Immigrant Sex Workers Research Articles

Factors associated with condom use among sex workers of venezuelan origin in ColombiaFatores associados ao uso de preservativo em profissionais do sexo de origem venezuelana na Colômbia

To describe the factors that determine condom use in Venezuelan immigrant sex workers in Colombia. A qualitative study was conducted with an interpretive hermeneutic approach, using semi-structured interviews developed in the Metropolitan Area of Aburrá Valley, Bogotá, and the Colombian coffee-growing region. Fifty-five interviews were conducted. Of the total number of people interviewed, 60% were cisgender men, 31% were cisgender women, and 9% were transgender women. The average age of the participants was 27 years. Sixty-nine percent were irregular migrants in Colombia. Only 11% were affiliated with the health system. It was observed that condom use is inconsistent among sex workers, depending on personal and social factors. The factors that influence condom use in sex workers of Venezuelan origin in Colombia are determined by various factors, both personal and social. Personal factors relate to knowledge, support networks, and risk perception, while social factors are associated with substance use, stigma and discrimination, and the places where sex work is done. Social factors are the ones that most influence inconsistent condom use in cisgender men and transgender women.

Structural determinants of HIV/STI prevalence, HIV/STI/sexual and reproductive health access, and condom use among immigrant sex workers globally.

Given stark health inequities among precarious and criminalized workers, we aimed to apply a structural determinants framework to systematically review evidence on HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence, access to HIV/STI/SRH services, and condom use among im/migrant sex workers (ISWs) globally. Systematic search of peer-reviewed studies published in English (2009-2019). Eligible studies reported HIV/STI, access to HIV/STI/SRH services, and/or condom use outcomes and/or lived experiences among ISWs. Quantitative and qualitative data were synthesized using a structural determinants framework. Of 425 studies screened, 29 studies from 15 countries were included. HIV prevalence ranged from 0.3 to 13.6% and varied across settings, with highest prevalence among undocumented ISWs in a high-income country (Portugal). Precarious immigration status was a structural factor associated with poorer HIV/STI outcomes, whereas qualitative narratives showed ISWs' lived experiences as strongly shaped by policing and stigma. Despite disparities, in some settings, HIV and STI prevalence were lower and odds of condom use with clients were higher among ISWs relative to non-im/migrant sex workers. This review identified a paucity of research on SRH and male and gender-diverse ISWs. Across legislative settings, criminalization of SW and im/migrant status, policing, and migration-related marginalization were prominent structural barriers to ISWs' HIV/STI/SRH access. This review identified important inequities and variation in HIV/STI prevalence among ISWs globally. Our findings highlight impacts of the intersections of migration and criminalization, and suggest a need to reform criminalized sex work laws; address punitive policing and immigration enforcement; enable safer indoor work environments; and expand community-based interventions towards promoting HIV/STI/SRH access and health equity among ISWs.

Crossing borders: the intersectional marginalisation of Bulgarian Muslim trans*immigrant sex workers in Berlin

ABSTRACT Bordering situates immigrant sex workers at the margins of an already marginalised industry and naturalises the legal conditions of their dispossession and precarity. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Berlin, we offer a situated intersectional analysis of the everyday bordering experiences of Muslim trans*immigrant sex workers from Bulgaria (hereafter TISWs). Focusing on three interactional contexts – minority belonging within EU and German politics, encounters with medicolegal institutions, and the new sex work regulation in Germany – our study demonstrates both that everyday bordering experiences derive not solely from national border enforcement and citizenship regulation but also from intersectional sociocultural barriers imposed by non-state actors, while the internal bordering practices of the German state exacerbate the exclusion and marginalisation of sex/gender transgressive people and sex work. We conclude that despite their physical existence as EU citizens in Berlin, TISWs’ everyday bordering experiences require a more nuanced understanding of intersectional systems of oppression which postpones TISWs’ arrival in Berlin indefinitely.

The Invisible Women: Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers and Law Reform in Canada

This article examines how migrant and immigrant sex workers have been rendered invisible before the courts and parliament in the reform of laws regarding sex work in Canada. A discourse analysis of the expansive legal record in the Bedford case and the transcripts of Parliamentary debates and testimony before Standing Committees confirm the lack of nuanced discussion on how criminal law reform could impact migrant and immigrant sex workers. As such, while the case of Bedford and the resulting change in the law made by Parliament have been celebrated as a win for some sex workers as an acknowledgment, recognition and judicial validation of experiences by legal institutions of sex workers, a sub-group of women – migrant and immigrant sex workers – remain in the shadows. This article examines how law excludes migrant and immigrant sex workers; it is a starting point for research on how migrant and immigrant sex workers may participate in future legal reform.

Rendering the Invisible Visible: Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers and the Law

“The Invisible Girl can do it better.” Sue Storm said this in one of her early appearances in the comic world. As one of the Fantastic Four, Sue Storm was “Invisible Girl” or now “Invisible Woman,” she gained her super powers from cosmic rays from a trip to space. Portrayed in comics as a female voice of reason, her powers to turn herself invisible were almost useless on the battlefield and she was frequently portrayed as the helpless female, constantly in need of rescue. The Invisible Woman, while a fictional character, has parallels in our more corporal world. Being invisible does not garner power in legal discourse. This paper is about a migrant and immigrant sex workers, and how they were rendered invisible in discourse before the courts and parliament involving the reform of laws regarding sex work and prostitution in Canada. The paper discusses how migrant and immigrant sex workers were legally abandoned, and why their exclusion in the law reform projects is problematic.Acknowledgment, recognition by legal institutions is not benign. As one scholar writes, “by simply acknowledging the complex, creative histories of women like Amy Leibovitch, Valerie Scott, and Terri-Jean Bedford, by judicially seeing and so validating the experiences of sex workers in rendering a decision, the case [of Bedford at the Supreme Court of Canada] signaled a first step toward undoing the pervasive invisibility of Canadian sex workers.” While this statement may be true, there are a sub-group of women that were still in the shadows - migrant and immigrant sex workers. As one scholar notes, “The erasure of marginalized voices in the public sphere is a problem of particularly grave concern, even though it can be difficult to perceive.” The erasure of voices is a “form of epistemic violence” which may include “subtle and socially sanctioned methods of undermining that are sometimes couched in the language of ‘helping,’ ‘protecting’ and ‘saving.’” In examining the journey of legal reform for sex work in Canada, this work fills a gap in examining one sub-group of sex workers that have been given little considered in discussions of sex work and law in Canada. The paper continues the work of feminist and critical race theorists who aspire to look to the bottom to examine how marginalized persons, particularly ethnic, migrant and immigrant, are considered within law. While this paper is bearing witness to how law in Canada affects migrant and immigrant sex workers, the paper is a starting point for future research to further examine how perhaps the voices of migrant and immigrant sex workers may be lifted so that there is participation in future and potential legal challenge and reform.

Social control of immigrant sex workers: transforming a group recognized as “at risk” into a group viewed as “a risk”

PurposeIn this paper, the aim is to present an historical analysis to account for the association between prostitution, disease, and victimization. It also seeks to examine how stigmatization and rejection are currently focused on the immigrant sex worker.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on historical data about regulations in Portugal, in a recent ethnography carried out with street prostitutes and in a current study on immigrant sex workers and health care.FindingsSex workers have been recognized as a group “at risk” both because they are associated with sexually transmitted diseases and because they are acknowledged as victims of traffic and sexual exploitation. This label “group at risk” justifies some state policies often expressed in sanitary and social control measures, as regulations. Because migrant sex workers are simultaneously immigrants and sex workers they are perceived as a threat to social order and a sign of moral disorder and, so, they experience processes of rejection and stigmatization more significantly than local sex workers.Originality/valueThe knowledge of the negative consequences experienced by migrant sex workers implies an effort to produce changes in the policies and practices towards them. All those involved in research or intervention with migrant sex workers have the responsibility to be aware of the discrimination, violence, and control they are subjected to and must be committed enough to challenge them. This paper can be a contribution to that.

Prevalence of HIV-1 non-B subtypes, syphilis, HTLV, and hepatitis B and C viruses among immigrant sex workers in Madrid, Spain.

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) remains a major public health challenge in developed countries, exacerbated by the advent of the HIV epidemic. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of serological markers of syphilis, HIV-1/2, HTLV-I/II, HBV, and HCV infections among immigrant sex workers in Madrid, Spain and to characterize the HIV-1 variants in seropositive individuals. Sera from 762 immigrant commercial sex workers (75.3% from sub-Saharan Africa, 18.2% from South America, and 6.4% from Eastern Europe) were collected between 1998 and 2003 in Madrid and examined. Antibody detection was performed by screening assays (RPR, ELISAs) and confirmed by FTA-Abs, LIAs and Western-blot tests. HIV-1 subtyping was carried out by phylogenetic analyses of the protease and envelope genes. Antibodies to HIV-1 were found in 5.2%, while 3.5% tested positive for HBsAg, 3% for syphilis antibodies, 0.8% for HCV antibodies, and 0.2% for HTLV-I antibodies. None were reactive for HIV-2 or HTLV-II antibodies. HIV-1 seroprevalence among Africans and Ecuadorians was 4.5 and 10.9%, respectively. All HIV-1 seropositive Ecuadorians were transsexual men, and 28.6% had active syphilis infection. Up to 80% of HIV-1 positive specimens were characterized as non-B subtypes, with subtypes G, A, and G/A recombinants being the most frequent among African individuals. In contrast, South Americans with HIV-1 infection carried exclusively subtype B variants. A relatively high proportion of immigrant sex workers in Madrid were infected with HIV-1 and syphilis, whereas infections with hepatitis viruses or HTLV were uncommon.