The purpose of this research is the theoretical and anthropological approach of sex work and how it is defined, organized and spatially readjusted as an integral part of the urban fabric in contemporary Greek reality. The paradox of the brothels’ condition as an echo and symbolism of the postmodernity era and the traces they have created in the city, turning them into a contemporary monument of postmodern culture that seeks ephemeral and instantaneous satisfaction, was the motivation for dealing with this topic. These places of desire and illusion have been preserved in time contributing a different kind of tradition and one of the main reasons for their endurance in it is because of the on-site paradox of the “omnipotence of choice”.
In this context, the theoretical analysis of margin and sex working and the identification of the latter as a direct supply in the brothels is carried out. The spaces of direct sexual provision are part of an unstructured architecture possessing a driving force through the illicit and desire. Then, it follows an attempt to depict the working conditions of sex workers as well as the professional status found in its contemporary manifestations in the Greek reality. The sexuality of today’s society, the rapidly growing business of the sex industry and the sexualization of the urban, public space are discussed. An important aspect of the study was the personal research and recording of this social phenomenon in different corners of the city of Volos. During this wandering, is made an approach so as to identify and analyse sex in the urban centre and determine this different social experience in contemporary conditions.
Through the theoretical research and on-site exploration of the topic, is accomplished the emergence of brothels as traces of eroticism in the city, as extreme and profitable heterotopias and as places of desire of an unfamiliar reality.