Oral

Whether voluntary or forced, sex work may compromise women’s health and access to health care. Depression and other mental illnesses, violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and constrained civil liberties are issues often affecting the lives of sex-workers. This session will address the need to evaluate the mental health needs of sex workers and to design interventions to facilitate access to medical and mental health care. Presenters will also discuss the need for anti-trafficking organizations to differentiate between domestic sex work and forced sex trafficking to avoid infringement on women’s agency and to prevent pushing the domestic sex industry further underground. The need to create policies and programs that help women who have no freedom of movement, experience violence, and are uncompensated for sex work will be discussed. Presenters will discuss consequences of abuse from clients on the mental health and HIV risk of sex workers. The role of community-based organizations in empowering sex workers to negotiate for safer sexual practices is examined.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe health and social outcomes for women and girls who are engaged in prostitution and/or sex trafficking. 2. Assess factors that are associated with condom use by commercial sex workers. 3. Recognize how power disparities can affect the lives of female sex workers. 4. Describe the influence of community empowerment on safer-sex practices.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing