drinking and working in a cantina: misrecognition and the threat of stigma
TRANSCRIPT
This article was downloaded by: [Heriot-Watt University]On: 06 October 2014, At: 21:25Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Culture, Health & Sexuality: AnInternational Journal for Research,Intervention and CarePublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tchs20
Drinking and working in a cantina:misrecognition and the threat of stigmaMaria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer a & Maria Carolina Agoff ba Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, Universityof Texas School of Public Health , Houston , Texas , USAb Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias,Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Cuernavaca , Morelos ,MexicoPublished online: 24 Jan 2012.
To cite this article: Maria Eugenia Fernández-Esquer & Maria Carolina Agoff (2012) Drinkingand working in a cantina: misrecognition and the threat of stigma, Culture, Health &Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, 14:4, 407-420, DOI:10.1080/13691058.2011.651159
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2011.651159
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Drinking and working in a cantina: misrecognition and the threatof stigma
Maria Eugenia Fernandez-Esquera* and Maria Carolina Agoffb
aCenter for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, University of Texas School of PublicHealth, Houston, Texas, USA; bCentro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias,Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
(Received 18 February 2011; final version received 15 December 2011)
Poor women are often compelled to accept jobs that jeopardise their health and theirsocial reputations. Cantineras are recently immigrated Latinas employed in working-class Latino bars (cantinas) where they are hired as waitresses to earn sales commissionsfrom beer purchased for them by male clients seeking female companionship. Narrativessolicited from 31 cantineras revealed the work subculture of local cantinas, wheredrinking is a primary work obligation and where men expect sexual favours as a quid proquo for beers they buy. This paper describes strategies that cantineras adopt to downplaytheir drinking and to disguise sex-trading practices. This distortion or ‘misrecognition’of work-related practices functions to manage cantineras’ fear of being stigmatised asworkers and devalued as individuals. We argue that misrecognition in this contextrepresents more than simple attempts at denial or to uphold a public image. Rather, it is astrategy employed by cantineras in order to function adaptively under oppressive workcircumstances. Confronting stigma leads cantineras to adopt social and cognitivestrategies that, while minimising social damage in the near term, can lead to devastatinghealth and social consequences over time.
Keywords: Latina immigrants; stigma; sexuality; alcohol abuse; USA
Introduction
Poor women around the world are often compelled to accept jobs that jeopardise their
health and threaten their social standing. In particular, a woman who migrates from her
home country to seek better employment opportunities in another may find that her
prospects abroad are undercut by the limitations of her education, skills and undocumented
legal status. Because their opportunities are so limited, women migrants are often hired to
perform work that demeans them. In the broader context of globalisation and migration,
migrant women experience not only occupational exploitation, but also sexual objecti-
fication and they become, as Gonzales-Lopez (2006) has described for migrant Mexican
men, ‘vulnerable to new capitalist market relations that serve to globalise and commodify
their bodies’ (75). This is especially true for women working in the hostess and
transactional service industry (Merten and Haller 2007). Some migrant women working as
domestics are exploited as de facto indentured servants (Vellos 1997). Others find work as
waitresses who are expected to have sex with bar patrons (Norris, Kitali and Worby 2009).
Still others participate in the sex-for-fish trade at small fisheries (Bene and Merten 2008).
ISSN 1369-1058 print/ISSN 1464-5351 online
q 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2011.651159
http://www.tandfonline.com
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Culture, Health & Sexuality
Vol. 14, No. 4, April 2012, 407–420
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Accepting such dangerous and stigmatising jobs directly jeopardises the woman’s health
and physical safety and stains her reputation. In the above cases, the source of women’s
stigma lies in their being regarded as transgressing a feminine ideal (Kumar, Hessini, and
Mitchell 2009) that is expected in the context of their work. Women who perceive
themselves as socially stigmatised may be less able to protect themselves, particularly
when self-protection necessitates actions that further compromise them socially.
In fact, research in public health has repeatedly found that people who are targets of
social stigmatisation are vulnerable to health and social threats. Stigmatised individuals
appear to be especially vulnerable to risky sexual encounters. For example, Collins, von
Unger and Armbrister (2008) found that women suffering from mental illness, who feel
ostracised and isolated, are more vulnerable to demands for risky and unprotected sex.
Latino gay men who are targets of homophobia are also more likely to report unprotected
sex (Diaz, Ayala, and Bein 2004). In Mexico City, male transgendered and transsexual sex
workers who are affected by stigma, discrimination and the lack of social capital use
condoms inconsistently, thereby placing themselves at high risk (Infante, Sosa-Rubi, and
Cuadra 2009). In London, Bangkok and Jakarta, women who engage in sex work and feel
ashamed of this practice are less likely to insist that their human rights be respected and are
more likely to be infected with HIV (Scambler and Paoli 2008). Stigma appears to increase
individual vulnerability by lowering self-esteem and increasing social isolation (Diaz et al.
2001). Herrera and Campero (2002) discuss the phenomenon of cumulative vulnerability:
women may be vulnerable on account of their gender, but this vulnerability is amplified for
women who also live in poverty and/or suffer discrimination. The situation confronted by
migrant women, whose vulnerability is heightened through the loss of their rights of
citizenship, social networks and resources, often leads them to practise survival sex or
tolerate partner abuse (Bronfman et al. 2001).
The causes and consequences of stigma are better known than the strategies people
adopt routinely to cope with its constant and pernicious influence on daily life. A proper
account of these strategies is crucial for understanding how stigmatised people manage
their own agency and how their coping strategies ameliorate or exacerbate their
vulnerability. By documenting the strategies that cantineras adopt to deal with their work,
we hope to illustrate how cognitive and social strategies may seem to effectively control
the social damage created by stigma in the short term. We also hope to show that despite
their apparent effectiveness, these strategies can lead to devastating health and social
consequences over time.
