The legislative elections are being held at the same time as the first round presidential poll that is expected to be won by Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori. She is the first sex worker to ever seek one of the seats in the single-chamber national congress. Jonathan Castro, a Lima-based graphic designer, said he was attracted by her no-nonsense approach. She was already working as a street vendor and cleaner but she needed extra money to buy medication for her sick son.
Her transition to activism was inspired, she adds, by the strength of the women around her. Prostitution is theoretically legal in Peru but soliciting is banned. Most sex work is done in legal limbo, vulnerable to abuse and discrimination.
Inside the brothel, red fluorescent lights illuminate three floors of corridors lined with women awaiting customers. One hundred prostitutes provide sex as a service to anywhere between and men a night.
Customers stop and congratulate her on the campaign. By Lisa Lotens. By Gavin Butler and Caleb Quinley. By Sophia Smith Galer. Share: X Facebook Share Copied to clipboard. Videos by VICE.
