Sex Work has been a part of society for as long as we’ve recorded human history and we’ve even observed similar practices among other animal species. Many argue that sex work is immoral, dangerous, and a threat to polite society. Yet with such a long history, it seems we should focus our attention away from preventing sex work and towards promoting a safe and livable sex work industry for the sake of workers. Among those workers are transgender women. As an intersectionally marginalized community, transgender women (of color) who perform sex work are at high risk for violence as well as health disparities. When we discuss the methodology for creating safer spaces for sex workers, we must consider the ways in which transgender women are at particular risk and why they engage in sex work. This will lead us to concrete issues and risks so that we can quantify what could make this work safer and more equitable for the women performing this service.
Before engaging with the risks involved in sex work for transgender women we must address why these women become involved in the first place. Lydia Sausa writes in “Perceived Risks and Benefits of Sex Work among Transgender Women of Color in San Francisco” that “Many transgender women lack employment and live below the poverty threshold… In order to survive, some transgender women have had to exchange sex for food, shelter, or money to support their families financially; to pay for healthcare and medical treatment, rent, debts; to fund their education; and/or purchase drugs and other substances” (Page 768). Sausa reveals something noteworthy, which is that many transgender women sex workers are engaging in this work simply to meet living necessities and not even profiting off of their work. Another trend Sausa’s study found was that many transgender women engage in sex work based on social community needs. She writes, “Entering sex work was regarded as a cultural norm for young transgender women at the beginning stages of their transitions; even participants who had never engaged in sex work remarked on this tendency” (Page 772). She continues, “Sex work offered an entrance into a wider social network of more ‘‘seasoned’’ transgender women, and was thus observed as a rite of passage or initiation into a community of similar individuals” (Page 772). This is compelling to consider because it means that there is a cycle in place where older transgender women living under the poverty line have turned to survival sex work. These women in turn introduce younger transgender women to the work because poverty is so common as to form a community around survival work. One can predict that there must be many risks involved with a community built upon sex work as a survival method to cope with oppression-based poverty.
Transgender women are already at risk of transphobic violence. Tooru Nemoto, writing in his piece “Social Support, Exposure to Violence and Transphobia, and Correlates of Depression Among Male-to-Female Transgender Women With a History of Sex Work” addresses transphobic violence against transgender women sex workers and the risks involved with their lives. He writes, “Transgender persons are frequently exposed to violence, sexual assault, and harassment in everyday life, mainly because of transphobia.” Additionally, he writes that many transgender people cannot access gender-sensitive care due to violence from their physicians and endocrinologists. The combination of violence as well as harassment and abandonment by families creates a very painful life for transgender women. Nemoto writes, “A recent study showed that the prevalence rate of suicide attempts was 32% among transgender persons in San Francisco, and that suicide attempts were significantly correlated with age (younger than 25 years), depression, having a history of enrolling in substance abuse treatment programs, sexual victimization, and gender-based discrimination.” These young women face violence at such a level that one third will attempt suicide as well as increased exposure to addictive drugs.
Nemoto’s framing research establishes a base level, allowing us to assume that transgender women sex workers are likely at an increased risk of violence due to the interactions between transphobia and violence against sex workers. The theory that transgender women are at an increased risk of violence when performing sex work bears out when put into research as well. Nemoto writes, “More than one third reported physical assaults by commercial sex customers…Nearly one quarter had been raped or sexually assaulted by male customers.” Additionally this only accounts for sexual violence, completely excluding accounts of other forms of assault these women may face. The intersections of identity create an increased risk of violence. This is compounded when you consider the ways in which race interacts with transgender identity and sex work. Transgender women of color who are sex workers, Lydia Sausa writes, “experience a high incidence of violence, including physical assault (65%) and rape (67%)” (Page 769). This is almost double the reported rates of violence from Nemoto’s study. Since both Nemoto and Sausa researched transgender women sex workers in the San Francisco area, one can extrapolate that this is a fairly accurate representation of how race contributes greatly to the threat of violence for transgender women performing sex work.
The prevalence of sexual violence against transgender women, both in and out of sex work, creates another risk, sexually transmitted infections. We may instinctively advise sex workers to simply use condoms to reduce the risk of transmission, but are condoms really accessible to these women when they’re working? The women in Sausa’s study report “receiving more money for not using condoms and a lack of self-efficacy in condom negotiation. Participants consensually agreed that condom negotiation skills with clients were lowest during times of financial distress” (Page 773). Additionally, while Sausa does not address this, one can extrapolate that there is a potential for violence against workers who do not comply with their client’s wishes. Combine this with our earlier assessment that survival sex work is a common practice for transgender women living in poverty, and we can see that these women are financially coerced into not protecting themselves when with clients.
While transgender women who perform survival sex work are at an incredibly high risk of violence, both sexual and otherwise, there are also potential options for the future. As I wrote earlier, sex work for transgender women is seen as a community rite of passage. Such a community provides a resource network for transgender women. Nemoto writes, “...we found that some transgender sex workers on the streets provide their friends with support for preventing violence or harassment from customers.” He continues, “The existing support networks among sex workers could be used for developing violence prevention programs.” While many of these support systems are informal tactics, we should take a note from the protection that transgender women sex workers provide one another, similar to the way a union might protect the rights of workers in other workplace settings. Additionally, such a method would be beneficial because it centers the lived experiences of transgender women sex workers, and refocuses onto their voices. By empowering their narratives we can truly create a vision for the future that operates in solidarity to what they actually want from supporters.
If you’d like to find out more about the narratives of transgender people from their own voices, check out http://transoralhistory.com/
Sources:
Nemoto, Tooru. "Social Support, Exposure to Violence and Transphobia, and Correlates of Depression Among Male-to-Female Transgender Women With a History of Sex Work." American Journal of Public Health 101.10 (2011): 1980-988. Web.
Sausa, Lydia A. "Perceived Risks and Benefits of Sex Work among Transgender Women of Color in San Francisco." Archives of Sexual Behavior 36.6 (2007): 768-77. Web.
Transgender Triangle. Digital image. Wikimedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web.
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