Background
Cantineras are Latina bar workers who have migrated from Latin America to the USA in
search of better economic opportunities to support children and parents remaining in their
countries of origin. Once in the USA they are hired at cantinas, working-class bars that
employ mostly undocumented women and cater to Latino men. Cantinas are seen as a better
job option than doing domestic work because they provide a better opportunity to make
money. One of the cantinera’s primary job duties is drinking with bar customers. How the
cantinera makes her money depends on whether she is hired as a salaried waitress, as a
hostess whose earnings are based exclusively on sales commissions or as a salaried hostess
who does both. Cantineras in the latter two categories earn a commission (USD $5–$10)
split with the bar owner for every beer the customer buys for them; thus, the more beer a
cantinera drinks, the more money she (and the bar owner) makes (Fernandez-Esquer 2003).
Cantineras are marginalised because they violate Latino gender norms expecting women to
408 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
be abstemious and avoid fraternising and drinking with men in sexualised settings like bars.
These practices engender the perception in the community that cantineras are prostitutes, an
attitude often shared by the customers they drink with. In fact, this perception is partially
validated by the reality that because the social and economic resources of these
undocumented women are severely restricted, some cantineras, some of the time, do accept
money for sex with bar customers to supplement their incomes.
Conceptual framework
Cantinas are small businesses that flourish in the local Latino immigrant community. The
cantina is also a type of social world (Cressey 1932) with its own rules of internal
functioning that imbue its participants’ behaviour with meaning. As with novices in any
other job, cantineras learn the working rules of the cantina world and develop the skills to
perform their jobs successfully. Goffman’s (1963, 3) describes stigma as a personal
attribute that is deeply discrediting and as based on social relationships. Goffman’s
dramaturgical framework on stigma would suggest that cantina actors perform roles
dictated by the script of this social context and their routines, practices and expectations
are based on their roles.
In this study, we combined Goffman’s (1963) symbolic interactionism with Bourdieu’s
(1990) theory of practice to understand the relationship between cantina actors’
behaviours and the meanings of their interactions in the social world of the cantina.
Understanding the implicit social rules of the cantina from Goffman’s perspective is useful
in analysing the management of the actors’ public image, particularly in stigmatizing
conditions. However, to fully grasp the meaning that our respondents assign to their own
narratives, we also appeal to Bourdieu’s logic of practice in order to understand their
cultural frame of reference, gender relations and current life circumstances. A point of
connection for the frameworks we assume is that gender norms implicit in actors’
behaviours, and the meanings actors attribute to their interactions, constitute a central
construct that organises their social lives (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997, 550).
The logic of cantineras’ practices
The ways in which cantineras negotiate the complex set of social and interpersonal
conditions that converge in the cantina can be framed with reference to what Bourdieu
(1998) calls a logic of practice. According to Bourdieu (1990), social agents do not
continuously make decisions based on explicit rational and economic criteria; rather, their
behaviour is guided by their ‘feel for the game’. A logic of practice emerges from habitus
and can be understood as ‘the values and dispositions gained from our cultural history
that generally stay with us across contexts (they are durable and transposable)’ (54). In
Bourdieu’s (1990) words, habitus ‘ensures the active presence of past experiences, which
deposited in each organism in the form of schemes of perception, thought and action, tend
to guarantee the “correctness” of practices more reliably than all formal rules and explicit
norms’ (54). Together, habitus and logic of practice allow us to understand the regularities
in cantineras’ practices and the principles that guide them without subscribing to the notion
that these follow from explicit compliance with a rule or norm. If what actors do is based on
a feel for the game as opposed to an explicitly rational set of principles, then the rationale
for what they do is inherent in the practices themselves, practices that respond to the
existing constraints of their work. A cantinera’s actions and coping strategies are guided by
her sense of ‘practical logic’, which allows her to weigh the functionality of gender-based
Culture, Health & Sexuality 409
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
norms and values against her current life circumstances and the requirements of her
precarious existence. Evidence from cantineras’ own narratives supports our argument that
the threat of stigma, perceived as the potential damage to their social reputation, constitutes
the greatest emotional risk of working as a waitress in a cantina.
Methods
The need to collect in-depth information about the drinking and working behaviour of
cantineras initially emerged in a study entitled ‘GIRASOL: Community Outreach to
Prevent Cervical Cancer among Latinas’, a community intervention study funded by the
National Cancer Institute. Survey results indicated that most respondents worked, drinking
in cantinas five days a week. The greatest amounts of alcohol respondents reported
consuming at work were 22 beers on a single occasion during the previous month and
11 beers on a ‘normal’ work day (Fernandez-Esquer 2003). As their drinking patterns
exceeded those reported for immigrant Latinas and represented a risky practice related to
cancer, STIs and other health and social consequences, we decided to explore this local
practice. In-depth information about drinking practices and sexual behaviours was
collected in 2002 and replicated and validated in a second study conducted in 2008. This
report is based on the combined findings of both studies.
