Study of the commercialized emotions that circulate among sex workers, male miners and their partners, in the mining culture of Antofagasta, Chile

Abstract

In this article we seek to understand the meaning of the emotions that circulate among Antofagasta mine workers, their partners and sex workers. Open interviews were held with men and women linked to the large-scale copper mining industry. Among the relevant findings, the emotions of the women participants are differently oriented. Emotions associated with unconditional motherhood were visible among the female partners of miners - a position that gives them status, privileges and benefits that enable them to concentrate power and control in private spaces. The emotional expressions that predominate among the mining men are those of loneliness and anger, with the constant search to freely satisfy their desires. Sex workers in their link with mining men commercialize their emotions, valuing parts of their bodies, which they offer in erotic exchange. Men and women of the triad occupy positions of power, situated based on a market logic.