AIDS/other STIs prevention in China: The effect of sex worker migration and the organization of the sex industry

Abstract

HIV/AIDS prevention projects that pay special attention to the socio-cultural context of a community have been implemented in a number of Asian and African countries recently. Such projects integrate scientific approaches, such as condom promotion, with cultural approaches that focus on regional social norms. This paper explores effective intervention strategies in the context of sex workers’ mobility patterns, and the sex industry's internal organization in China. It argues that a social network based on quasi-familial relations and regional ties recruits young women into the business, helps them move vertically as well as horizontally within the business, and facilitates the smooth operation of the business. A sound understanding of the specific characteristics of sex work in China, therefore, is instrumental in formulating effective intervention tactics.

Keywords:

• quasi-familial relations
• regional ties
• mobility patterns
• AIDS/other STIs prevention
• sex work

Acknowledgements

The fieldwork this paper draws on is funded by the China–UK joint research project on AIDS prevention and cure. The writing of the drafts is supported by a research grant provided by Athabasca University, Canada. Thanks are also given to Health Bureaus and Women's Associations in the two locations where the authors’ field research was undertaken. Finally, special gratitude is due to all members of the authors’ research team.

Conflict of interests: none

Ethics: Institutional ethical approval was not deemed to be required for this research. The research followed the ethical guidelines laid out by Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth (ASA) for conducting research and informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Notes

1. In this paper, female sex workers are often referred to as ‘misses’, a non-judgmental term widely used for this group across China.

2. The sex industry is illegal in China. But the Chinese government has allowed a number of intervention programs to be carried out in various sex establishments because of the rapid increase of HIV infection cases.

3. By April 2002, around 30,000 women were brought to China from Vietnam by human traffickers. These women either became sex workers, or were sold to Chinese men as wives (Wu 2006, 422). Some Chinese women became victims of human-trafficking when they were looking for employment at job fairs (Pan 2003, 6–9).

4. Hoang defines cultural capital as ability to speak English and familiarity with an urban lifestyle, and body capital as young age and an appearance enhanced by fashionable clothing, hair style, make-up and sometimes cosmetic surgery.

5. Their work was sponsored by the China–UK AIDS prevention project implemented in China from 2005 to 2007.