Breaking through Compassion Fatigue

Rendering the Invisible Visible: Migrant and Immigrant Sex Workers and the Law

Depression and quality of life among Thai and migrant sex workers in Thailand: a cross-sectional study.

Existing evidence indicates that cross-border migrant women sex workers in South Africa are often marginalized by state and non-state actors professing to assist them. Trafficking discourses frequently conflate migrant sex workers with trafficking victims, denying them agency and silencing the women under discussion. This paper emphasizes the voices of the women themselves, drawing from the first academic research employing creative writing workshops as a methodology with migrant women sex workers in Johannesburg, South Africa. This work responds to calls for more innovative methodologies to reach marginalized or “invisible” groups and adds to the “voices” of urban poor migrants to provide more information about the lived experiences of migrant sex workers in Johannesburg. Narratives from five Zimbabwean sex workers in Johannesburg reveal representations of sex work that are paradoxically both “good” and “bad”—ambiguous in a way the polarized discussions around sex work rarely reflect and in a way that might be best expressed through creative writing. In a country increasingly concerned with issues of (anti-)immigration and (anti-)trafficking, these women are often positioned as vulnerable and misidentified as trafficked; however, their self-representations portrayed complex women calculating and making decisions, especially related to their health and safely. This paper concentrates on letters the participants wrote to young sex workers, which highlight the participatory aspect of this method and show the complexities an arts-based method can reveal.

Sex workers must not be forgotten in the COVID-19 response

BackgroundThis study is aimed to understand the role of family members in decision-making process of female sex worker (FSW) migration and its impact on HIV risk, vulnerability and transmission dynamics...

<p>[Introduction]: "Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Worker Support Network) provides support to, and advocates for the rights of, Asian and migrant sex workers. We are an organization founded upon the belief that sex workers are entitled to respect and human rights regardless of type of work, place of origin, or citizenship status. We engage in outreach to sexual service establishments, including apartments, hotels, massage parlours (which can include holistic centres and body rub parlours), and spas across the City of Toronto, meeting with hundreds of migrant Asian sex workers annually. We have found that the majority of the workers in the city’s massage parlours and spas2 are migrant women from Asian countries. They often face unique challenges based both on their work in the sex industry and their immigration status. Such challenges include sex work stigma, racial and gender-based discrimination, substandard working conditions, language barriers, gendered relations of power, surveillance by police, immigration, and bylaw enforcement officers, and precarious living arrangements. Asian sex workers also have to contend with dominant notions that deem them trafficked victims in need of “saving,” thus denying them agency in their decision making.”</p>

While sex work is decriminalised in New Zealand and is ostensibly recognised as work, section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) 2003 prohibits temporary migrants from working as sex workers, and migrant sex workers face the threat of deportation if exposed. Section 19 of the PRA stemmed from concern amongst some politicians that decriminalisation could encourage trafficking into the sex industry. This chapter draws on the findings of two qualitative studies: one with migrant sex workers on their experiences, and the other with permanent resident sex workers. Both studies point to the deleterious impacts section 19 has had on migrant sex workers, putting them in a position where they are vulnerable to exploitation. It is argued in this chapter that there is no evidence of trafficking for sex work into New Zealand and that the repeal of Section 19 would be more conducive to protecting migrant sex workers from exploitation and ensuring that the PRA provides appropriate protection to all sex workers.

Historically, the Netherlands has hosted a large number of migrant sex workers. Since sex work is considered a legal profession it might serve as an example of better access to health services, including HIV testing, at least for those working within the legal framework. However, migrant sex workers, especially non-European Union (EU) nationals, might not be eligible to register for official employment and thus face obstacles in obtaining access to health services, becoming essentially invisible. This study examined context-specific vulnerabilities of migrant female sex workers (FSWs) from Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, whether and how they have access to HIV testing compared to other EE, non-EU migrant FSWs in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We conducted a multi-stakeholder perspective study from November 2015 to September 2017 in Amsterdam. The study comprised 1) semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders (N = 19); 2) in-depth interviews with Eastern European, non-EU migrant FSWs (N = 5) and field observations of the escort agency working with them; and 3) in-depth interviews with key stakeholders (N = 12). We found six key barriers to HIV testing: 1) migration and sex-work policies; 2) stigma, including self-stigmatization; 3) lack of trust in healthcare providers or social workers; 4) low levels of Dutch or English languages; 5) negative experience in accessing healthcare services in the home country; and 6) low perceived risk and HIV-related knowledge. Having a family and children, social support and working at the licensed sex-work venues might facilitate HIV testing. However, Internet-based sex workers remain invisible in the sex-work industry. Our findings indicate the importance of addressing women’s diverse experiences, shaped by intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, network and policy-level factors, with stigma being at the core. We call for the scaling up of outreach interventions focusing on FSWs and, in particular, migrant FSWs working online.

