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Selling sex in the time of AIDS: the psycho-social context of condom use by sex workers on a Southern African mine

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  • Campbell, Catherine

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed account of the social organisation of commercial sex work in a squatter camp in a South African gold mining community. On the basis of in-depth interviews with 21 women, living in conditions of poverty and violence, the paper examines factors which might serve to help or hinder a newly implemented community-based peer education and condom distribution project aimed at vulnerable single women. Attention is given to the way in which the routine organisation of sex workers' everyday working and living conditions, as well as the strategies they use to construct positive social identities despite working in the most stigmatised of professions, serve to undermine their confidence in their ability to insist on condom use in sexual encounters with reluctant clients. However, even amongst this disadvantaged group of women, the interviews suggest that the tendency to speak of women's 'powerlessness' (as is the case in many studies of African women in the context of the HIV epidemic) is unduly simplistic and fails to take account of the range of coping strategies and social support networks that women have constructed to deal with their day to day life challenges. These strategies and networks could serve as potentially strong resources for community-based sexual health promotion programmes.

Suggested Citation

  • Campbell, Catherine, 2000. "Selling sex in the time of AIDS: the psycho-social context of condom use by sex workers on a Southern African mine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 479-494, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:50:y:2000:i:4:p:479-494
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    Cited by:

    1. Mojola, Sanyu A. & Williams, Jill & Angotti, Nicole & Gómez-Olivé, F. Xavier, 2015. "HIV after 40 in rural South Africa: A life course approach to HIV vulnerability among middle aged and older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 204-212.
    2. Shahmanesh, Maryam & Wayal, Sonali & Andrew, Gracy & Patel, Vikram & Cowan, Frances M. & Hart, Graham, 2009. "HIV prevention while the bulldozers roll: Exploring the effect of the demolition of Goa's red-light area," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 604-612, August.
    3. Verina Ingram & Julius Chupezi Tieguhong & Jolien Schure & Eric Nkamgnia & Maurice Henri Tadjuidje, 2011. "Where artisanal mines and forest meet: Socio‐economic and environmental impacts in the Congo Basin," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 304-320, November.
    4. Sanders, Teela, 2006. "Female sex workers as health educators with men who buy sex: Utilising narratives of rationalisations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 2434-2444, May.
    5. Yelpaala, Kaakpema & Ali, Saleem H., 2005. "Multiple scales of diamond mining in Akwatia, Ghana: addressing environmental and human development impact," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 145-155, September.
    6. Adebowale Will Akande, 2010. "A possible role of stigma and fears in HIV infection," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(5), pages 556-572.
    7. Laura Bernardi, 2002. "Determinants of individual AIDS risk perception: knowledge, behavioural control, and social influence," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-029, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    8. Shandro, Janis A. & Veiga, Marcello M. & Shoveller, Jean & Scoble, Malcolm & Koehoorn, Mieke, 2011. "Perspectives on community health issues and the mining boom-bust cycle," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 178-186, June.
    9. Jewkes, Rachel & Penn-Kekana, Loveday & Rose-Junius, Hetty, 2005. "''If they rape me, I can't blame them": Reflections on gender in the social context of child rape in South Africa and Namibia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1809-1820, October.
    10. Rachel Jewkes & Minja Milovanovic & Kennedy Otwombe & Esnat Chirwa & Khuthadzo Hlongwane & Naomi Hill & Venice Mbowane & Mokgadi Matuludi & Kathryn Hopkins & Glenda Gray & Jenny Coetzee, 2021. "Intersections of Sex Work, Mental Ill-Health, IPV and Other Violence Experienced by Female Sex Workers: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Community-Centric National Study in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-13, November.
    11. Cooper, Jan E. & Dow, William H. & de Walque, Damien & Keller, Ann C. & McCoy, Sandra I. & Fernald, Lia C.H. & Balampama, Marianna P. & Kalolella, Admirabilis & Packel, Laura J. & Wechsberg, Wendee M., 2017. "Female sex workers use power over their day-to-day lives to meet the condition of a conditional cash transfer intervention to incentivize safe sex," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 148-157.
    12. Hanlon, Clare & Morris, Tony & Nabbs, Susan, 2014. "Program providers’ perspective: Recruitment and retention strategies for women in physical activity programs," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 133-144.
    13. Choi, Susanne Y.P. & Cheung, Yuet Wah & Chen, Kanglin, 2006. "Gender and HIV risk behavior among intravenous drug users in Sichuan Province, China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1672-1684, April.
    14. Jubril O. Jawando & Ezekiel Oluwagbemiga Adeyemi, 2020. "Sexual Exchange and Cross-Border Trade: Implications for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    15. Jewkes, R. & Morrell, R., 2012. "Sexuality and the limits of agency among South African teenage women: Theorising femininities and their connections to HIV risk practises," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1729-1737.
    16. Lilani Kumaranayake & Charlotte Watts, 2001. "Resource allocation and priority setting of HIV|AIDS interventions: addressing the generalized epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(4), pages 451-466.

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