Documenting drinking practices
As the results of the first study have been published (Fernandez-Esquer 2003), we
summarise them briefly. The objective of the first qualitative study was to document
drinking as a practice required by cantineras’ employment. An interviewing protocol was
prepared to probe demographic background, drinking practices at work and sexual
partnerships. A total of 21 women working in 10 cantinas were recruited in a Latino
neighbourhood located in a large metropolitan area in Houston, Texas (interviews of two
participants were lost due to tape recorder malfunction). After interviewers received
consent to approach the employees from the bar owner or supervisor, respondents were
asked to consent to an interview conducted during their off-hours at the bar. Respondents’
home countries were Mexico (n ¼ 11), El Salvador (n ¼ 4), Honduras (n ¼ 3) and
Guatemala (n ¼ 1). Seven women were recruited to each of three age groups (20s, 30s and
40 or older). Respondents’ level of education was generally low: 16 of the 21 reported 5 or
fewer years of schooling. Their length of employment varied widely: 10 women reported
working less than 2 years, 2 had worked 3–5 years, 5 had worked more than 6 years and 3
did not provide this information. With regard to partner and family arrangements, 14
women reported having a steady sexual partner and 16 reported having at least one child at
the time of the interview.
Documenting drinking dynamics
The second study, completed in 2008, was conducted to validate the drinking practices
documented in the earlier study and to explore in more depth the social dynamics among
cantina actors that encourage these practices, which were not addressed in the 2002 study.
While the earlier study focused on job-related alcohol consumption practices, other
questions emerged concerning the nature of a cantinera’s occupational role in the bar and
her relation to the clients. To address these new questions the original interview protocol
was modified and extended to emphasise these two new themes: (1) cantineras’
410 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
expectations about their work role performances and (2) their perceptions and expectations
about a customer’s role at the bar.
In 2008 we interviewed 12 cantineras (including one ex-cantinera) in two Latino
neighbourhoods previously recruited for the GIRASOL community intervention study. To
participate, women contacted at the bar had to be 21 years or older and to agree to an
anonymous interview. Access to interviewees in this second data collection period was
more difficult than for the earlier study: the up-stepping of controls on immigration to the
USA had increased concern about deportation and most of the women we approached
were reluctant to complete an interview.
Study participants in 2008 came from El Salvador (n ¼ 2), Honduras (n ¼ 4), Mexico
(n ¼ 4), Puerto Rico (n ¼ 1) and Colombia (n ¼ 1). The respondents had more years of
education compared to the earlier group, as 8 of 12 reported 6 or more years of schooling.
This group included 3 women in their 20s, 4 in their 30s, 4 in their 40s and 1 in her 50s.
The reported length of time working in cantinas was diverse: 6 women had worked for 1
year or less, 2 for over 3 years, 1 for 10 and another for 14 years. Information about length
of employment was not provided by 2 women. In contrast with the previous group, only 3
of the 12 women had a current steady partner, but 9 reported having at least one child.
Procedures
Similar procedures were followed in the 2002 and 2008 studies. Cantineras were selected
from bars located in the same neighbourhoods and recruitment and interviewing procedures
followed the same guidelines. (Only one cantina was recruited in both studies but the
workers present, including the interviewees, were different). The interview guide consisted
of key probes exploring working and drinking practices at the bar and included questions
about relationships with the bar customers. Some modifications and additions to specific
probes in the second interview reflected the goals and objectives described in the previous
section. Participants were approached by four native Spanish-speaking psychologists
(including the first author) who received training in qualitative interview procedures prior
to completing the interviews.
An outreach coordinator requested permission from bar owners to approach cantineras
and the interviewers visited the bars on the pre-arranged dates. If a woman agreed to be
interviewed, an appointment was made to conduct the interview either at work during off-
hours or at home, depending on the woman’s choice. Informed consent procedures were
followed before each interview. Women in the 2002 study received a $15 coupon
redeemable at a local supermarket after completing a one-hour interview. As the interview
in the 2008 study was longer (about two hours), interviewees received $30 coupons
redeemable in a department store. Both studies were approved by the Committee for the
Protection of Human Subjects at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at
Houston. (See Fernandez-Esquer 2003 for further information about study procedures.)
Interviewees in both studies were generally receptive to the interviews and talked openly
about their work experience and alcohol use. However, many were reluctant to talk about
sex openly. This reluctance represents one of the main arguments of our work and it is
discussed at length in the discussion section.
Qualitative analysis
A total of 31 interviews completed in 2002 (n ¼ 19) and 2008 (n ¼ 12) were transcribed
and analysed in the original Spanish. The data analysis was guided by the principles of
Culture, Health & Sexuality 411
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1990). An inductive
analysis (open coding) allowed us to identify the most salient themes in the cantineras’
narratives, including descriptions of their work, living conditions, sexual and social
relationships with their clientes (bar patrons) and finer details of cantineras’ alcohol
consumption practices. The criterion for including specific quotes in this report was the
plasticity, synthesis and illustrative character of particular fragments, which suited them
especially well as examples of the theses generated inductively and based on the corpus of
interviews. The analysis of the cantineras’ narratives was strengthened by combining
Goffman’s (1963) stigma theory with Bourdieu’s (1990) theory of practice. The strengths
of these theories are complementary and we judge that using alternative models would not
fully capture the gender and power dynamics confronted by cantineras or their attempts to
make sense of their stigmatising social environment.
Assessing the goodness and quality of our inquiry were based on the trustworthiness
criteria of credibility, dependability and confirmability (Guba and Lincoln 1994; Lincoln
Guba 1985), evidenced in our efforts to validate the initial 2002 findings, in cross-checking
the salient themes within and between participants of both studies, and in the use of similar
methodological procedures. We were not able to reach theoretical saturation due to the
barriers encountered in 2008, but we believe that the second smaller group of interviews
provides continuity with the previous study and does not restrict the significance and
applicability of our findings.
Results
We focus here on describing the nature of cantineras’ work and on analysing their
relationships with men. We explore the possibility of their transgressing or negotiating
gender norms in this work-related domain and the relevance of these domains to
cantineras’ current life circumstances. We argue that the social and cognitive strategies
these women adopt to cope with work and with men arise from the pressure they feel to
conform to Latina gender norms and the need to survive economically.
