THE CONDOM QUANDARY

Street-based sex workers said they chose highly-concealed places to engage in sexual
transactions, such as public toilets. 141 When engaging in sexual activity in public toilets, sex
workers do not have access to sanitation facilities, such as showers. Furthermore, there are
increased security concerns the more isolated the locations become.
Although sex work has become more covert, our research found, similar to other studies,
that police crackdowns did not result in sex workers leaving the sex industry. 142 After
encountering law enforcement officials, sex workers may stop working, but only for a short
time. Once they resume their work, sex workers merely change their city, venue or method
of operation. Zhao Hui, a female sex worker, said:
I changed a place to work. That place was inspected too strictly, the police already
knew me, I was afraid they would come directly for me, so I changed to another
place quickly. 143
And Jun Zhe, a male sex worker, moved to another city:
Immediately after I was released, I went to another city, I have had enough here. 144
Furthermore, the economic losses sex workers suffer through penalties or detention require
them to work even harder to make up their losses. Zhao, a female sex worker, said:
I have to continue to work. I already paid the fine, I have to earn the money back!
The economic pressure and fear of arrest also often forces sex workers to agree to clients’
demands to not use condoms. And, because of police crackdowns, sex workers are
less likely to report to the police if they experience violence from clients. Frequent law
enforcement actions also make sex workers more dependent on regular customers as their
main source of income, which also increases potential risks of having unsafe sex. Research
finds that the prevalence of condom use is usually lower with more stable sex partners. 145
Law enforcement actions, and accompanying violence and abuse of power, have an
immense effect on the image and credibility of public security authorities among sex
workers. When asked about their impression of the police, only 11.2% (58/517) of the
survey respondents had a good impression of the police, while half (49.5%, 256/517) had
a poor impression. Nearly half (48.7%, 252/517) said that if they encountered a dangerous
situation during work, they would not report it to the police. Zhang Mo, a male sex worker
who was caught by police with condoms, said:
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