Hijra sex workers at risk of police fierceness and sexual abusing: qualitative study findings from Pakistan
Abstract
Background: Physical violence links with vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections through forced unprotected sex and the reduced capacity to negotiate sexual risk. The emotional harms of sex work are often inseparable... [ view full abstract ]
Background: Physical violence links with vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections through forced unprotected sex and the reduced capacity to negotiate sexual risk. The emotional harms of sex work are often inseparable from the experience of violence. Preventing violence is a global public health and human rights priority because such acts can impact adversely on health.
Objective To explore hijra (transvestite) sex workers’ perceptions of risk in the sex work environment in urban population of Karachi Pakistan
Design and Setting: Qualitative study; semi structured interviews from Service Delivery Points offered by Sindh AIDS Control & Prevention Program
Study Participants: non-probability purposive sampling of 25 hijra sex workers.
Results: Violence, particularly police violence, was reported as a key concern in relation to risk. The risk of violence seemed to be pervasive to this street setting for sex workers. Violence was linked to unprotected sex and the reduced capacity for avoiding sexual risk. Participants reported that forced sex was routinely provided to the police in exchange for freedom from detainment, arrest, or fine. Accounts contained multiple instances of physical and sexual assault, presented as abuses of police authority, and described policing as a form of moral punishment. This was largely through non-physical means but was also enforced through physical violence towards hijra sex workers, whose experience of police violence was reported as relentless and brutal and connected with broader social forces of discrimination in this setting.
Conclusion: In Pakistan hijras are subject to immense social discrimination and impoverishment and being subjected to extreme acts of police violence. Preventing violence, which is associated with vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections, is a priority for hijras. This requires interventions to monitor culprits of violence, providing social support, health and human rights and the creation of safer environments for this marginalized and stigmatized population.
Authors
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Muslima Ejaz
(Aga Kh)
Topic Areas
IV. Behaviors 4.1 Mobilities and health 4.2 Spatial analysis of substance abuse and treatm , II. Urban Health at the intersection of urban environment, social determinants and places
Session
PS-3 » POSTER SESSION 3 (12:15 - Sunday, 3rd April, TBA)
Paper
Hijra_sex_workers_at_risk_of_police_fierceness_and_sexual_abusing_qualitative_study_findings_from_Pakistan.docx
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