Discreditable identities in a cantina
According to Goffman (1963) a woman’s social identity is discreditable if it is perceived
as including attributes representing ‘blemishes of character’ that threaten her reputation
and make her an easy target for stigmatisation. Work in a cantina is an appealing, and yet
socially tainted job choice for recently arrived Latina immigrants. Many take the job with
no previous cantina work history on the promise of earning well and because they see no
other viable options for surviving economically as undocumented immigrants (Fernandez-
Esquer 2003). Amelia, a 50-year-old woman from Honduras interviewed in 2008, justified
her employment choice in the following manner:1
You end up in cantinas because everywhere else they ask for [legal] papers and if you don’thave papers, you don’t have work. So what else can you do? Come to work in one of theseplaces. . . . Because if you come from your country being that poor, you’re not going to end upsomewhere earning a hundred and fifty or two hundred dollars. You’re not going to be able tosupport your children, pay your rent here, and send money home. It won’t be enough.
In contrast with their current life circumstances – and with the image that they
currently hold of themselves as cantineras – respondents describe their previous lives as
being very different. One woman contrasted her previous and current lives and social
standing: ‘I was a normal person until two years ago. I lived with my husband, the father of
412 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
my children. I got married in the church, shared a life with my husband. We used to live
well’ (Elisa, 33, Mexico, 2002). Almost all cantineras interviewed in 2002 had been
employed in a conventional job in the unskilled labour sector before arriving in the USA.
An additional few had been homemakers and three others had been employed in the sex-
work industry (Fernandez-Esquer 2003).
Although they may have experienced marginalisation as poor women back home and,
later, discrimination as poor Latina immigrants in the USA, most of the women we inter-
viewed had not been familiar with the social repercussions of working in an occupation
perceived by the local community as being morally reprehensible. Rosa, a 28-year-old from
Honduras interviewed in 2002, poignantly commented on the perception of her job held by
people who do not frequent cantinas: ‘There are moments when you feel discouraged
because people see you as lost, right? Because you are worthless, you’re just a prostitute, if
you’ll excuse me.’ As most of these women have left families and other key supporters
behind and, because their local social networks are very limited, it might seem surprising
that they, in fact, invest significant effort in defending against social stigma. The cantineras
openly discuss their drinking practices, even though these practices depart sharply from
other Latina immigrants (Canino 1994). In contrast, they cannot bring themselves to openly
talk about sex: a sense of decency, even prudishness, constrains them from engaging the
topic directly. They do not even feel comfortable labeling or describing sexual behaviour
and indirectly refer to sex as ‘eso’ (that thing).
Impression management on the job
Goffman’s (1963) concept of career provides a framework for understanding the cantinera
experience. The job script for the typical waitress’ career includes serving and socialising
routines: all effective waitressing requires friendliness and good service. Beyond these, the
cantinera’s job requires drinking routines: she must persuade the customer to purchase
beers not only for himself, but also for her. In this context, ‘friendliness’ demands flirtation
and sexual innuendo. If the cantinera does not employ these strategies, which are essential
in promoting both types of beer sales, she will not be successful. While the consumption of
alcohol is explicitly required by the job, trading sex is an optional practice accepted by
some women, declined by others. Some cantineras emphatically claim that nobody forces
a woman to work in a bar and that the risks she takes are her own choice:
Look, it’s really up to the person. If a woman is outgoing and willing, and likes to makemoney, they can even sell themselves, or something, or whatever. . . . If a woman is matureenough to think about all of that, then it’s up to you, you know? It’s up to you, and it’s not anobligation so that your boss is going to say ‘you have to do this’. And that’s the reason everywoman chooses her own job. (Laura, 43, Mexico, 2008)
While the preceding quotation evidently refers to sex trading, it reflects Laura’s
general belief, expressed throughout her narrative, that the choice to perform specific
duties or not lies with each woman, a freedom that extends to the beer-drinking contract.
While the cantinera does have choices, these are limited by the highly restricted set of
options available to her: to flirt with clients or not, to trade sex or not, to drink for wages or
not. These restrictions are tacitly accepted as part of a working arrangement that if not
successfully transacted may not produce income for the cantinera. Thus, the description
serves to underscore the ways in which gender inequalities and ideologies constitute
sources of women’s exploitation in the global market (Mills 2003).
The cantineras’ narratives consistently portray a set of meanings attributed to cantinas,
to their jobs, and to their customers. Above all, the narratives reflect ambivalence toward
Culture, Health & Sexuality 413
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
their employment. This ambiguity is not necessarily a conscious and deliberate product of
impression management. It is, however, a practical strategy born of the need to preserve a
social identity and earn a living under stressful job conditions:
It’s just a normal job, you’re not stealing from anybody, it’s not even a sin. For me, working ina cantina is no sin. I think it’s a regular job just like any other, but the difference is that inanother job you’re not gonna drink. But here, if you want to earn [money] you have to drink.That’s the only difference. (Ana, 32, Puerto Rico, 2008)
Cantina workers may describe their job as being normal, but interactions with outsiders
may provoke defensive reactions to the perceived threat of being devalued and
stigmatised. When asked how she felt when someone called her a cantinera, a respondent
replied:
Well, sometimes it makes me furious, but [then] there are people who know that you just workhere and you’re not doing anything wrong. . . . It’s just another job, like someone working as awaitress in a restaurant. It’s the same. (Estela, 50, Honduras, 2008)
Other women respond defiantly to the same threat. A woman with 20 years of experience
as a cantinera dating back to her first cantina job in Mexico at age 16 comments: ‘I have
told people who [call me] a cantinera: “[Cantinera] and proud of it!”’ (Elsa, 38, Mexico,
2008).
