Van Bavel Hannelore
a Department of Sociology , Ghent University , Ghent , Belgium.
Cult Health Sex. 2017 Jan;19(1):76-90. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2016.1207253. Epub 2016 Jul 18.
This study examines how young women sex workers exercise agency when entering prostitution, coping with occupational health problems and accessing healthcare services. It was conducted at two sites in Tanzania: Morogoro on Tanzania's mainland and Stone Town on Zanzibar Island. A total of 19 in-depth interviews were conducted with female sex workers who were 18-years old or younger at the time of entry into prostitution and 12 key informant interviews with sex workers who were 19 or older at the time of entry into prostitution. Eight key informant interviews were held with the peer educators and staff of ZAYEDESA, a sex worker organization on Zanzibar. The findings show that agency is more constrained for adolescent sex workers compared to adult sex workers. However, younger sex workers find coping strategies to navigate within the constraints that compromise their agency, reflecting different positions on the agency spectrum, ranging from reconciliation, via negotiation, to actual individual or collective agency. Adolescent sex worker agency is often severely compromised; however, it is still present and should not be ignored. Rather, it should inspire the design and implementation of harm reduction and rehabilitative interventions that address the needs of young sex workers in their particular situation.
本研究考察了年轻女性性工作者在进入性交易行业、应对职业健康问题以及获取医疗服务时如何行使自主权。研究在坦桑尼亚的两个地点开展：坦桑尼亚大陆的莫罗戈罗以及桑给巴尔岛的石头城。对初次从事性交易时年龄在18岁及以下的女性性工作者进行了总共19次深度访谈，对初次从事性交易时年龄在19岁及以上的性工作者进行了12次关键 informant 访谈。对桑给巴尔的一个性工作者组织ZAYEDESA的同伴教育者和工作人员进行了8次关键 informant 访谈。研究结果表明，与成年性工作者相比，青少年性工作者的自主权受到更多限制。然而，年轻的性工作者会在限制其自主权的情况下找到应对策略，这反映了她们在自主权范围内的不同立场，从和解、谈判到实际的个人或集体自主权。青少年性工作者的自主权常常受到严重损害；然而，它仍然存在且不应被忽视。相反，它应该启发设计和实施减少伤害及康复干预措施，以满足年轻性工作者在其特殊情况下的需求。
