title: Drinking and working in a cantina: misrecognition and the threat of stigma.
abstract: Poor women are often compelled to accept jobs that jeopardise their health and their social reputations. Cantineras are recently immigrated Latinas employed in working-class Latino bars (cantinas) where they are hired as waitresses to earn sales commissions from beer purchased for them by male clients seeking female companionship. Narratives solicited from 31 cantineras revealed the work subculture of local cantinas, where drinking is a primary work obligation and where men expect sexual favours as a quid pro quo for beers they buy. This paper describes strategies that cantineras adopt to downplay their drinking and to disguise sex-trading practices. This distortion or 'misrecognition' of work-related practices functions to manage cantineras' fear of being stigmatised as workers and devalued as individuals. We argue that misrecognition in this context represents more than simple attempts at denial or to uphold a public image. Rather, it is a strategy employed by cantineras in order to function adaptively under oppressive work circumstances. Confronting stigma leads cantineras to adopt social and cognitive strategies that, while minimising social damage in the near term, can lead to devastating health and social consequences over time.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, USA. Maria.E.Fernandez-Esquer@uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Maria Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fernández-Esquer
authors.forename: Maria Carolina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Agoff
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012147:Restaurants; D011477:Sex Work / Q000523:psychology; D019529:Sexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D057545:Social Stigma; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology