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Speaker: Judith
Connell
Affiliation: Medical
Research Council, Glasgow
Presentation Title: The
Health and Safety of Male Sex Workers in Edinburgh and Glasgow
Abstract
Background
It is increasingly recognized that the exchange of
sexual services for money and/or material gain carries with it certain
health costs. Public concern over prostitution has most often focused
on the spread and transmission of STIs and, in particular, the risk and
exposure to HIV in populations of female prostitutes. This discourse of
sexual risk - both to the sex worker and client - has also shaped the
research agenda on male prostitution. The consequence is, however, a somewhat
restricted perspective on male prostitution and fails to recognize that
the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV is clearly not the only significant
health risk experienced by male prostitutes.
This study departs from the dominant HIV focused research paradigm and seeks to investigate, in greater detail than previously in the UK, the family and social backgrounds of male sex workers, the timing and nature of entry into sex work, efforts to leave sex work and some of the day to day realities of involvement in prostitution. Central to this study are the mental and physical health consequences of participation in sex work for men, and the issue of personal safety during sex work.
Aims and Objectives
This presentation will address the health and safety
of male street workers and will employ data from non-participant observations
and interviews conducted with male sex workers in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
· Non- participant Observations
Field notes will be used to describe the social context and circumstances of male sex work in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
· Interviews with Male Sex Workers
Male sex work interview data will describe:
- The background to sex work
- Personal safety in male sex work
- Incidents between male sex workers and sex work: clients, organisers
of sex work, other sex workers and the general public
- The health consequences, both physical and mental of engaging in sex
work.
Results
Analysis of observational and interview data demonstrates:
- The detrimental impact sex work has had on the physical and mental health of male prostitutes in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- The harm associated with sex work through incidents of verbal, physical and sexual assault.