Drug use, commercial sex work, and migration each play a role in the spread of HIV in the Caribbean, yet the intersection of these factors in the region is not well understood. This paper explores the connections between substance use and HIV risk among migrant female sex workers in the US Virgin Islands. Participants were located through targeted sampling techniques in Christiansted and Frederiksted, St. Croix, and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas where 101 women were interviewed regarding their drug use, sexual behaviours, migration patterns and health status. In the month prior to interview, 25.7% reported no substance use, 57.4% reported alcohol use only and 16.8% indicated use of an illicit drug. Drug using sex workers reported a significantly greater number of past-month sexual partners than alcohol-only and non-drug users. In logistic regression analyses, illicit drug users were significantly more likely to report unprotected sexual activity, client violence and sexually transmitted infections as well. In addition, illicit drug users engaged in sex work in a significantly greater number of countries and were more likely to work in locations outside the US Virgin Islands. The intersection of multiple risk factors for HIV identified among drug-involved sex workers in the region, including unprotected sexual activity with multiple partners, violent victimization and migration between high and low HIV-prevalence areas, suggests that illicit drug use may play an important role in driving the growing heterosexual HIV epidemic in the Caribbean.

While New Zealand’s Prostitution Reform Act has decriminalized sex work for citizens and permanent residents, migrants on temporary visas are still not permitted to work in the sex industry. In 2018, a series of news media texts documented complaints about migrant sex workers put forward by Lisa Lewis, a prominent sex worker. This article considers how the figure of the migrant sex worker was produced through comparison to contingently acceptable ‘New Zealand working girls’. This was partly achieved through a discursive link between sex work and the alleged economic impact of Asian migrants to New Zealand, with the argument that migrant sex workers were impacting the earnings of domestic sex workers. Lewis’ claims were subsequently publicly rejected by other domestic sex workers, who resisted attempts to position them within this discourse. This media event offers evidence of changes to the figure of the sex worker in public discourse post-decriminalization: first in the way that some sex workers may be offered conditional acceptance and recognition of their jobs, and secondly in that it displays active resistance to the stigmatization of prostitution by a group of sex workers.

BackgroundMigrant women are over-represented in the sex industry, and migrant sex workers experience disproportionate health inequities, including those related to health access, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and violence. Despite calls for occupational sex work interventions situated in labour rights frameworks, there remains a paucity of evidence pertaining to migrant sex workers’ needs and realities, particularly within Mexico and Central America. This study investigated migrant sex workers’ narratives regarding the ways in which structural features of work environments shape vulnerability and agency related to HIV/STI prevention and violence at the Guatemala-Mexico border.MethodsDrawing on theoretical perspectives on risk environments and structural determinants of HIV in sex work, we analyzed in-depth interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic fieldwork conducted with 39 migrant sex workers in indoor work environments between 2012 and 2015 in Tecún Umán, Guatemala.ResultsParticipant narratives revealed the following intersecting themes to be most closely linked to safety and agency to engage in HIV/STI prevention: physical features of indoor work environments (e.g., physical layout of venue, proximity to peers and third parties); social norms and practices for alcohol use within the workplace; the existence and nature of management practices and policies on health and safety practices; and economic influences relating to control over earnings and clients. Across work environments, health and safety were greatly shaped by human rights concerns stemming from workplace interactions with police, immigration authorities, and health authorities.ConclusionsPhysical isolation, establishment norms promoting alcohol use, restricted economic agency, and human rights violations related to sex work policies and immigration enforcement were found to exacerbate risks. However, some establishment policies and practices promoted ‘enabling environments’ for health and safety, supporting HIV/STI prevention, economic agency, and protection from violence and exploitation; these practices and policies were especially crucial for recent migrants. Policy reforms and structural workplace interventions tailored to migrant sex workers’ needs are recommended to promote improved working conditions and migrant sex workers’ health, safety, and human rights.