Cantineras’ relationships with men
Cantineras’ sexual relationships with men fall into three categories: relationships with
bar customers, secondary sexual relationships and primary sexual relationships. Some
relationships may pose health and social risks because they are associated with unprotected
sex and drug use and may represent extramarital liaisons for one or both partners.
Cantineras’ relationships with men may be fluid. Relationships with male customers
sometimes progress from informal beer-drinking interactions, to occasional sexual
encounters, to stable affairs and, finally, in some cases, to more stable partnerships. In the
sections below we discuss relationships with bar customers, followed by relationships with
secondary sexual partners. Cantineras’ primary sexual relationships, even those that may
have originated in a cantina, respond to different interpersonal dynamics and are discussed
in a separate manuscript (Fernandez-Esquer and Diamond n.d.).
Cantineras’ bar clients
Beer-drinking customers, or clientes, are included in this section, although, technically,
the cliente is not a category of sexual partner. Cantineras and their clientes often develop
personal relationships through their conversations during the drinking-for-wages encounter
in the bar. Many of these relationships develop into platonic friendships. However, beer-
drinking companions often demand, and sometimes get, sexual favours.
In the cantina, women often need to cope with groping, sexual harrassment and other
types of abuse from customers who get drunk. Thus, a customer who is respectful and visits
on a regular basis merits being treated as a friend:
Friends are those who drink lots of beer and are not really interested in fondling. I’ve given mytelephone number to only one friend [i.e., customer]. He calls to tell me when he’s coming by.We talk and laugh, he buys me many beers and then he leaves. (Angelica, 20, Mexico, 2002)
The ‘good client’ is described as amable (courteous), respetuoso (respectful), que
tenga educacion (well-mannered). Cantineras’ descriptions of good clients reveal the
414 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
clash of expectations and gender norms in the cantina: to protect their own respectability,
cantineras expect conventional rules of courtship to be followed by men who seek
companionship at these bars precisely to escape convention.
The opposite of the good client is the ‘confused’ or ‘bad client’, who demands sexual
services, unaware of the subtle rules that govern behaviour in a cantina, as distinct from
the rules of engagement in a brothel:
Today I had a client that said ‘Why play dumb when you come into the bar? A man enteringthis place knows what he’s coming for. The only difference is that I’m gonna take my timechoosing the vieja [hag] who’s gonna spend time with me’. There are lots of customers whocome here to drink because they want to take you home with them. There are others who comehere for a while just to drink, dance, and hang out. (Socorro, 36, Mexico, 2002)
Sexual foreplay is an aspect of bar salesmanship that, while it may cause ambivalent
feelings on the part of the cantinera, is often allowed as a concession to an attentive and
generous beer-drinking customer. One woman bluntly stated: ‘Yes, I put up with the
customers who want to grab me and nag me because of the beers. Otherwise, I would put
up with nothing’ (Martha, 48, Honduras, 2002). Another woman sets specific boundaries
to the customer’s fondling:
I don’t like the ones who want to touch you there [genitals]. That’s why I wear pants. I don’twant them to lift my skirt . . . when I’m drinking with a client, I allow them to touch my back,or to put their hand on my leg briefly, or to grab my chin, but nothing more. (Angelica, 20,Mexico, 2002)
Cantineras’ ambivalence also reflects their fear of losing control of the drinking
transactions they promote, as fondling may lead to more beers and to more direct and
unwanted sexual contact.
Interactions with bar customers present not only earning opportunities, but also chances
to encounter stigma as a result of the clash between a cantinera’s role performance (to sell
beers, sex not included) and a customer’s expectations (purchase beers in exchange for sex).
In a cantina, the risky game of appearances involving flirting and touching in exchange
for beers may only reinforce a cantinera’s reputation as a prostitute. Local newspapers
periodically report cantina fights among customers vying for a cantinera’s attention, as
well as the victimisation of cantineras whose behaviour did not satisfy a customer’s
expectations. Although bar actors well understand the Latino norms that regulate courtship
and drinking, these are often ignored by men whose needs and expectations conflict with
those of women struggling to uphold gender norms, even when their occupational demands
directly contradict them.
Cantineras’ ‘amigos’ and casual sex partners
Cantineras may have sex with casual or secondary partners and use the label amigos
(friends) for both. The word amigo can be used euphemistically when referring to casual
sex partners for social acceptability reasons. Veiling these relationships with a respectable
label provides an acceptable cover to unacceptable relationships and provides evidence of
women’s inability to describe their sexual activity as routine and commercial.
A sex-for-money encounter might happen the day after an arrangement was made at a
cantina, while the main partner is away and the children are in school. Euphemistically,
this is referred to as ‘going out for lunch’:
Really, this place is a circus. It’s all lies. I would tell him ‘Yes, some day I will go to lunchwith you’. Of course, going to lunch does not mean going for a meal, it really means they’regoing to take you to a motel. (Marıa, 28, Honduras, 2002)
Culture, Health & Sexuality 415
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
The issue of secondary sexual relationships is an area of cantineras’ lives where we
find substantial evidence of strategic misrecognition, particularly in regard to their own
sexual risk. This veiled category of partners is the most difficult to classify because
cantineras are reluctant to talk about them openly. However, in the 2002 study we found
that 11 of the 20 informants reported sex-trading partners.
