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Paulo Longo Research Initiative
PLRI aims to consolidate ethical, interdisciplinary scholarship on sex work to inform activism and advocacy that will improve the human rights, health and well being of sex workers.
Majority of female sex workers join the trade voluntarily-survey says
A news story in the Health(Y) Destination on May 1 2011. A recent survey conducted at Pune reveals that 70 percent of the female sex workers join the trade voluntarily and they were not forced or sold. Most of the sex workers join the trade only in their later age after relieved from other labour such as domestic work and construction of building work. It is revealed that the sex work is also felt by them as that of the other labour work. The findings were revealed by a survey conducted by ‘First pan-India survey of sex workers’ at Pune University. The academicians Rohini Sahni and Kalyan Shankar conducted the survey. The survey was conducted among 3000 female sex workers and 2000 male and transgender ones from 14 states including one union territory. Sahni said most of the previous surveys focused only on the numbers of women indulged in the trade and the impact of HIV by the sex trade. But our study ignored all these facts and allowed the workers to bring forth the marginalized voices of sex workers themselves. Sahni said that the survey offered results and it indicated that about 65% of sex workers have come from
Sex Work and Feminism
This is a clear article that outlines debates around feminism and sex work by Australian activist Kate Holden. Sex work is a major Australian industry, historically ineradicable and, in many states, decriminalised and regulated. Famously ‘the oldest profession’, it is also one of the most trenchantly disputed. In the broader society it is seen as either a normal part of life or a vile, sorrowful trade. For feminism, it is associated with the fracture in ideology that splits ‘victim feminism’ from ‘power feminism’ in complicated but increasingly onerous ways. So, what is sex work? What are the problems people have with it? Why do sex workers themselves feel frustrated with traditional feminism? What are the peculiar aspects of this trade that raise such heated reactions? Theme: Gender and Sexuality Theme: Human Rights and Law
The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success and Documented Effects
This is a very good article that presents a strong case that the criminalisation of clients in Sweden has not been successful in any terms. It contains fascinating statistics about the extent of trafficking in Sweden and illustrates the lack of integrity and rigour of claims that support ‘the Swedish Model’. It also provides a compelling case for looking closely at the true consequences of measures aimed at limiting sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. “Sweden’s criminalization of the purchase of sexual services in 1999 is said to be a unique measure: to only punish those who buy sexual services, not those who sell them. However this alleged uniqueness is questionable, and for several reasons. There are a number of other laws and regulations against prostitution, which effectively make Swedish prostitution policy similar to those countries in the world that attempt to reduce or eradicate prostitution with legislative means. Another reason the claim to uniqueness is doubtful is that one must examine more than the wording of a law or policy model (“it is only those who buy sex who are being punished”) when analyzing it – one has to consider the actual consequences. “ Conference paper presented at the International Workshop:
A Psychosocial Study of Male-to-Female Transgendered and Male Hustler Sex Workers in São Paulo, Brazil
This study examined sociodemographic variables, personality characteristics, and alcohol and drug misuse among male sex workers in the city of Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 45 male-to-female transgender sex workers and 41 male hustlers were evaluated in face-to-face interviews at their place of work from 2008 to 2010. A “snowball” sampling procedure was used to access this hard-to-reach population. Male-to-female transgender sex workers reported fewer conventional job opportunities, fewer school problems, and higher harm avoidance and depression levels than male hustlers. Also, transgender sex workers reported earning more money through sex work and more frequently living in hostels with peers than their counterparts. As biological male sex workers are a heterogeneous population, attempts to classify them into distinctive groups should be further carried out as a way to better understand and identify their behavior, design effective health interventions, and consequently minimize the likelihood of unintended adverse outcomes. Our study showed that gender performance can be an important variable to be considered by researchers and policy makers when working with sex workers and developing HIV/AIDS prevention and public health programs, given that transgender and male sex workers not only display distinctive behavior and physical appearance but also reveal
Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China .
The karaoke bar has become a ubiquitous symbol of urban China that is often taken to represent evidence of globalization, corruption, and sexuality. Tiantian Zheng’s book Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China finally helps the karaoke bar and its occupants come alive. Zheng returned to her hometown of Dalian, a port city in northeastern China formerly governed under Japanese colonial rule, to conduct this institutional ethnography of the karaoke bar. Indeed, she lived with hostesses inside a karaoke bar, which resulted in a rich ethnographic experience that allows her to illustrate the true role of karaoke bars in post-Mao Chinese society as well as the roles and identities of the hostesses and clients who sustain its social position. The end product is a description of how the karaoke bar contributes to construction of a new form of entrepreneurial masculinity. In doing so Zheng demonstrates how the karaoke bar, which is antithetical to state ideals, sits at the nexus of masculinity, power, and sex work in a way that serves the goals of the state, wealthy entrepreneurs, and poor, rural migrant women. Much of the story revolves around male and female resistance to dominant powers. In the
Sex Workers Mobilising in Namibia, Reports and Resources
UN consultant Mathew Greenall shares resources about recent work with sex workers in Namibia, including a literature review. ‘In Namibia, as in many other countries, sex workers have limited opportunities to be heard when they want to talk about human rights, and as a result, the discussions are often constrained by the need to relate them to issues like HIV or trafficking. In this context it is heartening to see not only that news outlets in Namibia gave significant coverage to the events organised by local sex worker organisations (front page of The Namibian; articles in New Era and Republiklein), but that the coverage didn’t focus just on the HIV angle, and acknowledged the broader issues. Since the event took place, some of those involved have told me that the feedback from different decision-makers has been very positive, and they are optimistic that we are now seeing a step-change in how some of the media and decision-makers are approaching sex worker rights.’
Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile: The Campaign to Suppress Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Cambodia
In 2008 Cheryl Overs of PLRI supported Women’s Network for Unity and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers to respond to the introduction of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. This article describes events in Cambodia at that time, including the abuses that ocurred in the crackdown on the sex industry generated by the law. The law abolishes the distinction between consent based sex work and trafficking by demming any commercial sex out of which anyone has profited to be ‘ sexual exploitation’ which is not distinguished from ‘trafficking’. In this way the law makes almost all aspects of buying and selling sex and associating with sex workers illegal. As a result a wave of crackdowns on commercial sex venues and street sex workers took place across the country. Caught Between the Tiger and the Crocodile outlines the responses by local sex workers organisation WNU and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers and others. Sex workers’ organisations have made, and proven, allegations of serious abuses including rape, violence and unlawful detention by police, prison guards and NGO staff. Moreover they say that closing down the sex industry makes women more vulnerable to traffickers, corrupt police, loan sharks and others to whom they turn for ‘help’ in
Stop Harassing Us! Tackle Real Crime!, A Report on Human Rights Violations by Police Against Sex Workers in South Africa
The findings in this report highlight the gap between the rights enshrined in the South African Constitution and treatment meted out to sex workers. Even under the present, imperfect law, there is a stark contradiction between the actions of police and the due process laid out by the law for them to follow. Based on the complaints of 308 sex workers, the WLC found the following: • Almost one in six of the sex workers who approached the WLC had been sexually or physically assaulted, and one in three had been harassed, by the police; • Of the 45 percent of sex workers that had been arrested, more than 85 percent of those arrests had been carried out by a police officer who was not wearing proper identification; • Almost half of those who had been arrested were held beyond the 48 hour maximum permitted by law, and nearly 70 percent had been denied access to food or water whilst in detention; • Almost half of all sex workers who were arrested and 40 percent of sex workers who were fined, reported that police did not follow the formal procedure required; and • Almost half of all sex workers who
“I expect to be abused and I have fear”: Sex workers’ experiences of human rights violations and barriers to accessing healthcare in four African countries
This report documents human rights violations experienced by female, male and transgender sex workers in four African countries (Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe), and describes barriers they face to accessing health services. Through cross-country comparison and documenting sub-regional trends, the study moves beyond previous often-localised descriptions of violations against sex workers in Africa. The study also fills information gaps about violations in male and transgender sex workers in this setting. A desk review of literature and policies pertaining to sex work in the study settings preceded individual in-depth interviews (n=55) and 12 focus group discussions (n=81) with sex workers above 18 years. Interviews covered the human rights violations sex workers experienced, strategies to avoid these, barriers to health services and practical suggestions for advocacy to improve these circumstances. Broader health (HIV) impacts were also examined. Salient demographic and sexual behaviour data were collected. Sex worker peer educators were trained to obtain narrative information through interviews with sex workers. Convenience sampling was used, aiming to enroll participants across diverse sex-work settings in each site. Interviews took place from December 2010 to February 2011 in Mombasa, Kenya; Hillbrow, Johannesburg, and the towns of Musina and Thohoyandou in Limpopo province, South Africa;
Cellphones useful in research targeting Peru’s sex workers
Sex workers, a stigmatized population, are also at risk for a host of sexually transmitted infections. As the marginalized women are typically reluctant to visit health clinics, mobile data collection devices are particularly useful to researchers and health workers dealing with this population.In Peru, outreach teams preventively treat the sex workers for infections with the medication metronidazole, in addition to screening them for chlamydia and other conditions. Metronidazole, however, causes headaches, nausea and abdominal pain in some patients. Since these side effects needed to be carefully monitored, the outreach teams had to track down sex workers in streets, bars, discotheques and even brothels to interview them. Initially, the data-gathering process relied on a paper-based system that proved to be inefficient and prone to privacy issues. Laptops were also tried, but because of their value and the personal information they carried, they put workers at risk for theft and assault. Photo by Dr. Walter Curioso Mobile devices can make it easier for researchers to study populations, such as sex workers, that value privacy. Peru’s mobile phone infrastructure is substantial, and it soon became obvious that cell phones would be the best means of gathering real-time medical data from the women. “We
