Jm. Wojcicki et J. Malala, Condom use, power and HIV/AIDS risk: sex-workers bargain for survival in Hillbrow/Joubert Park/Berea, Johannesburg, SOCIAL SC M, 53(1), 2001, pp. 99-121
Through interviews with 50 female sex-workers in the Hillbrow/Berea/Joubert
Park area of Johannesburg. this paper explores sexual negotiations between
men and women in the sex industry. This paper focuses on Factors that affe
ct sexual decision-making including safer sex practices. In moving beyond a
pproaches that emphasize women's 'powerlessness' in sexual negotiation, thi
s article focuses on ways in which sex-workers capitalize on clients' reluc
tance to use condoms in sexual exchanges. We emphasize sex-workers agency a
nd use a broader, Foucauldian understanding of power, which couples power w
ith resistance. Further, this paper examines other elements of the sex indu
stry that contribute to unsafe sex such as competition between women for cl
ients and violence in the industry. Finally, this paper suggests that HIV-p
revention programs take cognizance that power negotiations between men and
women cannot be simplistically understood as men having power and women bei
ng powerless. Rather, this article contributes to a growing body of literat
ure in medical anthropology, which elucidates the complexities of sexual ne
gotiations between men and women. This focus on agency is important in tryi
ng to lessen the stigma and discrimination that sex-workers face at the han
ds of clients, pimps/managers, police and health care workers. (C) 2001 Els
evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.