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PubMed2004

A health needs assessment of street-based prostitutes: cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Research with prostitutes has tended to concentrate on sexual health rather than wider health issues, and has failed to differentiate between street-based prostitutes and off-street workers. Little is known about the general health and background of street-based sex workers, the group likely to have the greatest needs. METHODS: An interview-based survey amongst street-based sex workers in central Bristol was employed. RESULTS: Seventy-one women were interviewed. All reported chronic health problems. Sexually transmitted infections were between nine and 60 times more common than the general population. Many women (44 per cent; n = 31) had experienced sexual abuse and 38 per cent (n = 27) had been in care. Women who had experienced care left school earlier (14.1 versus 15.5 years; p < 0.0001 unpaired t-test) and were less likely to have their own children at home [1/18 (5.5 per cent) versus 8/25 (32 per cent); p = 0.06) The stillbirth rate was 50/1000. Most (97 per cent; n = 69) had been offered more money for unprotected sex. Half (51 per cent; n = 36) had unprotected sex in the last week. All had drug or alcohol dependency problems. In the last week, 22 per cent (n = 9/41) of injecting drug users had shared needles and 59 per cent (n = 24/41) had shared injecting equipment, despite most (96 per cent; n = 39/41) knowing the risks. CONCLUSIONS: The health and social inequalities experienced by this group are much worse than any group highlighted in the 'Tackling Health Inequalities Review 2002' and appear cross generational. In neither that report nor the Sexual Health and HIV Strategy report are sex workers identified as a particularly high priority group. There is the potential for their needs to continue to be unmet.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Experience with a modified solid-phase enzyme immunoassay for detection of gonorrhea in prostitutes.

The modified Gonozyme Test (Abbott Laboratories; Chicago, IL), a new enzyme immunoassay for detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, was evaluated in testing of 266 prostitutes. When the enzyme immunoassay was used with material from the cervix, the prevalence of gonorrhea was 8.4%. As compared with culture results, this rate represents a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 99.2%. A sensitivity of 71% and a specificity of 98.9% were registered for tests of urethral material. In a comparison of the two tests without accepting either one as standard, the sensitivity of the enzyme immunoassay was 90% for material from the cervix and the specificity was 100%. There are several possible causes for discordance between results of culture and of enzyme immunoassay. The high predictive value of a negative enzyme immunoassay in screening urogenital samples from prostitutes makes this test very suitable for rapid elimination of gonorrhea from this pool of patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

HIV risk behaviours among female prostitute drug injectors in Glasgow.

This paper focuses upon HIV-related risk behaviours of 51 female drug injecting prostitutes, interviewed as part of a serial cross-sectional study of injecting drug users in Glasgow. Forty-five per cent injected with used needles and syringes in the 6 months prior to interview. Condom use in private sexual relations was low with only 9% of those with primary partners and 22% of those with casual partners reporting consistent use of condoms with these partners. In contrast, use of condoms for all commercial sexual encounters was almost universal. Prevalence of HIV was 2.2%. Despite this low prevalence, we conclude that the level of injecting-related and private sexual risk behaviours reported here requires the continuing monitoring of drug injecting prostitutes in Glasgow.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae among prostitutes in Surabaya.

Thirty-six strains of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) were detected among 794 prostitutes between October 1981 and May 1982 in Surabaya, Indonesia. The high prevalence of PPNG strains among the high-class prostitutes and a lower prevalence among the low-class suggest that regular mass treatment for syphilis did not play an important role in the emergence and spread of PPNG; the importation of PPNG strains from abroad is more likely to have been responsible.

Female↗
PubMed1991

Screening for sexually transmitted disease in London-based male prostitutes.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a screening service for sexually transmissible infections to male prostitutes working in the London area. DESIGN: An open access service recruiting by a diverse range of methods to avoid over-representation of the more visible elements of this group. SETTING: Department of genitourinary medicine in a London teaching hospital and a community-based clinic at a safe address. RESULTS: During the 10 months following the establishment of the service in June 1990, 57 male prostitutes (38 street based and 19 "escorts") were seen. Of these, 27 men (47%) were found to have evidence of such an infection. Twenty five per cent of the street-based men had serological evidence of previous infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), 6% had positive syphilis serology, 9% had non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), 18% had urethral and 13% rectal gonorrhoea. None had gonorrhoea at more than one site. Twenty-seven per cent of these men were HIV 1-antibody positive. Thirty-seven per cent of the escorts had serological evidence of previous infection with HBV, none had positive syphilis serology, 11% had NGU, 5% had urethral and 8% rectal gonorrhoea. None had gonorrhoea at more than one site. Twenty-five per cent of these men were HIV 1-antibody positive. CONCLUSION: Specific targeting of resources at this group of individuals is necessary to promote better health education and use of health care provisions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Violence, risk, and survival strategies of street prostitution.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the risks and responses of street prostitutes to customer-related violence. Thirteen female street prostitutes, aged 18 to 40, were recruited from a moderate-size, midwestern city in the United States. Eight were non-Hispanic White and five were African American. Respondents participated in individual interviews to identify perceptions of work-related violence, personal risk, and self-protective survival strategies. The constant comparative method was used to analyze data.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

A comparison of the male customers of female street prostitutes with national samples of men.

