Sex Work Industry Research Articles

The Female Sex Work Industry in a District of India in the Context of HIV Prevention

HIV prevalence in India remains high among female sex workers. This paper presents the main findings of a qualitative study of the modes of operation of female sex work in Belgaum district, Karnataka, India, incorporating fifty interviews with sex workers. Thirteen sex work settings (distinguished by sex workers' main places of solicitation and sex) are identified. In addition to previously documented brothel, lodge, street, dhaba (highway restaurant), and highway-based sex workers, under-researched or newly emerging sex worker categories are identified, including phone-based sex workers, parlour girls, and agricultural workers. Women working in brothels, lodges, dhabas, and on highways describe factors that put them at high HIV risk. Of these, dhaba and highway-based sex workers are poorly covered by existing interventions. The paper examines the HIV-related vulnerability factors specific to each sex work setting. The modes of operation and HIV-vulnerabilities of sex work settings identified in this paper have important implications for the local programme.

Trafficking? Exploring the relevance of the notion of human trafficking to describe the lived experience of sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa

This article reports on the findings of a study of the sex work industry in Cape Town that was undertaken by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) between 2006 and 2008. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data about inter alia, the size of the sex work industry in Cape Town, working conditions in the industry, recruitment practices, factors that resulted in women working in the industry, and the extent of human trafficking in the industry. This article reports on the methods used and the findings. It concludes by arguing that the concept of trafficking is not useful as it does not reflect the lived experience of the majority of sex workers, and does not take the state or society any closer to dealing with exploitation and abuse that occurs in the industry.

Choice?

Choice? Brett Payette, Emily Herczeg, Catriona Graveson, and Alyssa Bignell Click for larger view View full resolution Brett Payette, Emily Herczeg, Catriona Graveson, and Alyssa Bignell perform Choice? on 24 November 2010. Photo courtesy of Emily Herczeg [End Page 96] Authors' Introduction At the outset of this process, our research covered the broad issue of decriminalizing prostitution. As the ruling of Bedford v. Canada had just been released,2 there was a great deal of discussion on the topic and many opposing viewpoints were being debated in the media. During our preliminary discussions, we noted that all four of us were very clear in our stance of being pro-decriminalization. However, as we learned more about the sex work industry we quickly realized how many different valid perspectives there are on both decriminalization and the sex work industry itself. Our research plan began to evolve and our interest became centred on the individuals involved in the sex work industry and on how decriminalization would impact different people. It was important to us to learn about as many viewpoints as possible, and to hear personal stories from those within the sex work industry. We attended a panel discussion ("Should Prostitution Be Legal?") in response to the Bedford v. Canada ruling held at Queen's University which was an integral part of our research process.3 Multiple conflicting yet also overlapping perspectives were presented during the discussion, and we were exposed to ideas about sex work in a new light. Although there was little agreement on whether or not we should move towards decriminalization, the one topic that kept coming up was that of choice. We then began exploring questions such as: "when is entry into the sex work industry a true choice?"; "is staying in the industry a choice?"; "who is capable of making a choice?"; and "what happens when a choice is made for the wrong reasons?" We wanted to represent as many people and ideas as possible, but given our time constraints, we decided it was best to create four distinct characters who could demonstrate the difficulties surrounding choice in the sex work industry. The contrasts between the empowered sex worker vs. the battered woman, the drug-addicted vs. the sober, the independent worker vs. the pimped, and the indoor vs. the outdoor worker were all important perspectives to acknowledge, and we were able to work these into the back stories of our four women. We attempted to portray the contradictory nature of the women's perspectives, and to show our audience that no perspective was more valid or less valid than the others. Translating our research from the page to the stage was the most difficult aspect of the entire process. We did not want our performance to sound like a public service announcement, nor like a clichéd set of monologues. It was important for us to show that each woman's story was legitimate in its own way, and to highlight the vast differences of opinion within the sex work industry itself. Curator's Note As this piece was being developed, I was in a class exploring philosophical perspectives on sex work, had become close friends with some people involved in the sex industry, and was peripherally involved in it myself as a dancer in an emerging burlesque dance troupe. When the group members shared their concern with me about having no connection to sex work themselves, I privately offered to put them in touch with a friend of mine who works in the industry. This friend is typically cynical of Queen's students' unconscious exercise of their privilege, so I was thrilled when she reported that she was very impressed with the sensitive, open-minded, and respectful way in which the four students approached their meeting with her. Through their self-awareness and accountability to all the stances in a hugely complex debate (that was never simplified to suit any agenda), this group has created a powerful pro-choice piece. Choice? Characters KRISTEN, is sixteen. She is dressed in skinny jeans, sneakers, a tank top, and a hooded cardigan. Her outfit is made to look like it was purchased from a low-end teen store...