In many cases, the label amigo(s) also appears to designate close relationships with one
or more partners with whom a woman has regular sexual contact. Amigos represent
extramarital relationships with men who are also married. A way to characterise these sex
partners is to highlight the financial help they provide:
Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve only had three men, that’s all. So I don’t have to go to bed withother men that maybe, who knows who they are, or may even be sick. I only have three. That’senough to help. The three help me to buy food and pay the rent. It’s not a lot, but it helps.(Martha, 48, Honduras, 2002)
Explicitly acknowledging the exchange of sex for money as a form of prostitution is to
risk exposing one’s identity as a respectable woman to challenge. Women who have sex
with men whom they regard as friends or who provide help with basic expenses can defend
themselves from discreditation by not accepting money openly. Another strategy used to
minimise risk of discreditation adopted by women who have multiple partners is revealed
in the way they trivialise these brief sex encounters:
We all have maridos [husbands: euphemism for primary sex partners], but he’s out workingand you’re out working too. [You] take advantage and go out with other guys, but not three orfour daily, because prostitution in bars is really horrible. I have been with my [main] guy for awhile . . . I may sleep with one or two during the morning, but not every day. I have my briefaffairs (aventuritas), but not every day. (Rosa, 22, Guatemala, 2002)
This respondent defines her encounters as aventuritas (little adventures), another
euphemism to soften and minimise their importance, and to differentiate them from the
harsher, more impersonal exchange of sex for money. Women in the fish-for-sex trade
(Bene and Merten 2008) and sex workers in northern Mexico (Choudhury 2010) also
resort to the use of softer labels for more personal sex-trade relationships. Another woman
emphasises her freedom to choose whether or not to trade sex and corroborates the
former’s views: ‘Work in a cantina is better than in a brothel because you don’t have to
have sex with the customers’ (Veronica, 35, El Salvador, 2002).
To maintain the illusion that they freely choose to have sex with attractive bar
customers, many cantineras use euphemism extensively in describing these relationships
and take great effort in disguising them, ultimately leading them to further personal and
social alienation (Bourdieu 1998, 178). Efforts to avoid stigmatisation appear to lead some
women to progressively lose control over their social surroundings and to lose self-
confidence. The uncertainty created by living on the line between the acceptable and the
unacceptable; by being bound by traditional Latino norms (i.e., standards of conduct by
which a woman’s sexual reputation is evaluated such as modesty in dress; discretion in
fraternising with men; not straying far from home, much less drinking with strangers in a
cantina.), or rebelling against them, makes cantineras more socially and psychologically
vulnerable, more prone to sexually transmitted infections and victimisation.
Discussion
The narratives of the interviewees are consistent in their portrayals of cantinas, their
customers and their jobs and the set of meanings attributed to them. Although some
women speak directly about being paid for sex, cantineras generally strive to obscure their
416 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
trading sex for money practices. Importantly, the forms of denial they practice serve not
only to mount a calculated display intended to maintain a certain public image – they are
also the expression of cantineras’ misrecognition of the nature of their occupation. The
strategies they adopt allow women under threat of discreditation to partially distort, often
very subtly, the stigmatising nature of their work in an attempt to conform to collective,
socially constituted expectations regarding the Latino culture’s feminine ideal of decencia
(decency).
Above all, respondents’ narratives reflect ambivalence toward the nature of their
occupation, an ambiguity that is not just the result of conscious deliberation, but also a
manifestation of the unconscious dispositions of the habitus. We take from habitus three
aspects of a particular heuristic value to explain the regularities in the meanings and
practices evidenced in cantineras’ narratives: habitus as a system of durable dispositions,
shared habitus as experienced by those with a similar conditioning and habitus as a
competency and organised set of perceptions that is not fully conscious, a sort of
unconscious feel for the game (Bourdieu 1990; Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992).
We believe that misrecognition (Bourdieu 1998) of the true nature of cantina work and
the risks cantineras confront is both a social and cognitive strategy, an attempt to survive in
difficult circumstances and to uphold gender ideals. Misrecognition of precarious
circumstances can be expressed euphemistically (Bourdieu 1998) to characterise the job of
a cantinera in this manner: ‘bailas, tomas y platicas’ (you dance, drink and converse) or to
characterise the casual sex partners as amigos. Bourdieu argues that these forms of denial
are part of the phenomenon of misrecognition in general and should not be seen as
duplicitous or hypocritical, but as a necessary strategy born from a practical logic.
Cantineras may feel free to talk about their drinking practices, but many cannot bring
themselves to openly discuss trading sex for money. Misrecognition as a strategy based on
practical logic adopted by most cantineras is also evidenced as a form of resistance among
a small minority of women who refuse to hide the nature of their work and decide to ‘talk
openly’. Bourdieu (1998) claims that the various expressions of habitus are exposed in the
regularities of perception and action schemes, as well as in the struggles of individuals
who transgress its rules. In this manner, the struggle to conceal certain aspects of the job
are exposed by those who talk openly: ‘The Salvadorans claim that they are here to make
money, not to eat shit . . . and that we Mexicans are really stupid . . . ’ (Norah, 32, Mexico,
2002). Implied in this statement is the Salvadoran referents’ struggle for survival and to
make a living at whatever cost, even prostitution, and their belief that disguising or hiding
this practice is futile.
Discreditable identities may lead to the failure to confront health risks because the
threat of disclosing a stigmatising activity and the potential for experiencing discrimination
is dealt with by a woman with limited resources and opportunities by mislabeling or
misrecognising the significance of her sexual and drinking activities. To paraphrase Hirsch
et al. (2007, 992), reputation is a critical aspect of sexual identity and, thus, attention to
sociosexual reputations provides insight into why people act in ways that are socially safer
but physically more risky. Thus, the emotional risks associated with being discredited and
losing one’s personal reputation can override the risk of experiencing health problems,
including HIV or violence (Sanders 2004).
