On March 18,
2010, SocialDesignSite presented the ongoing research and moderated a
discussion on
social design at the Kunst Apotheke Salon Session 6 organised by 
Las Estrellas de la Línea is the name of a women’s Guatemalan
football team that was founded by a group of women working in the sex
industry in order to confront societal attitudes towards them and
highlight the dangers they faced.
Started in 2004, Las Estrellas de la Línea toured Guatemala playing
football matches in an attempt to challenge the perceptions and
prejudices of the public towards sex workers in Guatemala. Through
football they hoped to put a human face to the stereotype of the ‘sex
worker’. Their dream was to be treated with dignity and to live without
police harrassment and the daily violence that threatened their lives.
Although their reasons for working in the sex industry may vary some
have their message is unequivocal: "Before we are prostitutes we are
women and mothers!"
However, in a country where more than 2,200 women and girls have been murdered since 2001 and where the government seems uninterested in changing this, not everybody was ready to hear their message. Las Estrellas attempts to join a local soccer league were thwarted when they were expelled because they worked in the sex industry. Despite this, Las Estrellas managed to gain enough notoriety to make sure that their message was heard not only natiownide, but also internationally thanks to a Spanish documentary which covered their story.
Las Estrellas may not be able to claim that they changed the attitudes of Guatemalan society, but they can say that they were respected, by many, as women and as mothers.
However, in a country where more than 2,200 women and girls have been murdered since 2001 and where the government seems uninterested in changing this, not everybody was ready to hear their message. Las Estrellas attempts to join a local soccer league were thwarted when they were expelled because they worked in the sex industry. Despite this, Las Estrellas managed to gain enough notoriety to make sure that their message was heard not only natiownide, but also internationally thanks to a Spanish documentary which covered their story.
Las Estrellas may not be able to claim that they changed the attitudes of Guatemalan society, but they can say that they were respected, by many, as women and as mothers.
![[noplaceprojects*] (GBR)](http://www.socialdesignsite.com/images/partnerprojects/small/20090715131523_1.jpg "[noplaceprojects*] (GBR)")
