Public policy initiatives aimed at prostitution have undergone changes since the end of the 20th century. They are no longer the exclusive objective of police intervention and hygienic concerns, and have come to include the perspective of prostitutes themselves. In Brazil, it is possible to identify legislative initiatives in the field of healthcare that refer to labor and human rights in this field. The purpose of this article is to examine two of these initiatives: Proposed Law n. 98/2003, presented by federal deputy Fernando Gabeira to recognize prostitution as a "service of a sexual nature" and the labor legislation that sought to insert the activity of sex professionals within the Brazilian Classification of Occupations.
prostitution; human rights; public policies