the article illustrates how young sex workers manage multiple identities across the spaces of sex work and how their identities change through relationships at work, in their communities and with their families. The article demonstrates that the nuanced micro-power negotiations taking place result in feminine identities that are encased within wider structures of rural poverty.

Las relaciones sociales, y los espacios a través de los cuales se encuentran, son partes integrales de la construcción de la identidad de los y las jóvenes. El cómo negocian las interacciones con sus pares, su familia y otros es importante para su idea de quiénes son y qué lugar ocupan en sus comunidades. Aunque la investigación dentro de los nuevos estudios sociales de la niñez se ha centrado hasta cierto punto en la familia de los niños y niñas y en las relaciones con sus pares, poca atención se le ha prestado a la particular dinámica inherente en las relaciones de l@s niñ@s trabajador@s. Este artículo por lo tanto se centra en las vidas de jóvenes trabajadoras comerciales del sexo en Etiopía, y explora cómo las representaciones espaciales y temporales de identidades múltiples fracturadas son utilizadas en la negociación de relaciones que toman lugar dentro y fuera de los espacios del trabajo sexual. Se llevó a cabo una investigación cualitativa con 30 ‘chicas de bar’ entre 14 y 19 años de edad, involucradas en el trabajo sexual en Nazareth, para explorar los procesos que influyen sobre sus vidas y les dan forma. Basándose en una conceptualización y performatividad que reconoce la espacialidad de las identidades performativas, el artículo ilustra cómo las jóvenes trabajadoras sexuales manejan múltiples identidades en los distintos espacios del trabajo sexual y cómo sus identidades cambian a lo largo de las relaciones en el trabajo, en sus comunidades y en sus familias. El artículo demuestra que las matizadas negociaciones de micro-poder que toman lugar resultan en identidades femeninas que están encerradas dentro de estructuras más amplias de pobreza rural.

Keywords:

• young people
• sex work
• identities
• performativity
• Ethiopia

Keywords:

• jóvenes
• trabajo sexual
• identidades
• performatividad
• Etiopía

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a Nuffield Foundation Social Science Small Grant. The views and opinions contained in the article are entirely my own. I gratefully acknowledge the institutional support of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University and Goal Ethiopia. I would also like to thank Abeba Amare for her work as a research assistant on the project and acknowledge my indebtedness to the girls who participated in the project. Thanks also to Robyn Longhurst and anonymous referees for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Notes

 1. Bar girls are synonymous with commercial sex workers because although they are employed (sometimes for no pay) to serve drinks and clean tables, they also engage in prostitution to supplement their income in collusion with the bar owner (Kishindo 1995).

 2. Some girls are as young as 12 or 13 when they begin.

 3. The term ‘bar girls’ is used throughout this article to indicate the type of work the girls are involved in and to distinguish them from those involved in other forms of sex work such as streetwalkers and red-light area workers. It was also a general term used to refer to those working in bars and the girls did not object to its use. The subsequent uses of single quote marks have been dropped from this point on.

 4. Sex work in Ethiopia is almost exclusively a female occupation. During this research no boys were found to be working in bars in the research sites.

 5. Within these three categorisations there is a diverse range of experiences. The participants in this research were from the poorest groups, commanding little money for their work, often less than 30 birr (£1.50) per night, and afforded little protection and safety from associated dangers.

 6. All quotations used in the article are taken from the English translations. Grammatical errors have not been corrected to retain a sense of the girls' own words.

 7. One cultural practice, which still remains in rural Ethiopian Society, is telfa – marriage by abduction. This is often an impulsive decision and the girl or her parents may not have consented. Once a girl has been abducted she is considered married and her family will not reverse the decision.

 8. Tella, and also Araki, are locally produced traditional drinks which are sold in small bars often the size of one room.

 9. To protect identities and maintain confidentiality all girls' names and the names of bars have been changed.

10. At the time of the research 1 birr was equal to 6 pence.

11. An exit payment (mewecha) is the money girls must pay the owner to leave the bar before midnight. This is discussed more fully later in the article.

12. Business is the term used for sex work by the girls.

13. The coffee board is the regulatory body for coffee production, one of Ethiopia's major exports. It is also used as a pseudonym for sex work.