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Female sex work in San Jose, Costa Rica: a sociobiology approach. In Costa Rica, sex work has been studied for decades from a pre-evolutionary perspective, and often with an underlying patriarchal bias because sex work is seen as a social pathology, ignoring contributions from sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. In this study, we measured the performance of predictions made by the evolutionary model, in a sample of 78 women aged 18 to 81 years, who perform sex work in San José, capitol of Costa Rica, interviewed in 2008. The interviews were based on a questionnaire, respondents were paid for their time, and data were analyzed with the SPSS statistical program. All predictions of the evolutionary; model are met by this sample: the customers are mostly men in reproductive age (29 to 54 years) who pay women for sexual activity even in cases in which they establish an emotional relationship with the workers. The predictions of the model for workers are also met, since they are primarily women of reproductive age (24 to 41 years), 100% charge for their services, and women who are more attractive for their beauty, intellect and education, earn 10 times more than the rest. In the human species, resources can be given in exchange for sexual services, and 98% of these sex workers are women who have no other source of income; besides, 69% have no partner helping them to support their children. The other 31% have a partner but do not receive enough money from him. KEY WORDSEvolution of human sexual behavior, sex work, Costa Rica, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, prostitution, sex for resources, patriarchy.

La economía trata la asignación de recursos escasos a necesidades ilimitadas. Aunque la disciplina nació hace más de 200 años al amparo de la filosofía moral, la teoría se ha desarrollado, básicamente, en relación con las decisiones productivas que involucran los recursos materiales. No es sino hasta mediados del siglo pasado, cuando algunos economistas (e.g. Becker 1973, 1976, McKenzie y Tullock 1978 estudiaron decisiones como el matrimonio y la criminalidad. Una evidencia de la aceptación que han tenido estas incursiones novedosas, es el otorgamiento del Premio Nobel de Economía de 1992 a Gary Becker por su aplicación del principio racional de comportamiento optimizador a la familia y al crimen y castigo.En el caso del trabajo sexual, un tema tabú en práctica-mente todas las sociedades, algunos economistas han aplicado modelos microeconómicos a las conductas de las mujeres que ofrecen estos servicios, los hombres que los demandan y el mercado en que se dan estas transacciones, pero el trabajo es muy poco considerando el tamaño del mercado. No hay datos exactos en el mundo acerca del número de mujeres que hacen trabajo sexual y menos aún del valor agregado que esta actividad representa en la producción mundial.Con base en estadísticas nacionales sobre salud y condiciones socioeconómicas, Vandepitte et al. (2006) utilizaron datos de ciudades y zonas para calcular que, según el lugar, entre el 0,1 y el 7,4 % de las mujeres adultas del mundo hacen trabajo sexual (Cuadro 1). ABSTRACTThe female sex work market in San Jose, Costa Rica. Sex work is a commercial transaction and is part of the economy, but social practices hide it and it is seldom mentioned in economic reports. In 2008 we interviewed 78 female sex workers in San José, capitol city of Costa Rica. They belonged in three groups: women working in the area surrounding the markets, fare US$3 to US$8 per hour and aged 26 to 81 years, workers at two massage parlors in San Juan de Tibás (US$18 to US$72 per hour, ages 18 to 33 years) and "call-girls" (US$100 an hour; 19 to 38 years). The interviews were based on a questionnaire; respondents were paid their time, and data were analyzed with the SPSS statistical program. Depending on the group, between half and a majority consider sex work an acceptable way for women to obtain resources for their families, and for men, a sexual relief that reduces sexual violence. Women have no boss and decide independently on time and place of work. They reject customers if there is no agreement on which specific services they will provide. Few have experienced violence or sexually transmitted diseases as a result of their sex work. Most have no husband or permanent companion. The preferred client is kind, mature and deals always with the same woman. Undesirable customers are aggressive, mean, dirty and drugged. Customers are mostly married and aged 35-45 years. The requested services are diverse, but are dominated by oral sex and the "missionary" position. The rate is defined by group membership (market area, parlor or "call girl...

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Este artículo es realizado a partir de la investigación "Mujeres en movimientos socioculturales del siglo XXI: un acercamiento a sus realidades en espacios politizados y artísticos", realizada durante 2009-2011 y adscrita al Centro de Investigación en Cultura y Desarrollo (CICDE) de la Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED, Costa Rica). El propósito de este estudio es señalar y analizar las organizaciones sociales donde participan las mujeres en espacios mixtos, con el fin de revelar y luchar por sus expresiones identitarias para que no sean ignoradas, oprimidas, silenciadas o excluidas, porque sus valores, identidades y subjetividades son producto de las formas de vida de estas mujeres, quienes producen y construyen espacios culturales y políticos.