About PLRI

The Paulo Longo Research Initiative is a collaboration of researchers, policy analysts and sex workers working within the sex workers rights movement to improve the human rights, health and well being of women, men and transgenders who sell sex. Led by sex workers, and named after sex worker activist Paulo Henrique Longo, PLRI is committed to developing, consolidating and disseminating useful, ethical information about sex work.

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PLRI brings together institutions and individuals committed to human rights and social justice and who have made significant contributions to the study of public health, gender, sexuality, development economics, migration, ethics and human rights in the context of sex work.

Core Partners

• The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK http://ids.ac.uk 
• The Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights.  Monash University Medical School, Australia http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology
• The Global Network of Sex Work Projects, UK http://www.nswp.org
• Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalisation (CASAM), India http://www.sangram.org/advocacy.htm

To receive regular updates about PLRI projects and resources please contact us. Because a key aim is to provide opportunities for sex workers and advocates in developing countries to strengthen their participation in knowledge creation and communication sex workers groups and institutions in the Global South are particularly encouraged to contact us.

Sex work policy and research – room for improvement

The idea for the PLRI arose among activists who were frustrated by the quality of information on sex work that was available. Although there are many excellent books, essays and studies about sex work - including several by sex workers - a great deal of scholarship on sex work is misguided and stigmatizing. Sex workers frequently complain that much of what is written about them reflects prejudices and myths rather than the reality of their lives. Advocates of rights based policy and programmes also complain frequently about the lack of quality research to provide evidence to guide their work.

The study of sex work has a complex history that reflects shifting understandings of links between prostitution, sex, gender and public health, law, economics and human rights. Research on sex work is made difficult by a lack of agreed standards and methodologies. Indeed generally accepted definitions of prostitution, sex work and sex workers do not exist. Ethical aspects of collecting information and producing knowledge about sex work have also been problematic with many claiming that the accepted ethical framework does not protect sex workers as individual research subjects or as an occupational or social group.

Literature dealing with commercial sex is uneven. For example, the role of female sex workers in HIV epidemics has been studied extensively while male and transgender sex workers have not, despite serious sub-epidemics in these communities. The economics of sex work, income redistribution and labour issues have received comparatively little attention despite the important roles they play in the lives of sex workers, their clients, families and the broader community. Most recently discussion about sex work has been reframed as a dialogue about human trafficking and sexual exploitation. As a result consideration of sex work has become linked to concerns over ‘criminal’ immigration, terrorism, drugs, HIV, poverty and gender inequality – whilst other areas key to the dynamics of commercial sex continue to be broadly overlooked.

The links between research and policy is a persistent concern. Sex workers rights advocates say that while poor and stigmatizing research is frequently successfully promoted, higher quality research frequently remains scattered across academic journals and internet sites where it is not easily accessed by policy makers, advocates and programme implementers.