An Investigation of the Incidence of Client-Perpetrated Sexual Violence Against Male Sex Workers

ABSTRACT This article discusses exploratory research investigating the incidence and context of client-perpetrated sexual violence against male sex workers. Four different methods (Web-based surveys, tick-box questionnaires, telephone, and face-to-face interviews) were employed in this study of 50 male escorts. The qualitative data were analyzed using an adapted form of grounded theory. It was found that client-perpetrated sexual violence within male sex work appears to be uncommon. However, when sexual violence did occur the cause was a disagreement over barebacking. Escorts’ explanations for the low level of sexual violence within this sector included (1) that gay men were non-confrontational, (2) their clients led clandestine lifestyles avoiding undue attention, and (3) comparatively, female sex workers were perceived to be more vulnerable resulting in the higher level of sexual violence within the female sex work industry.

Professor Martin Andrew Plant (1946-2010)

![][1] Martin’s death on 16 March 2010 at an early age has deprived the international community of addiction researchers of one of its leading and most influential figures. He was not only a skilled research worker but also a passionate believer in turning research into action. He worked tirelessly to influence public opinion both nationally and internationally. His research interests varied widely and included epidemiological and behavioural aspects of drug and alcohol misuse, sex industry workers and problems of HIV/AIDS. Through all of these, one can detect a desire to study individuals who have commonly been stigmatized or ostracized by society. His willingness to pursue causes which were neglected or even unpopular and to speak out against ill-informed opinion made him enemies as well as friends, but he was never daunted by this and his courage in this respect was outstanding. Martin was a mountaineer and one of his first acts on coming to Edinburgh in the early 1970s was to help form a mountaineering club called ‘The Jacobites’. At that time the Scottish Mountaineering Club did not admit women members, so Martin and some friends set up … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Did South Africa's soccer bonanza bring relief to sex workers in South Africa? The 2010 FIFA World Cup and the impact on sex work

abstract Sex workers are an exceptionally vulnerable group in South Africa. Ongoing criminalisation of the sex work industry fuels the AIDS epidemic by precluding effective prevention and education strategies, and infringes human rights. The 19th FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa in June–July 2010 and was expected to attract 450 000 or more visitors. Intense attention was focused on HIV transmission and public health in a country that has the highest number of people with HIV/AIDS in the world. The soccer bonanza offered a rich opportunity for advocacy and education. Members of civil society and the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) engaged government, FIFA organisers and the media on strategies to ensure the safety and rights of sex workers and international tourists. A number of practical strategies were drafted in a broad-based forum and submitted to these governing bodies. Yet very few—if any—of these strategies were implemented by the South African government or the FIFA Local Organising Committee. This Reportback will describe the advocacy initiatives undertaken by SANAC and sex worker organisations in the run-up and duration of the World Cup and the lessons learnt about the impact of an international event on already-marginalised groups.

New Commodities, New Consumers

Because current literature on globalization largely neglects racism, it fails to explain the experiences of contemporary African American youth within the new racialized social class formations of globalization. I suggest that because African American youth live within the borders of the sole remaining world super-power, their experiences might shed light on social class relations of advanced capitalism as refracted through the lens of race, gender, age and sexuality. First, I investigate how shifting the focus of class analysis from production to consumption sheds light on how African American youth participate in a reconfigured black body politics that is increasingly aligned with the ever expanding consumer markets of advanced capitalism. Second, I use the sex work industry as a template for examining how young African American women and men participate in new forms of commodification that sell blackness in the global marketplace.

