Introduction: Paid sexual services performed by women are surrounded by stigma and associated prejudice and shame results in vulnerability, making it very difficult for these women to achieve a good quality of life. Such an environment is exacerbated by intersectionalities that mark the trajectory of women who have the ability and desire to obtain income in sexual practice. They experience inequities in gender, race and class and, above all, bear marks of struggle and survival, being residents of a poor, rural region of Brazil, far from urban centers. The objective of this study was to understand the meanings that female sex workers living in rural areas attribute to quality of life using Sartre's phenomenological perspective.
Methods: This was a qualitative study from a larger project. For this study, we interviewed 30 female sex workers living in a rural area of the Sertão Produtivo da Bahia region, Brazil. The in-depth interview comprised two guiding questions: (1) 'Tell me what you mean by quality of life, as a sex worker'; and (2) 'Tell me how you experience well-being and quality of life when you are a sex worker and a rural resident'. The narratives resulting from the interviews were organized, categorized and operationalized from the hermeneutics dialectic. The interpretations were anchored in theoretical reference to Sartre's phenomenology.
Results: Some meanings were congruent in the women's narratives of their daily lives (described or observed), giving rise to three categories of analysis: the sex workers' concept of quality of life; whether they believed they have good quality of life or not; and what is required to achieve good quality of life. Three categories emerged, organized in a framework, the themes of which refer to the experience of sex workers as poor women living in the countryside: (1) quality of life as a synonym for health, food, and healthy life; (2) difficulties in achieving good quality of life; and (3) without money, there is no quality of life.
Conclusion: The fact that these female sex workers come from a poor region of Brazil and live in a rural area far from urban centers leads to unique difficulties for them. They suffer from marginalization and restricted social services as a result of their circumstances, and highly value the freedom to face the difficulties of day-to-day life that their income from sex work provides. Good quality of life for these women is achieved by striving for physical health, food, and well-being (goals made attainable by that income), but can be hindered by violence.
Keywords: public health; qualitative research; quality of life; sex workers; women's health; phenomenology.