Risks and Agency Monte Adentro: Experiences of the Sex Trade in the Context of the Colombian Armed Conflict

This article analyzes the relationship between risk and agency in the experiences of women involved in the sex trade with paramilitaries and guerrillas in remote rural areas of Colombia during the 1990s and 2000s. Based on semi-structured interviews and ethnography work with women involved in the sex trade, this paper argues that, even in high-risk areas, such as remote regions under the control of armed groups, agency does not necessarily disappear. In fact, these women took significant risks selling sex on an itinerant basis in these places; as a result, they earned significantly higher incomes than usually available to them. This demonstrates strategic agency and risk assessment. Understanding the differences between sex work and human trafficking in contexts of armed conflict will help us to better grasp how these dynamics are reproduced and sustained in highly militarized and violent settings. It also challenges the stereotypes that lead to ineffective, decontextualized and revictimizing public policies.