social science medicine volume

health

Delegates from the African Sex Worker Alliance (ASWA) and a church leader from Nigeria gathered in Pretoria from the 28th September to 10th October for a second historic meeting as a follow up to the first ever African sex worker lead conference in February 2009. The Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University together with the Service Workers in Group (SWING) conducted a survey on Sexual and Reproductive Health of Sex Workers in four major cities in Thailand in 2007. The survey was structured to provide up-to-date information about sex workers regarding their socio-economic background, their access to

sex work

An article by Subir Ghosh in Digital World published on the 1 May 2011. New Delhi, India. Four out of five female sex workers in India have joined the profession voluntarily; they were not forced or sold into it. Prostitution is just one among several livelihood options available to women from poor backgrounds, says a new survey. This news story was written by Aarefa Johari for the Hindustan Times on the 1 May 2011. The story is a write up of the launch of the ‘First pan-India survey of sex workers’, conducted by Pune University academicians Rohini Sahni and V

HIV/AIDS

The specific objectives of the study were to explore and analyze consistencies and mismatches between existing official Brazilian policy guidelines and program implementation in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and health care among female sex workers. Data analysis and major findings discussed throughout the report are organized around five major themes as follows: 1) STD/HIV/AIDS prevention policies and programs directed at sex workers evolved in the last two decades; Article in Social Science & Medicine Volume 72, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 710-716. By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi Maclean Kamya. / Credit: Evelyn Kiapi/IPS Criminalisation is but one of the tools

condoms

An article by Reynaga, E. in the HIV/AIDS Policy Law Review, 2008 Dec;13(2-3):97-8. It is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation of Elena Reynaga’s plenary address at the International AIDS Conference. An article in AIDS Care. Sexual behaviour studies are often challenged by sampling, participation and measurement biases, and may be unacceptable to participants. We invited 293 randomly selected female sex workers (FSWs) in Bangalore, India, to participate in a telephone survey, with condom breakage as the main outcome. Free cell phones were supplied and trained interviewers telephoned FSWs daily to ask about all sex acts the previous day. Article in BMJ Open

India

Article in AIDS Care, 22: S2, 1629 — 1636. This piece originally appeared in Samar 19: Spring, 2005 Article in the Arch Dis Child doi:10.1136/adc.2009.178715. Due to higher use of condoms in commercial sex and very low use with spouses, no effort was made to understand the variation in condom use with sex workers and wives. However, a logistic regression analysis was performed to understand the predictors of condom use with casual female partners. It has been found that the level of education of the study clients seems to have a significant bearing on condom use. The higher is the

violence

This is a resource written by Bishakha Datta and sponsored by CASAM and CREA. The report documents a meeting entitled “Ain’t I A Woman? A Global Dialogue between the Sex Workers Rights Movement and the Stop Violence against Women Movement” from 12-14 March 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. The report features the presentations from many great speakers including , Ruth Morgan Thomas, Anna-Louise Crago, Kaythi Win, Hua Sittipham Boonyapisomparn, Swapna Gayen and Meenakshi Kamble,Cheryl Overs and Meena Seshu Article in Social Science & Medicine Volume 72, Issue 5, March 2011, Pages 710-716. The Count Me In! conference will take place from

Different stage, different performance: the protective strategy of role play on emotional health in sex work

An article in Social Science & Medicine Volume 72, Issue 7, April 2011, Pages 1177-1184. This paper uses Arlie Hochschild’s (1983) concept of emotion management and “surface” and “deep acting” to explore how sex workers separate and distance themselves from their public role. Experiences of stigmatisation prevail among sex workers and how stigma is resisted or managed has an impact on their health. In-depth interviews were carried out between August 2006 and April 2007 with 58 sex workers in five cities in New Zealand following decriminalisation of the sex industry. Most participants drew on ideas of professionalism in sustaining a psychological