In this article we will discuss the first Coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown and its immediate aftermath on the lives of migrant sex workers living and working in France, drawing on original interviews gathered between May and July 2020. Since 2016 in France, sex workers have worked under the so-called Swedish model legal framework criminalising the demand of sexual services. This has meant that sex workers, both migrant and non-migrant, have had to find various strategies to continue working within a criminalised environment infringing upon their rights and safety. Research in the French context has largely shown that the introduction of the Swedish model increased the financial precarity and impacted in significant, detrimental ways the physical and mental health of sex workers (Le Bail & Giametta 2018). In the context of the existing hardship to which migrant sex workers were exposed under this repressive regime in France, this article investigates if and how the law enforcement and emergency measures around the Covid-19 crisis aggravated their already precarious living conditions. Our analysis here demonstrates that both institutional racism (e.g., government policies and law enforcement targeting racialized migrants) and interpersonal stigmatisation (e.g., poor treatment and stereotyping by clients and civil society) must be combated to reduce the discrimination against migrant sex workers that is amplified in times of crisis.

PurposeIn this paper, the aim is to present an historical analysis to account for the association between prostitution, disease, and victimization. It also seeks to examine how stigmatization and rejection are currently focused on the immigrant sex worker.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on historical data about regulations in Portugal, in a recent ethnography carried out with street prostitutes and in a current study on immigrant sex workers and health care.FindingsSex workers have been recognized as a group “at risk” both because they are associated with sexually transmitted diseases and because they are acknowledged as victims of traffic and sexual exploitation. This label “group at risk” justifies some state policies often expressed in sanitary and social control measures, as regulations. Because migrant sex workers are simultaneously immigrants and sex workers they are perceived as a threat to social order and a sign of moral disorder and, so, they experience processes of rejection and stigmatization more significantly than local sex workers.Originality/valueThe knowledge of the negative consequences experienced by migrant sex workers implies an effort to produce changes in the policies and practices towards them. All those involved in research or intervention with migrant sex workers have the responsibility to be aware of the discrimination, violence, and control they are subjected to and must be committed enough to challenge them. This paper can be a contribution to that.

Despite reports of high levels of violence among women migrants in Central America, limited evidence exists regarding the health and safety of migrant sex workers in Central America. This study is based on 16 months of field research (November 2012–February 2014), including ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and focus groups conducted with 52 internal and international migrant female sex workers in Tecún Umán and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, key transit and destination communities for both international and internal migrants. The analysis explored migration-related determinants of susceptibility to violence experienced by migrant sex workers across different phases of migration. Violence in home communities and economic considerations were key drivers of migration. Unsafe transit experiences (eg undocumented border crossings) and negative interactions with authorities in destination settings (eg extortion) contributed to migrant sex workers’ susceptibility to violence, while enhanced access to information on immigration policies and greater migration and sex work experience were found to enhance agency and resilience. Findings suggest the urgent need for actions that promote migrant sex workers’ safety in communities of origin, transit, and destination, and programmes aimed at preventing and addressing human rights violations within the context of migration and sex work.

Although migration plays a critical role in the economic landscape of the world, government officials and researchers do not sufficiently include migration and/or migrants in research studies and development policies. In South Africa, many migrants – both internal and cross-border – engage in informal livelihood strategies, including sex work (see Richter et al. 2012). Currently, the bulk of research that is being conducted in South Africa in the areas of migration and sex work rely heavily on the use of traditional research approaches and focus mainly on concerns surrounding issues of public health, with increased attention to HIV (for example, see SANAC 2013; Scheibe, Drame and Shannon 2012; Scorgie et al. 2011). While this work is invaluable, there is a need for research that can counter the stigma that sex workers overwhelmingly face in light of HIV/AIDS. Participatory visual and narrative research approaches – as part of mixed method study designs – that examine the lived experiences of migrant sex workers can provide important insights that ‘move beyond the polarized and simplistic arguments that have circulated in South African about migrant sex workers’ (Nyangairi and Palmary, 2014, 132). This methodological approach makes important and necessary contributions to national and international discourses on migration and sex work (see Oliveira and Vearey 2015). In addition, these methods provide a unique platform where the normative discourses that portray migrants as a homogenous vulnerable and apolitical group of people can be contested (Palmary 2006). In this article, I present and discuss three participatory visual and narrative research projects that have been conducted with migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in two Provinces of South Africa and examine the suitability of these approaches.