South African anti-trafficking legislation: A critique of control over women's freedom of movement and sexuality

abstract The South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) recently released a Discussion Paper and a Proposed Bill on Trafficking in Persons, which the public is currently commenting on. The Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) is against human trafficking into the sex work industry and has adopted a protocol some time back that outlines the steps the organisation must take if staff members encounter situations of human trafficking. We believe that the tone of the Discussion Paper on Trafficking and Proposed Bill, as it stands, will impact negatively on sex workers, will not be of the utmost assistance to victims of human trafficking and that, more broadly, it is an attempt to control women's freedom of movement and sexuality. This perspective will discuss the SALRC anti-trafficking documents from a gender perspective, the role of the United States State Department and the abolition of sex work movement in current anti-trafficking global trends. It will discuss the likely impact on victims of trafficking if such legislation is enacted and the practical implications for women's freedom of movement and sexuality.

Sex outside the city: Sex work in rural and regional New South Wales

During the last decade ‘prostitution’ has been characterised as a ‘social problem’ throughout rural and regional New South Wales. As we show here, the urban-centric nature of popular and official discourses of prostitution have inadvertently allowed for the development of regulatory positions which have negatively impacted sex workers in rural and regional communities and lead to conflict among sectors of the rural sex industry and between the sex industry and community activists. In addition to examining the problematisation of sex work in rural New South Wales, this paper sets out to understand why rural sex work has historically lacked visibility in popular and scholarly discourses. We provide an overview of the distinctive organisational aspects of the sex industry in rural contexts. Evidence for our assertions is largely derived from primary interview data collected from sex industry workers based in rural New South Wales. The paper represents the first attempt in the research literature on prostitution to understand sex work as a rural phenomenon.

(Han-)Chinese Cultural Appropriation of Sexual Legal Politics: Postcolonial Discourse on Law Controlling Sex Work in Hong Kong

AbstractHong Kong law, following the Anglo-American liberal legal private/public dichotomy, through decriminalization, imposes strict regulations on the development of the sex work industry. The legal regulations, besides failing to suppress the industry, reproduce a context where female sex workers are (re)pathologized and (re)marginalized by the mainstream patriarchal society. In the article, I will critically examine the underlying theories of the contemporary Hong Kong legal discourse from both the Lacanian psychoanalytic and Buddhist vijnanamatra perspectives, and argue that the Foucauldian resistance subverting the patriarchal agenda on the representation of the sex work industry could be reproduced and localized within the specific cultural context of Hong Kong, which is a predominately (Han-)Chinese society.

Understanding the New Context of the Male Sex Work Industry

The article reviews past and recent research on male sex work to offer a context to understand violence in the industry. It provides a critical review of research to show, first, the assumptions made about male sex workers and violence and, second, how such discourses have shaped thinking on the topic. The article presents a case study and original findings from two studies conducted by the authors in Australia and Argentina on violence in the male sex industry. Finally, the article reviews examples of legislative reforms to show how the sex industry is being regulated.

Poz‐itively transformational: Sex workers and HIV/AIDS education

AbstractHIV and AIDS are complex events that offer numerous opportunities for adult education. However, mainstream education on this issue has often not been relevant to a number of subpopulations, including sex workers. This chapter explores sources and content of HIV/AIDS education in the sex work industry (including art and the Internet) and suggests possibilities to theorize a convention‐defying adult education—one that is poz‐itively transformational.

Trafficking legislation in South Africa after Beijing +10

abstract In focusing on trafficking and the sex work industry, this perspective warns that if we adopt the approach that all sex work is trafficking then it means further harassment for those voluntarily in the industry, who already face harassment from many sides.

