Sex Workers And The Cost Of Safe Sex

Prostitution is often called the world's oldest profession, yet economists almost never study it. The practice of safe sex by commercial sex workers in considered central to preventing the transmission of AIDS in Developing countries, yet sex workers in Calcutta who regularly use condoms suffer a 79 percent loss in their average earnings per sex act.

There have been almost no econometric studies of the market for prostitution despite the fact that perhaps the most important mode of HIV-AIDS transmission in developing countries is unprotected sex with sex workers. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that sex workers who use condoms face large income losses because clients have a preference for condom-free sex. The size of this compensating differential has important implications for AIDS policy. This paper uses a unique data set from a survey of sex workers in Calcutta, India to estimate the compensating differential for condom-use among prostitutes employing data from a random sample of sex workers in Calcutta. The bias resulting from unobserved heterogeneity common to compensating differentials estimates are corrected via a natural experiment - the non-systematic placement of sex workers in a safe sex information program - to identify the relationship between condom use and the price for sex. We find that sex workers who always use condoms face large losses of between 66 (FIML) and 79 per cent (IV).

Gain important insight and a broader perspective on where, why, and how sex workers conduct their business For years, the focus of sex work research has been on street-based male and female sex workers and the HIV-related risks they pose to their clients. Contemporary Research on Sex Work moves beyond the basic association between sex work and unprotected sex to a fuller description of the varied facets of the industry while still pursuing a better understanding of HIV risk among those working the streets. The diverse approaches in this unique book include targeted sampling, qualitative and quantitative interviews, ethnographic interviews with key informants, using sex workers as recruiters, and quasi-experimental intervention designs. Contemporary Research on Sex Work dispels the notion that all sex workers are prostitutes working the streets, highlighting instead various aspects of sex work in terms of gender, venue, and context. Social scientists from a variety of disciplines present research collected from across the United States, Cambodia, the Philippines, Argentina, and Canada that reflects the efforts to explore interventions and programs designed to improve the social and physical lives of male, female, and transgender sex workers—and their clients. The book examines how different circumstances determine different issues of power, control, health, social functioning, mental health, and HIV/STI risk each sex worker faces. Contemporary Research on Sex Work examines: condom use by transgender female sex workers the association between mental health issues and unprotected sex the influence of structural intervention in reducing biologically sexually transmitted infections (STIs) the “hidden” population of women who solicit clients in private locations off the street stigma resistance among male sex workers in Canada the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent involvement in sex work health services among male sex workers in Argentina how the intersection between race/ethnicity affects female sex workers in Los Angeles how sex workers deal with the negativity that surrounds their profession job-related risk and safety for sex workers in Canada legal concerns and policy issues and much more! Contemporary Research on Sex Work is your guide to the next generation of sex work research, highlighting the need to understand sex work as work. The book is an essential resource for researchers in the fields of sex research, sex work, and HIV/AIDS prevention, and for clinicians who work with those involved in the industry.

Throughout history prostitution has always been a source of fierce debate; societies have either grudgingly tolerated it or tried (always unsuccessfully) to ban it. With the emergence of much more overt acceptance of all forms of sexual activity it has become more apparent that sex workers who ply their trade on the streets of our cities are a particularly vulnerable group at risk of violent attacks and assaults. The realization on the implications for such violence on society overall, led to the emergence of this volume. With research gathered from academics and practitioners hailing from various countries and fields, this edited collection will be invaluable for those who want to better understand the experience of street sex workers, the strategies available for managing this trade and how to help reduce the violence against the men and women who conduct it.

Sex is much more rife in the workplace than many would think according to this fascinating and controversial new book. It argues that not only does sexuality pervade every aspect of organizations, but also that organization pervades every aspect of our sexuality. This two-way conceptualization lends the book a two-part structure, covering firstly the ways in which organizational behaviour is shaped through issues such as male managers' experience of violence, organizational constructions of sexual harassment, and professionals who work with sex offenders. The second part of the book examines how sex is organized for commercial purposes, and considers sex work as an industry which can be analyzed as any other, with important insights for normal organizing. Key features of the book include sections on: * organizing as sexual activity * connecting desire, the erotic, the abject and organization * the 'hidden' penetration of organization processes by sexuality * the 'dark side' of sex and organization and the importance of transgression * the double effect of discursive and material placing * organizing sexuality within prostitution * prostitution as a complex and varied industry. Fascinating and informative, this controversial book is a valuable source of information for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of business, management and sexuality and gender studies.

'Sex Work' describes how women create complex psychological and emotional techniques to maintain their sanity while selling sex and explains how the indoor sex markets in Britain have a distinct 'occupational culture' with a set of social norms, code of conduct and moral hierarchies.

A gateway at the U.S.-Mexico border, Tijuana is a complex urban center with a sizeable population of sex workers. An in-depth case study of the trade, Sex Work and the City is the first major ethnographic publication on contemporary prostitution in this locale, providing a detailed analysis of how sex workers' experiences and practices are shaped by policing and regulation. Contextualizing her research within the realm of occupational risk, Yasmina Katsulis examines the experiences of a diverse range of sex workers in the region and explores the implications of prostitution, particularly regarding the spheres of class hierarchies, public health, and other broad social effects. Based on eighteen months of intensive fieldwork and nearly 400 interviews with sex workers, customers, city officials, police, local health providers, and advocates, Sex Work and the City describes the arenas of power and the potential for disenfranchisement created by municipal laws designed to regulate the trade. Providing a detailed analysis of this subculture's significance within Tijuana and its implications for debates over legalization of "vice" elsewhere in the world, Katsulis draws on powerful narratives as workers describe the risks of their world, ranging from HIV/AIDS and rape (by police or customers) to depression, work-related stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and social stigma. Insightful and compelling, Sex Work and the City captures the lives (and deaths) of a population whose industry has broad implications for contemporary society at large.