Pleasure and protagonism: An interview with Maria de Jesus Almeida Costa, a Black sex worker activist from Brazil's Northeast region

Pleasure and protagonism are two words that define Maria de Jesus Almeida Costa, or Dije, as friends call her. She was just an adolescent when she first arrived in the Sao Luiz red light district and began to fight against the violence and injustice she witnessed. Today, she is 62 years old and the leader of the sex worker movement in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, in the Northeast region of the country. She is widely recognised for her tireless fight for the preservation of the historical centre of Sao Luiz where the red light district remains to this day, and where Jesus also raised her children and lives to this day. In this interview, Jesus talks about the pleasures and dangers of prostitution, her fight against racism and sex work stigma, her relationship with the academy and researchers, the alliances and partnerships she mobilised during the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges that she is facing in Brazil's current conservative, far-right government.