24 May Safer sex work spaces reduce violence and hiv risks
Safer indoor sex work spaces provide important and potentially life-saving benefits to sex workers including reduced exposure to violence and HIV and improved relationships with police, according to a study published by the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative and the University of British Columbia.
The qualitative evaluation study published today in the America Journal of Public Health interviewed 39 women living in low-threshold, supportive housing programs for sex workers in poverty and using drugs.
These programs, operated by Atira Women’s Resource Society and RainCity Housing and Support Society in Vancouver, Canada, offer an innovative harm reduction model that promotes the health and safety of the most marginalized sex workers.
Security measures include women-only buildings (residents, staff), supportive guest policies (clients sign-in at front desk), video cameras onsite, staff available to call police in case of violence, and health and safety resources onsite, including bad date sheets and condoms.
Based on the success of the programs to date, these models have now been extended to reach more sex workers across a number of housing programs in Vancouver.
Sex workers interviewed in the study had all previously worked on the street and described how supportive housing programs increased their control over negotiating sex work transactions, including the capacity to refuse unwanted services, negotiate condom use and avoid violent predators.
Women’s accounts contrast the safety afforded by these environments with their very limited options to controlling their safety when seeing clients in cars, alleys and clients’ homes.