ECONOMIES OF SEXUALITY: SEX/GENDER IDENTITY FOR BENEFIT AMONG ROMA “WOMEN,” SEXUAL WORKERS IN SKOPJE

Abstract

This paper deals with the local sexual/gender system and the sexual/ gender identity “for the benefit” of “women” in the Roma community in Skopje. This concept applies to Roma people, biologically born as men, who want to make earnings for their families by doing sex work as women at the “open”
and “closed” spaces in Skopje, North Macedonia, and in Europe. The idea that sexuality can be sold as a service and used as an income generator is one of the principal reasons for those individuals to maintain their sexual/gender identity as “women” in the local economic system of the Roma gay people. This concept manifests through the peer system of “sisters” in the Roma community in Skopje.