Misrecognition is a strategy arising from the constraints imposed by poverty and an
immigrant status reality that limits the cantinera’s employment and survival options and
pressures her to function adaptively in a subculture that requires drinking and promotes
sex trading as a way to survive. Misrecognition is a strategy used not only in response to
the context of the occupation, but also to the social and cultural world outside the cantina
Culture, Health & Sexuality 417
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
that pressures cantineras to conform to the feminine gender ideal. Finally, misrecognition
is not only a strategy to avoid stigma, but also a social strategy to diffuse the consequences
of violating traditional gender norms. However, the lack of recognition of personal risk is
neither due to ignorance, nor to psychopathological denial. It is a prereflexive strategy
built on the practical logic of having to survive in a work context that is socially marginal.
The relationship between gender ideals and stigma or, more precisely, the struggle to
uphold gender ideals in the context of a practices as stigmatising as those of the cantineras,
is crystalised in the phenomenon of misrecognition and pre-reflexive strategies reveal the
connection between gender ideals and stigma.
Cantineras’ misrecognition of the nature of their work and its inherent risks may,
indeed, be essential to the practical mastery of daily life and may act in the short-term as an
incentive to focus on economic and social gains and as a buffer against discrimination,
isolation and the failure to meet social and gender role expectations. It also allows the
cantinera to maintain a sense of dignity and decency, at least temporarily. However,
the short-term advantages of misrecognition may actually increase the risk for negative
long-term social and health consequences. Drinking for wages (Fernandez-Esquer 2003)
in the cantina and occasionally agreeing to have sex with customers may be construed as
harmless tradeoffs, balanced against the job’s income generating potential. However, in
the longer term, these practices and cantineras’ misrecognition of their true consequences
can lead to alcoholism and drug addition; failure to use condoms and unprotected sex and,
consequentially, STDs and unwanted pregnancies; to risky encounters with the customers
in which they may be raped; and, occasionally, given local news reports, to situations that
may lead to their assault and even death.
Understanding the lives of cantineras must be informed by an approach that considers
their gender and sexuality, their poverty and undocumented status, their health and the
vulnerability imposed on them by their working conditions. The plight of cantineras needs
to be addressed comprehensively, with sensitivity to all these aspects of their existence
and, above all, to their human rights as women who live in precarious and stigmatising
circumstances.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported in part by a pilot grant to the first author from the National Institute ofOccupational Safety and Health through the Southwest Center for Occupational and EnvironmentalHealth at the University of Texas. We thank Honora Swain, Sheryl McCurdy, Michael W. Ross andAmy Snipes for their comments. We would like to give special thanks to Megan J. Crowhurst for herinsights on the language used by cantineras and her translations of quotations into English. Finallyand, most importantly, we would like to thank the women who consented to be interviewed for thisstudy for their courage and generosity in sharing the details of their lives and working conditions.
Note
1. Translations into English throughout are those of the first author and Megan Crowhurst.
References
Bene, C., and S. Merten. 2008. Women and fish-for-sex: Transactional sex, HIV/AIDS and gender inAfrican fisheries. World Development 36, no. 5: 875–99.
Bourdieu, P. 1998. Practical reason: On the theory of action. Stanford, CA: Stanford UniversityPress.
Bourdieu, P. 1990. The logic of practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
418 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Bourdieu, P., and L. Wacquant. 1992. An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago, IL: University ofChicago Press.
Bronfman, M., P. Uribe, D. Halperin, and C. Herrera. 2001. Mujeres al borde: Vulnerabilidad a lainfeccion por VIH en la frontera sur de Mexico [Women on the verge: Vulnerability to HIVinfection on Mexico’s southern border]. In Mujeres en la frontera: Trabajo, salud y migracion[Women on the border: Work, health and migration], ed. E. Munon, 15–31. Mexico: El Colegiode la Frontera Norte.
Canino, G. 1994. Alcohol use and misuse among Hispanic women: Selected factors, processes andstudies. The International Journal of the Addictions 29, no. 9: 1083–1100.
Choudhury, S.M. 2010. ‘As prostitutes, we control our bodies’: Perceptions of health and body in thelives of establishment-based female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico. Culture, Health &Sexuality 12, no. 6: 677–89.
Collins, P.Y., H. von Unger, and A. Armbrister. 2008. Church ladies, good girls and locas: Stigmaand the intersection of gender, ethnicity, mental illness and sexuality in relation to HIV risk.Social Science & Medicine 67: 389–97.
Cressey, P. 1932. The taxi-dance hall: A sociological study in commercialized recreation and citylife. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Diaz, R.M., G. Ayala, and E. Bein. 2004. Sexual risk as an outcome of social opression: Data from aprobability sample of Latino gay men in three US cities. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic MinorityPsychology 1093: 255–67.
Diaz, R.M., G. Ayala, E. Bein, J. Henne, and B.V. Marin. 2001. The impact of homophobia, povertyand racism on the mental health of gay and bisexual Latino men: Findings from three US cities.American Journal of Public Health 91, no. 6: 927–32.
Fernandez-Esquer, M.E. 2003. Drinking for wages: Alcohol use among cantineras. Journal ofStudies on Alcohol 64, no. 2: 160–6.
Fernandez-Esquer, M.E., and P. Diamond. n.d. Normative gender role beliefs and intimate partnerviolence: The experience of Latina women who work in cantinas., Unpublished manuscript.