Contextualizing the Construction and Social Organization of the Commercial Male Sex Industry in London at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century

Feminist theories are concerned to analyse how women can transform society so that they are no longer subordinated, by understanding how patriarchal relations control and constrict them. (Abbott and Wallace, 1997: 284) Feminisms start from the position that women are oppressed within a society, which is patriarchal and socially constructed within knowledge which is malestream. This traditionally defines men such that they are rendered subordinate, within a social world constructed by men. Feminisms are engaged with making transparent patriarchal constructs, and illuminating the ‘spaces’ within which women-realities can become more visible. This paper presents research undertaken by two key services working with male sex workers in central London. The insights gained from this research are discussed, as they allow comparison between the traditionally subordinate position of women and the contextual experiences of the ‘hidden’ population of male sex industry workers. It demonstrates, that like women, for male sex workers, hegenomic and heterosexist constructs ensure that they also occupy a subordinated position within society.

Decision Making in an Ethnographic Context

********** One day in 1996 I made a choice to study the development of outreach programs for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in Thailand. As an ethnographer, I weighed social location and distance in relation to the field and its occupants. I grappled with the partiality of the research process. More difficult to consider was how hard it is to make choices that cut off one avenue of research while opening up another. I failed to think through how ethnographers make decisions subconsciously and the fly when confronted with challenges and unexpected issues. Making choices, consciously and unconsciously, forced me to regard the constant state of flux in my research and the people that it involved. Certain people became central in my life; others grew marginal. As Michael Angrosino and Kimberly Mays de Perez point out, Ethnographers and their collaborators do not step into fixed and fully determined positions; rather, their behaviors and expectations of each other are part of a dynamic process that continues to grow (2000, 683). I had to make decisions about what my relationships with others around me should be and could be. I made many decisions while conducting dissertation research in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and in this essay I examine how some of those both closed off and opened up opportunities for geographical inquiry. I discuss location and positionality, and social and physical distance, as they informed the research process. Fieldwork is always affected by choices made in the research process, which begins before we enter the field and continues as we attempt to describe, interpret, and analyze the data we collect (Wolcott 1994). DECISION ONE: STUDYING AIDS IN THAILAND My research began with my decision to study Thailand and its burgeoning AIDS crisis. A general interest in Asia started in high school and intensified in college. Attempting to gain some sort of understanding, I began to study Asian culture and society, Japanese, and Buddhism. My undergraduate experience with political-economic and Marxist theory led me to study not developed Japan but the developing world of Southeast Asia. Thailand came to be my area of study when, in graduate school, Thai was the only mainland Southeast Asian language taught yearly. After a short stint in Thailand as a master's student studying the representational politics of the sex-tourism industry (Del Casino 1995; Del Casino and Hanna 2000), I shifted my focus to HIV and AIDS--related research. My interest in the growing epidemic was piqued when discussions with commercial sex-work industry people usually led them to mention the growing AIDS crisis and its impact on Thai society. Had I chosen another facet of the tourism industry, such as ecotourism, it is perhaps unlikely that I would have had to confront the AIDS epidemic. Back in the United States, I became interested in how the HIV/AIDS crisis started, its relationship to the historical development of the commercial sex industry, and its ties to the distribution and use of heroin. Delving into the literature, I found that almost everyone was focusing on the transmission of HIV. In the early- to mid- 1990s, governmental programs were highly invested in an epidemiological model that focused outreach on high-risk groups, such as commercial sex workers and intravenous drug users, as vectors for the spread of HIV. The message seemed clear: The Thai government and a majority of the academic establishment were convinced that prevention was the cure. If there were no new HIV cases, care was not going to be an issue. Although this is true, by 1994 Thailand faced a crisis with the potential to far outstrip the cost of the prevention campaign: health care. The risk-group model collapsed as rates of mother-to-child transmission increased, signaling that HIV transmission was much more pro lific than had been thought. Creating risk groups might contain HIV discursively, but the reality of complex networks of sexual intercourse and drug use meant that HIV could now be found in any social group, including Buddhist monks, married women, and children. …

Australia's public health response to HIV and HCV: a role for ‘affected’ communities

