Abstract

The phenomenon of prostitution is in full swing in Benin, especially in Cotonou and its surroundings. However, few sociological studies have been carried out on this subject. To compensate for this rarity, we have produced, through this paper, an x-ray of prostitution in Cotonou. In Benin, prostitution being the result of the colonial desacralization of women, seems to be part of a vindictive and supra-venal logic. The prostitute, in Cotonou, seeks in the illegitimate paths of sex work a legitimate honor... What is the price to pay to regain this honor? The various ethnographic surveys that we conducted with around thirty "beauties of the night", in the "bars" or the "red zones" of Cotonou and its surroundings, reveal anyway the mixed impacts of prostitution activity on the emancipation of the prostitute.

Keywords: Beauties of the Night, Sex work, Ethnographic surveys, Prostitute, Red zone, Bars