Commodification of the Female Body: Ads for Prostitution in the Newspaper O Correio do Povo (2000–2005)

Abstract

This article investigates how prostitution advertisements published in the newspaper O Correio do Povo (2000–2005) reflect the commodification of the female body and the legitimation of paid sex as a social practice. Using André Melo Mendes’ methodology for image analysis, it examines visual and textual discourses that reinforce gender stereotypes and structural inequalities. The research highlights the role of the media in the normalization of prostitution, presenting the female body as a commodity shaped by male desire, within a capitalist and patriarchal logic that silences the symbolic and material violence involved in this practice.