Attitudes to HIV and adult commercial sex workers in South Africa.
Int Conf AIDS 2000 Jul 9-14; 13:63 (abstract no.. LBPeD7114)
Gardner J, Sloan J, Rhodes G SWEAT, Cape Town, South Africa. Fax: +27 21 448 78 57.
Adult commercial sex work has become much more visible in South Africa over the past decade. Despite the democratisation and a new Constitution guaranteeing human rights to all South Africans, sex work remains a criminal activity. Sex workers continue to experience prejudice from the community at large; and their access to a range of basic services which would serve to protect and assert their human rights is extrememly limited. Gender constructions, dominant attitudes towards sex and sexuality, and the social legacy of the apartheid era serve to divide cornmercial sex workers from mainstream members of society. This paper explores the extent to which stigmatisation of adult commercial sex work reaches far beyond criminal law. The manner in which sex work is stigmatised in contexts outside of the law is used to illustrate the degree of resistance and unwillingness within South African society to face the reality of people's sexual lives. In particular, the paper considers how current attiutudes towards sex workers serves to reinforce the blaming of sex workers for the increased incidence of HIV/AIDS, as well as limit sex workers' access to safer sex services. The paper is based on an analysis of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce's organisational experience in the fields of lobbying for the decriminalisation of adult sex work and direct outreach work with adult commercial sex workers, as well as written source material (newspaper articles, research, and discussion papers) reflecting current attitudes regarding sex workers and HIV.
Keywords: AEGIS, Prostitution, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Attitude, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Sex Behavior, Prejudice, Human Rights, Safe Sex, South Africa, Adult, Human, AIDS 000709
LBPeD7114
