A review of transactional sex for natural resources: Under-researched, overstated, or unique to fishing economies?

ABSTRACT

Environmental change is projected to decrease the availability of key natural resources. Decreasing availability of resources that support food security and livelihoods for vulnerable populations is hypothesised to increase engagement in transactional sex. Therefore, we systematically examined the peer-reviewed literature to characterise what is known about transactional sex for natural resources, document the natural resources that are exchanged for sex, and identify qualitative trends. Of the 1063 articles, 33 were retained for full abstraction. A majority of articles were published after 2005 (93%) and focused on Africa (90%). Two-thirds of articles focused on sex-for-fish exchanges. Reports of transactional sex were also found for other resources, including agricultural land (12%) as well as food, water, and fuel in emergency contexts (12%). Migration and altered resource availability were described as underlying causes of transactional sex. Some studies described an increased risk of sexually transmitted infection, including HIV, as a health consequence of transactional sex. We offer three possible explanations for why the preponderance of previous studies have focused on sex-for-fish rather than other natural resources, and suggest directions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Fish-for-sex
• environmental change
• resource availability
• HIV risk
• climate change

Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by Cornell University's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (to KJF). SLY was supported by K01 MH098902 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Kathryn J. Fiorella http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8625-2473

Joshua D. Miller http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2171-856X

Sera L. Young http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1763-1218

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (to KJF). SLY was supported by K01 MH098902 from the National Institutes of Mental Health.