Female sex work within the Latino community in rural North Carolina: An exploratory, community-based participatory study

Background: This study explored female sex work with the Latino community in North Carolina, United States (US) as the use of sex workers and associated risks for HIV and STDs within this burgeoning community has not been systematically documented.

Methods: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership conducted individual in-depth interviews with: Latina women (ages 25-48) who sold sex for money to men of any ethnicity/race (n=4); women of any ethnicity/race (ages 27-49) who sold sex for money to Latino men (n=4); and Latino men (ages 25-49) who hired sex workers with money (n=4), within the past six months. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and maintained in Spanish and English. Open coding explored and organized data into broad domains interpreted by the partnership.

Results: Themes emerged related to: the structure of sex work (e.g., referral sources, use of controllers/pimps); motivations to sell sex (e.g., limited economic options); motivations to hire sex workers (e.g., proving one's masculinity, sexual experimentation); and sexual health issues (e.g., limited understanding of sexual health including HIV/STD transmission risk, alcohol use, condom use/non-use).

Conclusion: This study provided preliminary data related to sex work within the immigrant Latino community in the US. It illustrates that within CBPR partnerships it is possible to recruit female sex workers and their clients and collect formative data within a population that tends to be marginalized and hard to reach. These results can inform larger future studies to better understand and promote sexual health among sex workers and clients.