Mildreth, between scars and militancy

#Spotlight

Estefanía Montenegro

Photographer and filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany

After 20 years of practicing sex work, Mildreth, now a lawyer, is dedicated to helping her colleagues in legal proceedings.

I had to leave Colombia at the age of five because of the armed conflict,” says Mildreth, who migrated to Ecuador 29 years ago. She says that at 14 she started doing sex work because she couldn't get another job due to lack of opportunities. For two decades, Mildreth has been discriminated against for being a woman, a migrant and a sex worker.

This distinction made her many times forced to leave her different houses without her belongings, and start over in another place. Another reason why Mildreth had to change cities was because people who do sex work in tolerance centers, known as brothels, Mildreth says, go out of style or “burn out”.

Mildreth had her first daughter at 16, and her second daughter at 21. With her income, Mildreth educated her two daughters and financed her own high school and college education.

In 2021 she graduated as a lawyer and works in her profession: she gives legal advice to her fellow sex workers and to people who do not have the resources to access a lawyer.