1. COVID-19 and the shifting organisation of sex work markets in Singapore.
- Author
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Tan, Rayner Kay Jin, Ho, Vanessa, Sherqueshaa, Sherry, Dee, Wany, Lim, Jane Mingjie, Lo, Jamie Jay-May, Teo, Alvin Kuo Jing, O'Hara, Caitlin Alsandria, Ong, Clarence, Ching, Ann Hui, West, Brooke S., and Wong, Mee Lian
- Subjects
SEX work ,INDUSTRIAL hygiene ,COVID-19 ,SEX workers ,COVID-19 pandemic - Abstract
While past studies have sought to capture how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the health and sexual lives of sex workers internationally, less attention has been paid to the reorganisation of sex markets as a result of COVID-19. We conducted a sequential exploratory mixed methods study using in-depth interviews, cyber ethnography and surveyor-administered structured surveys among sex workers. We report two key findings on how the pandemic has impacted sex markets in Singapore. First, the organisation of sex markets shifted as a result of lockdown and associated movement control measures. This shift was characterised by the out-migration of sex workers, the reduction in supply and demand for in-person sex work, and a shift towards online spaces. Second, we found that sex workers experienced greater economic hardship as a result of such changes. Given the potential shifts in sex markets as a result of the pandemic, we adopt a World Health Organisation Health Workplace Framework and Model to identify interventions to improve the occupational safety and health of sex workers in a post-COVID-19 era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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