Themes

Proposal to European Parliament recommending the Swedish Model – 2014 Mary Honeyball, Labour’s Spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, has been a vocal supporter of anti-sex work legislation and has written a report to the European Parliament recommending the Swedish Model, which criminalises the purchase of sex. In a blog leading up to the discussion Alex Bryce and other prominent service providers in the UK condemn the move and encourage the Parliament to listen to sex workers. Estimating the Number of Male Sex Workers with the Capture-Re-capture Technique in Nigeria – 2014 Estimating the size of

We explore commercial sex as enmeshed in power relationships and economies of desire that are inherent within all sexualities. Contemporary gender and sexuality studies have much to offer the study of sex work which involves men, women and transgenders as buyer and sellers of sexual services.  Recent work on the production of sexual subjectivities under neoliberalism highlights the potential of a political economy approach to sex work – one that goes beyond debates about coercion and choice to understand better the structures of constraint and scenarios of agency within which sex is bought, sold and traded.    Diversity of commercial sex

Effectiveness of an Adapted Evidence-Based Woman-Focused Intervention for Sex Workers and Non-Sex Workers: The Women’s Health Co-op in South Africa – 2011 An article in the Journal of Drug Issues, Volume 41, Issue 2, Spring 2011, p.233-252. Facilitating access to sexual health services for men who have sex with men and male-to-female transgender persons in Guatemala City – 2011 Article in Culture, Health and Sexuality. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to accessing sexual health services among gay, bisexual and heterosexual-identifying men who have sex with men and male-to-female transgender persons in Guatemala City, to inform the

The movement of large numbers of people, including workers, both internally and across international borders is one of the defining characteristics of modern times. Migration and mobility, both managed and unmanaged, occurs for many purposes, including domestic, military, industrial and agricultural labour. Family reunion, conflict, environmental and geo-political changes, marriage and economic aspiration are among the many factors that drive mobility and provide the legal, illegal and quasi legal frameworks that determine many of the outcomes of mobility and migration. Mobility linked to commercial sex has increasingly come to attention over the last decade and discussions around it are increasingly

Motivations for entry into sex work and hiv risk among mobile female sex workers in India. – 2011 This paper assesses the reasons for entry into sex work and its association with HIV risk behaviours among mobile female sex workers (FSWs) in India. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 22 districts across four high HIV prevalence states in India during 2007-2008. Analyses were limited to 5498 eligible mobile FSWs. The reasons given by FSWs for entering sex work and associations with socio-demographic characteristics were assessed. Pan-India Survey of Sex Workers – 2011 This survey of female sex

PLRI is committed to examining the strengths and weaknesses of international human rights and domestic legal frameworks as they apply to sex work. We aim to evaluate the impact of various international and domestic laws and policies on the human rights of female, male and transgender sex workers and their communities. Sex workers universally claim that their human rights are abused. In some cases this means exposure to violence and barriers to accessing services, resources and justice. In other cases arbitrary detention, criminal law and lack of access to clean safe places to live and work are cited as human