Previous research on customers of prostitutes has relied on small samples and qualitative interviews. Conceptions of customers have tended toward either the "every man" perspective, which implies customers are no different than other men, or the "peculiar man" perspective, which implies customers are characterized by stark differences or psychological inadequacies. This study compares a large sample of men (N = 1672) arrested for trying to hire street prostitutes with nationally representative samples of men. Customers were less likely to be married, less likely to be happily married if married, and more likely to report being unhappy in general than men in the national samples. Customers also expressed greater sexual liberalism and reported thinking about sex, masturbating, and participating in other aspects of the sex industry more frequently than men in general. Most differences were small, indicating customers as a category differ from other men in degree rather than quality.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Outreach STD clinics for prostitutes in Edinburgh.

This paper describes the establishment of Genito-Urinary Medicine outreach clinics based in 2 drop-in centres for female prostitutes in Edinburgh; 242 women have received medical care at these outreach clinics. STD screening has been carried out on 160 (63%), detecting one case of gonorrhoea, 11 cases of chlamydia, 11 cases of genital warts, and 2 cases of recurrent genital herpes. With regards to HIV serostatus, 8 women were already known to be HIV seropositive and 18 were known to be seronegative. One hundred and fifteen women have been tested at the outreach clinics, yielding one positive result. The serostatus of 91 women is unknown. There have been 42 pregnancies, some of which were conceived through client contact. The prevalence of STDs including HIV is low and would suggest that condom usage is high. However, this level of usage is associated with significant numbers of unwanted pregnancies. Prostitutes in Edinburgh do not appear to act as a significant focus for dissemination of HIV infection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Male prostitution and homosexual identity.

The documentary film on transvestites, The Queen, has a scene where a young man tells a friend about a recent job interview (Litvinoff, 1968). His friend asks, "Did you tell them you were a homosexual?" The young man, who did not get the job, answers, "No, they told me." What this interaction reflected was not just the fact of the young man's homosexuality, but the social fact: What it means to be homosexual in his culture and society. In this paper, I discuss the conduct of prostitution as one enactment of those meanings: Prostitution, as a social fact in the life of adolescent gay males, is understood by them to be linked with their homosexual identity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Pederasty among primitives: institutionalized initiation and cultic prostitution.

For several reasons it is difficult to find examples of pederastic practices in historical and ethnological sources. Besides the social taboo, these practices have always been mixed up with other forms of sexual contact. However, existing material shows pederastic practices in primitive societies as initiation rituals for male youth. Several examples of institutionalized pederasty, especially from the area of Papua-New Guinea and Melanesia are described. These practices, with a clear societal function, are part of a distinct outlook on life and only superficially resemble the man-boy relationships we can observe today. In other parts of the world, pederastic practices were forms of prostitution. Taking place in a religious context, it was also a different form of prostitution than the one we commonly know. Both forms of man-boy involvement attempt to attain assimilation through physical contact. In these practices sexuality serves purposes other than sexual satisfaction and procreation.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A large specific deterrent effect of arrest for patronizing a prostitute.

BACKGROUND: Prior research suggests that arrest, compared with no police detection, of some types of offenders does not decrease the chances they will reoffend. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We assessed the specific deterrent effect of arrest for patronizing a street prostitute in Colorado Springs by comparing the incidence of arrest for clients of prostitutes first detected through public health surveillance with the incidence of rearrest for clients first detected by police arrest. Although these sets of clients were demographically and behaviorally similar, arrest reduced the likelihood of a subsequent arrest by approximately 70%. In other areas of the United States, arrest did not appear to displace a client's patronizing. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that apprehending clients decreases their patronizing behavior substantially.

Colorado↗
PubMed1999

[Child prostitution from the point of view of society and health].

OBJECTIVE: The social representations and the structural relationships related to child prostitution, as presented in the depositions made before of the Parliamentary Commission Inquiry dealing with the problem are analyzed. METHODS: On the basis of qualitative methodology, the analysis attempts to identify the units of meaning present in the depositions. RESULTS: Data on the subject are presented by region. A vision of the social scene is built up on the basis of the data such as to being out the related historical and cultural determining factors. CONCLUSION: The child juvenile prostitution is based on the commercialization of the body as coercion or slavery is seen as a means of meeting the basis needs of survival. The need for social action is brought out, including that of collective health, so that the theme does not serve only the amposes of rhetoric on statistics, because in calls for decisive action.

Brazil↗
PubMed1994

Prostitutes in the archives: problems and possibilities in documenting the history of sexuality.

In the past decade, the study of sexuality has proven to be one of the most dynamic academic enterprises. Among the most popular topics has been the history of prostitution. Archivists have been invaluable but largely unsung allies in the explosive growth of a new revisionist literature. Through the preservation of long-ignored and often-discarded records and manuscripts, archivists provided the means enabling historians to answer many new questions, not only about prostitution but about the history of sexuality. Yet some of these sources raise provocative and controversial problems for historians and archivists documenting the history of sexuality. The author acknowledges and thanks Loyola University of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Newberry Library in Chicago for providing financial support to complete this article. His appreciation also extends to Mary Rose Alexander, Kenneth Cobb, Phillip Costello, and the anonymous referees of The American Archivist for their criticism and helpful comments on earlier drafts.

