Laughing when it hurts: Humor and violence in the lives of costa rican prostitutes

This article explores how female prostitutes in San José, Costa Rica, use humor as a way to cope with and resist the violence in their lives. Although Costa Rica is well known for the quality of national health programs and democratic political processes, the country’s image as a haven of health and happiness is challenged by the women participating in this study, who construct a different picture. By medicalizing and mocking the violence and discrimination that mark their daily lives, these women challenge and resist existing social attitudes and hidden inequities. While women, and especially sex workers, have historically been the objects of medical and raillerous discourses, this article explores the subjective voices and experiences of one group of 53 street prostitutes. Drawing on various analyses of humor, this article presents the different forms and political significance of the raillery used by the research participants.