Zona Galactica A Modern Brothel In Mexico

Lydia’s Open Door: Inside Mexico’s Most Modern Brothel
Patty Kelly

On this book the anthropologist Kelly explains about his research on Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas; a state in the southern Mexico.The main topic on the book is about the women who work at a brothel, what’s interesting about the brothel, is that this place, named: Zona Galáctica, tends to be where female prostitution is legal andis regulated by the government and the law.

The author reveals the assumptions about gender and sexuality that underpin prostitute-client interactions as they play out against a backdrop ofneoliberal economic reforms in Mexico as well as changing attitudes about work and consumerism in the context of globalization.

As every society; prostitution through the years has become essential,inevitable, homogenous, and unchanging. Talking about Mexico, there are studies that suggest that commercial sex existed since pre-Conquest times, anyway through the times it has been regulated, shapedand reshaped by politics, economy, and culture.

It is clear seen that this practice started to grow during the government of president Porfirio Díaz Mori (period also known as Porfiriato). By thistime, the modern tolerance zones (called as that to the places where prostitution is legal) in Mexico emerged, this period was known for its economic liberalism, its conservative views regardingsexuality, family, and alcohol consumption, and its embrace of science, positivism, and modernization. Regulating the prostitute through health inspections, registration, and confinement was consideredindispensable to conserve order and protect public health. The first tolerance zones, known as district zones, were located on the borders of tourist and shopping districts, most commonly in northernMexico. Prostitutes were removed from the city center streets, bars, and cafes and subjected to increasing regulation and control. Today compound zones, like the Zona Galáctica, are located far outside...