Archives↗
PubMed2005

[Development and testing of a sexually transmitted diseases prevention program in at-risk prostitutes].

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of an 8 session intervention program to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among at-risk prostitutes. METHOD: An experimental research design was employed. Subjects were 59 prostitutes (29 in the control group and 30 in the experimental group) who agreed to participate in this study. An STD Prevention Framework derived from Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior guided the overall intervention and the components. The intervention had 8 sessions with STD-prevention strategies and was led by Public Health Nurses. Analysis included change scores, chi(2)-test, and t-test. RESULT: The results revealed significant increase in feelings and skills of condom use, peer belief on condom use, condom use practice, and satisfaction with service at public health centers (PHC) on STDs knowledge and skills in the experimental group. However, newly contracted STDs were not significant statistically between groups. CONCLUSION: The 8 session STDs prevention program showed a effect on emotions, skills and behaviors of condom use even with the limitation of methodological rigors because of subject-specific conditions. In the future, a capacity-building model based on collaborating networks among community-based organizations will be needed to develop in effective STDs prevention.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Gonorrhoea in a Sydney house of prostitution.

Seventy prostitutes were screened at their place of work, a Sydney house of prostitution, on a weekly basis over one year. Of these, 10% acquired new infections with gonorrhoea each week (53 episodes). Clinical guidelines (symptoms, contact history, physical signs) were found to be unreliable, in this context, for predicting the isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Of the 39 women observed over one month or more, 17 (44%) acquired gonorrhoea within the first month. Stability of the place of work appeared to be associated with a lower isolation rate (5.5%). Five asymptomatic, urethrally infected men (two clients, three boyfriends/husbands) were detected, and appeared to have an important role in the hyperendemicity of gonorrhoea in this environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Medico-social aspects of a house of prostitution.

All the women working in a Sydney house of prostitution were surveyed for one year for the presence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other medical problems, and for the contraceptive methods they used. Considerable potential morbidity from STD was noted, particularly pelvic inflammatory disease (23 episodes). Contraception was an area of unsatisfactory practice. Suggestions are made for the clinical management of these women, with the intention of diminishing the impact of STDs on them and, as a direct result, rendering them less infectious, to the benefit of the community. It is hoped that greater knowledge will improve the standard of current debate about prostitution.

Contraception↗
PubMed1999

"Hired guns," "whores," and "prostitutes": case law references to clinicians of ill repute.

The "hired gun phenomenon" is a recurrent topic in forensic psychiatric shop talk, but scholars have conducted very little systematic investigation of how courts respond to the suggestion that mental health testimony is "for sale." This article examines the issue using findings from a computer search of court decisions that make, or refer to, derogatory statements concerning mental health experts. The search strategy, using the root words or search terms "(prostitut! or whore or hired gun) w/100 psych!," yielded 567 cases, 45 (7.9%) of which contained comments about professionals' ethics. In 35 opinions, professionals were termed or compared with "hired guns"; five cases described testifying experts using the word "whore," and five cases used some variation on "prostitute." Most cases referred to psychiatrists (rather than psychologists); specific clinicians were identifiable in 26 cases. Over half the remarks occurred in appeals of criminal convictions and concerned psychiatric testimony at trial or before sentencing. Prosecutors were the most common sources of disparaging statements; appellate courts usually disapproved of their remarks but did not reverse convictions. Appellate decisions themselves were the second most frequent sources of derogatory remarks. These findings document the perception among legal professionals that many mental health experts are unscrupulous.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1999

[Increase of early syphilis in Rotterdam (1995-1997): more (addicted) prostitutes and their clients].

OBJECTIVE: To detect risk groups in an increase of early (infectious) syphilis. DESIGN: Retrospective study of patient records. METHOD: Data from visitors with an early syphilis were collected from their respective medical records in the outpatient clinic for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) of the Academic Hospital Rotterdam-Dijkzigt, the Netherlands, over the years 1993-1997. In particular, data on risk behaviour and risk groups were collected. To obtain an indication of the (possible) causes of the increase in the number of visitors with early syphilis, (shifts in) characteristics of this population over the years were compared. RESULTS: 195 patients with early syphilis had visited the outpatient clinic, 130 males and 65 females, mean ages ranging from 30.9 (1993) to 38.1 years (1997). Most infected persons (68%) came to the outpatient clinic because of symptoms. The number of women who came to the outpatient clinic through partner notification increased considerably, from an average of 5% in 1993-1995 to 36% in 1996. Over the years a relative increase of (drug addicted) prostitutes and their clients was observed (1993-1995: 39%; 1996: 56%). CONCLUSION: The cause of the increase, or failure to decrease, of the number of syphilis-infected visitors in the STD outpatient clinic of the Academic Hospital Rotterdam-Dijkzigt should probably be sought among (drug addicted) prostitutes and their visitors.

Adult↗