This paper identifies a number of the key elements that underpinned the success of Australia's public health response to minimizing the spread of HIV. It is argued that one major factor was the high level of collaboration between health care professionals and "affected" communities, such as injecting drug users, sex industry workers and gay men. This collaboration allowed for the negotiation, development and implementation of the range of innovative HIV initiatives that were ultimately responsible for keeping HIV in the injecting drug use and sex industry to low levels. Despite the central role played by injecting drug users and their peer based organizations, the significance of their activities has gone largely unacknowledged by senior health bureaucrats and politicians. As a consequence, advice from injecting drug users and their peer-based organizations on the current hepatitis C epidemic has been largely ignored. Instead of learning from Australia's HIV experience and involving these groups in consultation and advisory roles, the Federal Government has reverted to accepting advice from only established mainstream organizations. It is argued that the success of infection control outside mainstream communities, such as among injecting drug users, can most effectively be achieved through the involvement of these "affected" communities. There is a need at the local, national and international levels to ensure both the involvement of "affected" communities and that recognition is given to them for the significant and essential role they play in infection control.

Research directions in male sex work.

This paper provides a critical review of the literature relating to male sex work and outlines approaches to theorizing about and researching male sex work. The adequacy of these models to explain the male sex work industry is discussed. The literature reveals that earlier studies conceptualized male sex work as deviance and focused on the individual sex worker and his reasons for engaging in sex work. Although the research agenda has recently moved away from the individual sex worker towards the sex work industry, the focus of the investigation continues to be from a deviance rather than a work perspective. A number of aspects of male sex work have received little attention in the literature. These include the interpersonal dialogues and power relations that constitute the commercial sexual negotiation, the role of political and economic forces, and expressions of male sexuality within the practice of commercial sex. The paper suggests future research directions and argues that researchers need to draw on the strengths of the male sex work community in order to promote safe sex practices in commercial researchers need to draw on the strengths of the male sex work community in order to promote safe sex practices in commercial sexual settings.

Canadian street youth

The purpose of this study was to develop a national perspective on the sexual activity of street youth in Canada and to determine the correlates of risky sexual behavior according to street youth's link to the street. Five categories of street youth (sex industry workers, heavy drug and/or alcohol users, young offenders, homeless and unemployed) ages 15 to 20 years were recruited in 1988 from 10 Canadian urban centers to participate in a 45-minute structured interview focusing on knowledge and attitudes regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STD)/human immunodeficiency virus, current sexual practices, sexual and STD history, demographic background, alcohol/drug use and relationship with parents and peers. Data from the survey were also compared with findings from more than 15,000 non-street youth adolescents surveyed in the same year with the use of parallel questionnaires. Of 712 street youth surveyed (391 males, mean age 17.3 years; 321 females, mean age 16.8 years), the majority were sexually active (95% males, 93% females) and 22% reported at least one previous STD (16% males, 30% females). The lowest STD rates were in unemployed males (5%) and the highest (68%) in female sex industry workers. STD/human immunodeficiency virus high risk behaviors were frequent with 47% of males and 41% of females having had at least 10 different partners, 73% of males and 75% of females inconsistently using condoms and 22% of males and 24% of females participating in anal intercourse. Even among sex industry workers more than 40% used condoms inconsistently.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Self sampling as part of screening for sexually transmitted diseases in clinic attenders. A preliminary study.

Self sampling of the secretions of the female genital tract for microbiological investigations for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Trichomonas vaginalis was assessed in female attenders of the genitourinary medicine clinic in Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the possibility of offering this method of investigation to workers in the sex industry, who are reluctant to attend GUM Clinics. This Pilot Study aimed at assessing the feasibility and acceptability of self sampling of the secretions of the lower genital tract by female patients and its reliability in the detection of sexually transmitted infections. The analysis of the data from 75 participants, indicated that 7 infections were detected on patient sampling as compared to 11 on samples taken by a physician. Self sampling may prove a valuable alternative for the sex industry workers who are reluctant to attend GUM clinics.