Good news about sex work in Burma / Myanmar
This superficial article on sex work in Burma / Myanmar makes it sound as if women are no longer arrested on suspicion of prostitution for carrying a condom. That would be good news. Is it true?
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Poverty Drives Myanmar's Hidden Sex Industry
Charlotte McDonald-Gibson
Agence France Presse (04.23.07) - Monday, April 23, 2007
Worsening economic conditions are driving more women into the underground sex industry in military-ruled Myanmar. The current junta spends just a fraction of GDP on health and education, while nongovernmental organizations say they struggle to operate due to government interference. Thus, sex workers have little access to health care or other services - a potential disaster, given that an estimated 20-30 percent of prostitutes are believed to be HIV-positive.
Humanitarian workers estimate there are at least 15,000 sex workers in Yangon,
but the industry remains secretive. Unlike in neighboring countries like Thailand,
where men visit red-light districts to hire prostitutes, men in Yangon go to
karaoke bars or restaurants, where waiters set up "dates" for a fee.
One sex worker said she earns up to 25,000 kyat ($20 US) per client, an amount
similar to what some in this impoverished country earn in one month. The woman, who is HIV-positive, works to support her husband, who also has HIV and is bedridden and unable to work. She said she sometimes has unprotected sex because she needs the money. "When I negotiate for using the condom, I explain that I am HIV-positive. They say 'I don't care,'" she said.
Frank Smithuis, Myanmar country manager for Doctors Without Borders (DWB), noted that until a few years ago, a woman there could be arrested on suspicion of prostitution for carrying a condom. Sex workers are still targeted by authorities, he said. Myanmar would benefit from adopting an informal agreement, as Thai authorities have done, stating that police would not target brothels promoting safe sex, Smithuis said.
DWB's five sex worker clinics in Yangon offer peer counseling, free condoms, and STD diagnosis and treatment.
