violence

This article describes the impact of sex work law and police brutality on sex workers in Zimbabwe

Locked in a filthy cell that was built for eight inmates, but filled with more than 25 women, Nyasha Maphosa, 32, a sex worker based in the town of Gokwe in the Midlands province, writhes in agony as the torture of the previous night takes its toll on her diminutive figure. She has endured 48 hours of detention after being picked up by the Zimbabwe Republic Police patrol team. The charge: loitering for the purposes of prostitution. 

This research illustrates a direct link between violence and vulnerability to HIV.

Author Abstract: Commercial sex work is a primary context for heterosexual HIV/AIDS transmission. Violence victimisation is considered to compromise women's ability to protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI); little research has investigated violence as it relates to sexual risk and STI among female sex workers (FSW). This study sought to compare sexual risk and STI symptoms among FSW based on recent violence exposure.

This study, conducted among a sample of 1,000 female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh identifies that half of those surveyed reported being beaten by police; about a third were gang-raped by police; slightly more than one-third were gang-raped by gangsters and about three-quarters were gang-raped by clients or men pretending to be clients. Most of these rapes occurred at gunpoint or with knives or other weapons.

A news story by Mon Mon Myat on the australia.to website which explores the situation of older sex workers in Burma.

A research brief from the Programme for Research and Capacity Building in Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV in Developing Countries. This brief accompanies a special issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Their research found:

Article by Karandikar S and Próspero M in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 25, No. 2, 257-273 (2010). The study explores intimate partner violence (IPV) among female sex workers from the red-light area based in Mumbai, India. Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten sex workers to explore their experiences of IPV in the context of commercial sex work. Narratives were analyzed and themes constructed.

Article by Shahmanesh M, Wayal S, Copas A, Patel V, Mabey D and Cowan F in JAIDS, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (2009) - Volume 52 - Issue 2 - pp. 253-257.