SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

of police misconduct reported by sex workers. Of 299 respondents, 31 sex workers
reported being subject to police beatings, 16 reported electrical shocks, 4 reported
rape and 22 reported blackmail.
Pirkle et al note that some sex workers live under conditions of dependence: “They turn all
their earnings over to the manager who provides them with daily necessities in return.” 306
Women in these circumstances have very limited decision making power and are highly
vulnerable to HIV, with condom availability and use determined primarily by clients or
managers of sex workers (pimps, establishment owners, etc.).
Fear of police crackdowns and arrest may lead to increased mobility of sex workers, thereby
expanding sexual networks and potentially discouraging sex workers from accessing
testing and treatment services. This problem is exacerbated because many sex workers
belong to floating populations of migrants from rural areas who are already susceptible to
police abuses. 307 As informal internal migrants, most are unable to register for government
entitlements under China’s hukou system (household registration system). 308
Choi identifies a gradual intensification of state control over sex workers. 309 She argues
that repressive measures undermine the supportive professional networks of sex workers,
increase economic pressure on sex workers and increase their exposure to clientperpetrated
violence. These consequences weaken the ability of sex workers to negotiate
condom use with clients:
Information about effective means of STI and HIV prevention, proper ways of applying
condoms, strategies to prevent condom failure (slippage and breakage during
intercourse) and methods to screen out potentially violent clients or clients who
refuse to use condoms is circulated through these (informal)
networks (of sex workers)...The formation of these networks,
“MANY WOMEN INCUR
DEBTS FROM OWNERS
AND MANAGERS OF THE
ESTABLISHMENTS WHERE
THEY WORK BECAUSE THEY
NEED TO BORROW MONEY
TO PAY FOR POLICE FINES...”
however, has been hampered by frequent police raids and
arrests. After release, arrested sex workers may not return to
the same venue for fear of becoming the target of further
police action again. The fear of police raids and arrests is part
of the reasons that sex workers change work venues and
locations frequently, thus greatly reducing the stability and
strength of their networks…The rapid turnover of women
undermines the HIV prevention work of health personnel and
outreach workers. For it creates great difficulties for outreach
workers to build up a more stable and trusting relationship
with women…
Police raids and arrests also increase the economic pressure of sex workers, in
particular drug-using sex workers and streetwalkers…In a climate where competition
for clients is already intense because of the continuous supply of women from rural
areas, police raids scare potential clients away, seriously interrupt the livelihood of
women, and put these women in an even more powerless position in negotiating
safe sex with customers...
306 Pirkle C., Soundardjee R., Stella A. (2007) Female Sex Workers in China: Vectors of Disease? Sexually
Transmitted Diseases 34 (9), 695–703, p.699.
307 Ibid, p.696; Tucker J., Henderson G., Wang T., et al. (2005) Surplus men, sex work, and the spread of HIV in
China. AIDS 19, 539–547.
308 Pirkle C., Soundardjee R., Stella A., (2007), op cit.; Zheng T. (2010) op cit., p.41
309 Choi S., (2011) State control, female prostitution and HIV prevention in China, China Quarterly 205: 96-
114.
98