Sex workers have been the
protagonists and focus of HIV prevention campaigns and research since the late
1980s in Brazil. Through a review of national and international literature,
combined with a history of sex workers' involvement in the construction of the
Brazilian response, this article explores the overlaps and disconnects between
research and practice in contexts of prostitution over the past three decades.
We review the scientific literature on the epidemiology of HIV among sex
workers and prevention methodologies. We conclude that although research focus
and designs often reinforce the idea that sex workers' vulnerability is due to
their sexual relationships with clients, their greatest vulnerability has been
found to be with their nonpaying intimate partners.
Few studies explore their
work contexts and structural factors that influence safe sex practices with
both types of partners. The negative effects of criminalization, stigma, and
exclusively biomedical and peer education-based approaches are well documented
in the scientific literature and experiences of sex worker activists, as is the
importance of prevention programs that combine empowerment and human
rightsbased approach to reduce HIV infection rates.
We conclude that there is a
need for actions, policies, and research that encompass the environment and
context of sex workers' lives and reincorporate the human rights and
citizenship frame that dominated the Brazilian response until the end of the
2000s. As part of HIV prevention efforts, female sex workers need to be
considered above all as women, equal to all others.
Full article at:
- 1Davida - Prostitution, Civil Rights and Health, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
- 2Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA.
- 3Graduate Program in Communication, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
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