[COMMENTARY] Promoting Mental Health Among China’s Sex Workers

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By Willa Dong

 

When the health needs of female sex workers (FSWs) are discussed, reproductive health and preventing HIV/AIDS are often the first things that are brought up. However, like any other person, a sex worker has a variety of health needs.

 

I became interested exploring these needs and trying to understand the extent to which  mental health is a priority for FSWs last September. Since then, I have looked at these issues in Shenzhen, China, through formal interviews with sex workers and also simply by spending time at a karaoke bar, beauty salons, and in neighborhoods, to get to know sex workers, mommies, and clients. I chose to do a smaller, qualitative study because it was important for me as a non-sex worker to understand the perspectives of sex workers, who already have a clear idea of their needs.

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[COMMENTARY] 中国性工作者的健康与法律权利

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By Meg Davis
 
Originally published in the Health and Human Rights Journal “Health and Human Rights” magazine’s blog 
 

In China each year, and important government meetings before holidays, the Chinese government will regularly “social undesirables” such as sex workers, drug addicts and other groups were crackdown. Sex workers, and women activist Ye Haiyan (also known as rogue Yan) is continually proposed crackdown influence caused by low-income sex workers, and emphasized the plight they face.

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[COMMENTARY] Police Crackdowns in China: The Health and Human Rights of Sex Workers

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The following is a cross post from the Health and Human Rights Journal. The journal and blog provide a forum for action-oriented dialogue among human rights practitioners.

By Meg Davis

Chinese authorities hold periodic sweeps to detain sex workers, drug users, and other ‘social undesirables’ en masse in advance of national holidays and major government conferences. Sex workers, including feminist activist Ye Haiyan (also known as Hooligan Sparrow) are increasingly vocal in raising concerns about the effects of these raids, highlighting the hardships faced by the lowest-paid sex workers.

In the often-heated international debate about criminal penalties on sex work, we rarely hear the voices of sex workers themselves.  But in China, a new network representing Chinese sex workers says that police crackdowns don’t stop sex work – they only drive sex workers further underground, putting them at higher risk of violence and HIV/AIDS.

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[COMMENTARY] Marginalization and HIV Risk Among Sex Workers in China | 中国性工作者的边缘化及艾滋病感染风险

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By Mike Frick

A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases examines the burden of HIV among female sex workers in 50 low- and middle-income countries. This is the first systematic review of HIV risk among female sex workers globally. The authors find that female sex workers in China face a 50-times increased odds of HIV infection compared to all Chinese women of reproductive age. This increased risk is slightly lower than the risk faced by female sex workers in India, but much higher than the increased odds of HIV infection among sex workers in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

近日，约翰霍普斯金大学公共卫生学院研究人员在《柳叶刀传染病》杂志 (The Lancet Infectious Diseases)上发表最新研究，研究调查了在世界50个低、中等收入国家，艾滋病毒给女性性工作者中艾滋病感染的情况。这是第一份全球性的针对女性性工作者所面临的艾滋病风险的系统性综述研究。作者指出，在中国，与其他育龄女性相比，女性性工作者感染艾滋病毒的风险按50倍的几率增长。这一数值只稍稍低于印度女性性工作者面临的艾滋病毒感染率，但却远远高于泰国、柬埔寨、印度尼西亚和越南。

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[NEWS] Women’s Network for Unity: “Sex Work Is Work”

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Journalist Paula Stromberg’s interview with the Women’s
Network for Unity (WNU), a sex workers’ union with over 6,400 members,
highlights the continuing struggle for Cambodian sex workers to be recognized
as workers, rather than as victims in need of rescue. They are speaking out
against anti-human-trafficking laws that define “all sex workers as victims, ensuring
the police arrest everyone during raids, not just children and sex slaves
locked in brothels. But we are not all victims,” says Ly Pisey, a member of
WNU. “The WNU slogan, Sex Work Is Work, demands that sex workers be taken
seriously as people having an occupation and that a distinction be made between
human trafficking and voluntary, adult sex work.” Read the rest of the article here.