Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding Author: Stevan M. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL This study aimed to build formative knowledge regarding HIV risks in female migrant sex workers in Moscow, focusing on gender and power.
This was a collaborative ethnographic study, informed by the theory of gender and power, in which we conducted minimally structured interviews with 24 female sex workers who were migrants to Moscow and who provided sexual services to male migrant laborers.
Overall, the female migrant sex workers engaged in HIV risk behaviors and practiced inadequate HIV protection with their clients. These behaviors were shaped by gender and power factors in the realms of labor, behavior, and cathexis. In the labor realm, because some female migrants were unable to earn enough money to support their families, they were pushed or pulled into sex work providing service to male migrants.
In the cathexis realm, many had a sense of shame, social isolation, emotional distress, and lacked basic HIV knowledge and prevention skills. Russia is a major destination for labor migration from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus. Increased economic hardships due to the recent global financial crisis as well as tightening of legal measures against migrant workers have made it even more difficult for migrant women to find employment Mezentseva, Moscow has an estimated 30, to , female sex workers, with a substantial proportion being migrants, although definitive statistics are lacking.
Several prior studies have focused on sex workers in Moscow. Aral et al highlighted the social-organization of sex work, describing that migration patterns created a demand for and supply of sex workers: male migrants away from their families and female migrants who needed income. Stachowiak et al. Other studies have suggested that higher risks could be associated with such specific migration-related factors as mobility, social exclusion, poor access to health care, violations of human and civil rights, younger age, low self-efficacy, lack of resources, lack of knowledge, attitudes of service providers, fear of violation of privacy, and involuntary sexual acts Ghimire et al, ; Zimmerman et al, Female migrant sex workers in Russia are a concern not only for Russia but also for migrant-sending countries.
