Sex work activism and HIV prevention

This paper explores the relationship between sexworker activism and HIV-related discourse in Bangladesh. Both sex worker activism and HIV prevention initiatives adopt pro-sex-work perspectives that emphasise individual and collective agency. The sex work movement attempted to transform sex workers’ identity from that of ‘fallen women’ to that of ‘ordinary worker’. However, by participating in HIV prevention programmes, sex workers failed to contest the imagery of themselves as ‘vectors’ of HIV. In this way, they were unwittingly complicit in reproducing their identity as ‘polluting others’.
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: research