Facts and Stats -- page 2
A study of 1,396 female sex workers in six
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibody to human
immunodeficiency virus in female prostitutes . Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report. 1987;36:157-161.
A study of 235 male street sex workers in
Elifson KW, Boles J, Sweat M. (1993). Risk factors associated with HIV infection among male prostitutes . American Journal of Public Health. 83:79-83.
Drug use can increase both the likelihood of sex work and unsafe sex. A study of crack cocaine users recruited from the streets in three urban neighborhoods found that 68% of women who were regular crack smokers had exchanged sex for drugs or money. Of those, 30% had not used a condom in the past 30 days.
Edlin BR, Irwin KL, Faruque S, et al. Intersecting epidemics: crack cocaine use and HIV infection among inner-city young adults .
Recently, observers have found an association between HIV infection and heavy crack use and unprotected fellatio. This may be due to poor oral hygiene and damage to the mouth from crack pipes, high frequency of fellatio, and inconsistent condom use.
Wallace JI, Weiner A, Bloch D et al. Fellatio is a significant risk activity for acquiring AIDS in New York City street walking sex workers. Presented at the Eleventh International Conference on AIDS, Vancouver BC; 1996.
Sex workers may agree to unprotected sex if a client offers substantially more money, if they are desperate for money to buy drugs, or if business has been slow. In some cases, clients may use violence to enforce unsafe sex. Police in many cities routinely confiscate condoms when they arrest or stop prostitutes, and prostitutes may not be able to obtain more condoms immediately. Thus, in some situations, sex workers are powerless to insist on condoms for safer sex.
Like many people in committed relationships, sex workers may find it difficult to discuss condoms or safer sex practices with their partner at home. In one study, although 94% of sex workers used condoms at some point with their clients, only 25% had used condoms with their partners at home.
Dorfman LE, Derish PE, Cohen JB. Hey Girlfriend: an evaluation of AIDS prevention among women in the sex industry . Health Education Quarterly. 1992:19;25-40.
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