Bad Reputation

Mala reputación

In Uruguay, a sex worker has had enough – she wants proper recognition for her work and its inclusion in mainstream labour unions.

Karina was just 12 years old when she was trafficked into sex work. Now 45, she has no standard education qualifications, but what she has witnessed and experienced, in a society that has been hostile to her ‘kind’, has resulted in a new career path opening up for her. She has established O.T.R.A.S., a union for current and former sex workers, to which her friends and colleagues need little persuading to join. Marta García and Sol Infante Zamudio’s inspiring film documents Karina and fellow campaigners as they seek to establish their rights and to prevent future workers from enduring the horrors of child sexual exploitation, trafficking, abuse, stigmatisation and spousal murder. ‘If you’re not going to get me out of sex work,’ Karin notes, ‘don’t sink me deeper’.

Content Guidance: Film contains discussions about sex.