Prostitutes, Mercenaries and Feminism: the Public and the Private in International Relations

Feminist approaches have become increasingly present in International Relations studies. Using these theoretical perspectives, the present article analyzes the basis on which rests the prejudice toward prostitutes and employees of Military and Private Security Companies (MPSCs). The premise is that social constructions ideally locate the role of women in the private sphere, while public spaces are reserved for regular military soldiers. Our argument is that both the prostitute, when positioning herself in the public environment, and the MPSC employee, when in the private sphere, destabilize the expected idealities for their categories, generating distrust, repulsion, and uncertainty.