scholarly journals “I Am Almost a Breadwinner for My Family”: Exploring the Manifestation of Agency in Sex Workers’ Personal and Professional Contexts

Affilia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 088610992110227
Author(s):  
Sharvari Karandikar ◽  
Kaitlin Casassa ◽  
Logan Knight ◽  
Megan España ◽  
Njeri Kagotho
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Light Area ◽  
Professional Contexts ◽  
Depth Interviews

While societal and structural factors often constrain women’s agency in patriarchal settings, women nevertheless find creative ways to manifest and develop agency. Female sex workers (FSWs), in particular, are regularly assumed to have little or no agency, but an important body of literature suggests otherwise. To add to this knowledge, this study sought to answer the question: How do FSWs in Mumbai, India, exert agency in personal and professional contexts? In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 FSWs in the Kamathipura red-light area. Four themes emerged: (a) sex work as a rational and empowering choice, (b) resources and assets, (c) sex work as a means of achievement, and (d) managing violence, retribution, and fear. These themes reveal expressions of agency that illustrate how sex workers are intentional, rational, goal-oriented, and resilient. The findings of this study can contribute to the removal of stigma surrounding sex work and inform service providers working with this population in their efforts to treat sex workers with dignity and respect. Further research is needed in this area, especially which centers on the voices of the agentic sex workers themselves.

Beyond the Brothels: A Qualitative Study of the Destitute Female Sex Workers of Central Delhi Red Light Area

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Anushree Nagpal ◽  
Atiqua Tajdar ◽  
Masood Ahsan Siddiqui ◽  
Mohammad Hassan ◽  
Suman Gaur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Familial Support ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
Light Area

The term ‘sex workers’ refers to those involved in prostitution. This particular term is preferred as it does not have the derogatory, sexist connotation that the term ‘prostitute’ has. Belonging to a highly stigmatized profession with no financial and familial support forthcoming, the latter years of the lives of destitute female sex workers are spent in abject misery and poverty. Effort has been made to study the socio economic status and the ways adopted by these women, post active prostitution period, to support themselves and their families. This paper is based on the field study conducted in central Delhi red light area during August-September, 2016. Direct interviews with the respondents using questionnaires as well as participant observation techniques were used to collect the data. The study indicate that destitute female sex workers, once out of active prostitution, start working as domestic helpers, work with local voluntary organizations, or as helpers in brothels. The income earned is very meager with hardly any amount left to be saved. Most of the women live in one room rented accommodations. Their access to medical facilities was found to be extremely restricted.

Co-occurring Threats to Agency Among Female Sex Workers in Baltimore, Maryland

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052097818
Author(s):  
Danielle F. Nestadt ◽  
Catherine Tomko ◽  
Kristin E. Schneider ◽  
Deanna Kerrigan ◽  
Michele R. Decker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Female Sex

Driven largely by the unequal distribution of power, female sex workers (FSW) globally bear a disproportionately high burden of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and interpersonal violence. Prior literature has identified a number of multi-level factors that may serve to constrain FSWs’ agency, or their ability to define and take action to realize goals. Among these are work-based violence and substance use, which are potentiated by the criminalization of sex work and structural vulnerability. Quantitative research related to U.S.-based FSWs’ own sense of agency, as well as the barriers that may impede it, is sparse. We sought to identify patterns of various threats to agency and explore to what extent they were associated with perceived agency among a cohort of 381 FSW in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, using latent class analysis. Latent class indictors were past-six-month experience of client-perpetrated sexual violence, client-perpetrated physical violence, homelessness, food insecurity, arrest, daily crack-cocaine use, and daily heroin use. Perceived agency was measured using the short form of the Pearlin Mastery Scale. We identified three typologies of threatened agency among women in our sample: a “threatened by structural factors, drug use, and violence” class, a “threatened by structural factors and drug use” class, and a “less threatened” class. Mean perceived agency score was significantly lower for the class characterized by client-perpetrated violence than for either of the other classes. This suggests violence, in the context of deeper, structural power imbalances embedded in hunger, homelessness, and drug use, may dramatically reduce one’s sense of agency and operate as a critical barrier to empowerment. Our study adds important insights to the broader FSW community empowerment literature and supports the need for interventions to bolster both individual and collective agency among U.S.-based FSW, including interventions to prevent sex work-related violence.

scholarly journals Development of Boyhood in Female Sex Workers’ Family — A Representation of their Vicious Cycle

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harasankar Adhikari
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Educational Development ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Single Parent Family ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Light Area

The brothel based female sex workers (FSWs) are in obstruction in their daily life. Beyond the male politics, mothering and motherhood are a common phenomenon to testify their universal womanhood through procreation. Usually they have settled up their family in their typically constructed community- red light area. Mostly their family is matrifocal and single parent family which was failed to provide proper control and strategies for up-bringing of their offspring. The present study was conducted to explore the development of boyhood in female sex workers’ community purposively because there was a need of explanation of the masculinity their community. For that purpose, 50 boys of below 18 years of age were selected adopting simple random purposive sampling and both quantitative and qualitative method of data collection used to get information on their up-bringing process including life experiences. The result showed that their development was enough to continue their vicious cycle of FSW-Child-FSW. Only the educational development, sometimes separate shelter and if their mothers were able to hide their involvement, had brought changes in their pathways of development outside their community.

The Mental and Physical Health of Female Sex Workers: A Comparative Study

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Romans ◽  
Kathleen Potter ◽  
Judy Martin ◽  
Peter Herbison
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Morbidity ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Mental And Physical Health

Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare the mental and physical health, adult abuse experiences and social networks of female sex workers with data previously collected from two large community samples of age-matched women. Method: A convenience sample of sex workers were interviewed and completed two wellestablished questionnaires, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the Intimate Bond Measure (IBM). Sex workers were invited to reflect on their experiences of their work. Results: There were no differences in mental health on the GHQ-28 or in self-esteem (measured by an item on the Present State Examination) between the two groups. Neither were there any differences in their assessment of their physical health or the quality of their social networks. Sex workers were less likely to be married and had been exposed to more adult physical and sexual abuse than the comparison group. They were more likely to smoke and to drink heavily when they drank. One-third said that their general practitioner was not aware of their work. A subgroup not working with regular clients or in a massage parlour had higher GHQ-28 scores and may be an at-risk group. Narrative information about the work, particularly its intermittent nature, is presented. Conclusions: No evidence was found that sex work and increased adult psychiatric morbidity are inevitably associated, although there may be subgroups of workers with particular problems. The illegal and stigmatized nature of sex work are likely to make usual public health strategies more difficult to apply, considerations which should give concern from a preventive health standpoint.

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

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Buzdugan ◽  
Shiva S. Halli ◽  
Jyoti M. Hiremath ◽  
Krishnamurthy Jayanna ◽  
T. Raghavendra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Female Sex Workers ◽  
Work Setting ◽  
Vulnerability Factors ◽  
Modes Of Operation ◽  
Sex Worker ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Female Sex Work

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,dhabaand 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.

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