Glaser, B., and A. Strauss. 1967. The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitativeresearch. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Goffman, E. 1963. Stigma. Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.Gonzalez-Lopez, G. 2006. Heterosexual fronteras: Immigrant Mexicanos, sexual vulnerabilities, and
survival. Sexuality Research & Social Policy 3, no. 3: 67–81.Guba, E.G., and Y.S. Lincoln. 1994. Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In Handbook of
qualitative research, ed. N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln, 105–19. London: Sage.Herrera, C., and L. Campero. 2002. La vulnerabilidad e invisibilidad de las mujeres ante el
VIH/SIDA: Constantes y cambios en el tema [Vulnerability and invisibility of women inHIV/AIDS: Thematic constancies and changes]. Salud Publica de Mexico 44, no. 6: 554–64.
Hirsch, J.S., S. Meneses, B. Thompson, M. Negroni, B. Pelcastre, and C. del Rio. 2007. Theinevitability of infidelity: Sexual reputation, social geographies and marital HIV risk in ruralMexico. American Journal of Public Health 97, no. 6: 986–96.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, P., and E. Avila. 1997. ‘I’m here, but I’m there’: The meanings of Latinatransnational motherhood. Gender & Society 11, no. 5: 548–71.
Infante, C., S. Sosa-Rubi, and M. Cuadra. 2009. Sex work in Mexico: Vulnerability of male travesti,transgender and transexual sex workers. Culture, Health & Sexuality 11, no. 2: 125–37.
Kumar, A., L. Hessim, and E.M.H. Mitchell. 2009. Conceptualizing abortion stigma. Culture, Health& Sexuality 11, no. 6: 625–39.
Lincoln, Y.S., and E.G. Guba. 1985. Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Merten, S., and T. Haller. 2007. Culture, changing livelihoods and HIV/AIDS discourse: Reframing
the institutionalization of fish-for-sex exchange in the Zambian Kafue Flats. Culture, Health &Sexuality 9, no. 1: 69–83.
Mills, M.B. 2003. Gender and inequality in the global labor force. Annual Review of Anthropology32: 41–62.
Norris, A.H., A.J. Kitali, and E. Worby. 2009. Alcohol and transactional sex: How risky is the mix?Social Science & Medicine 69: 1167–76.
Sanders, T. 2004. A continuum of risk? The management of health, physical and emotional risks byfemale sex workers. Sociology of Health and Illness 26, no. 5: 557–74.
Culture, Health & Sexuality 419
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4
Scambler, G., and F. Paoli. 2008. Health work, female sex workers and HIV/AIDS: Global and localdimensions of stigma and deviance as barriers to effective interventions. Social Science &Medicine 66: 1848–62.
Strauss, A., and J. Corbin. 1990. Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures fordeveloping grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Vellos, D. 1997. Immigrant Latina domestic workers and sexual harassment. Journal of Gender &the Law 5: 407–32.
Resume
Les femmes pauvres sont souvent obligees d’accepter des emplois qui compromettent leur sante etleur reputation sociale. Les cantineras sont des immigrees latinas recentes qui travaillent dans lesbars dont la clientele est composee d’ouvriers latinos, et ou elles sont engagees en tant que serveusespour gagner des commissions sur la vente des bieres achetees par des hommes en recherche decompagnie feminine. Les recits de 31 cantineras ont mis en lumiere la sous-culture associee au travaildans les cantinas locales, ou la consommation d’alcool est la principale obligation professionnelle, etou les hommes s’attendent a des services sexuels en echange des bieres qu’ils achetent. Cet articledecrit les strategies adoptees par les cantineras pour minimiser leur consommation d’alcool etcamoufler leur pratique de la transaction sexuelle. Cette deformation ou «non-reconnaissance» despratiques liees a leur travail aide ces femmes a gerer leur peur d’etre stigmatisees en tantqu’employees, et devalorisees en tant que personnes. Nous argumentons que, dans ce contexte, la«non-reconnaissance» des pratiques liees au travail a une signification qui va au-dela de simplestentatives de deni, ou de preservation de l’image sociale. Elle est plutot une strategie utilisee par lescantineras pour fonctionner tout en s’adaptant aux conditions professionnelles oppressives. Laconfrontation a la stigmatisation amene les cantineras a adopter des strategies sociales et cognitivesqui, alors qu’elles minimisent les risques sociaux a court terme, peuvent avoir des consequencesdevastatrices sur la duree, au plan social et au plan de la sante.
Resumen
Las mujeres pobres muchas veces se ven obligadas a aceptar trabajos que ponen en peligro su salud yreputacion social. Las cantineras son inmigrantes recientes latinoamericanas empleadas en bareslatinos de clase trabajadora (cantinas) donde son contratadas como camareras y ganan comisionespor la venta de la cerveza que les compran los clientes masculinos que buscan la companıa demujeres. A traves de los relatos que se pidio a 31 cantineras, descubrimos la subcultura laboral de lascantinas locales, donde beber es una obligacion principal de trabajo y los hombres esperan favoressexuales como compensacion por las cervezas que compran. En este artıculo describimos lasestrategias que adoptan las cantineras para restarle importancia a su consumo de alcohol y disimularlas practicas de comercio sexual. Esta distorsion o ‘falta de reconocimiento’ de las practicasrelacionadas con el trabajo sirve para aliviar el temor de las cantineras de ser estigmatizadas comotrabajadoras y devaluadas como personas. Planteamos que la falta de reconocimiento en estecontexto representa mas que un simple intento de denegar o defender una imagen publica. Mas bien,es una estrategia que emplean las cantineras a fin de adaptarse a circunstancias laborales opresivas.Para enfrentarse al estigma, las cantineras adoptan estrategias sociales y cognitivas que aunquedisminuyan el dano social a corto plazo con el tiempo pueden causar consecuencias devastadoras anivel social y en la salud.
420 M.E. Fernandez-Esquer and M.C. Agoff
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Her
iot-
Wat
t Uni
vers
ity]
at 2
1:25
06
Oct
ober
201
4