Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2234 - Trans people - rights and services | ||||
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Session: 54.1: Trans people - rights and services (Parallel) on Friday @ 11.00-12.30 in 202 Chaired by Pum Kommattam, Jose Bauermeister Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Raine Cortes - Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health and Welfare, Inc., Philippines |
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| Additional Authors: Dr Berthbsp;yssouf, Mme Fatoumata ouattara, Mlle Koua Tagna, | ||||
| Aim: The expansion of sex work (or harvat in Cebu) in the Philippines has surfaced transgender (TG) escorts and online-based sex workers, who are generally exposed to health risks such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and AIDS. Recent Philippine Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serological Surveillance (IHBSS) 2013 showed Cebu City having the highest HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men (MSM) (i.e. 7.7 percent) in the Philippines, in which TG women are still included. Due to the lack of social recognition of TG women, combined with the stigmatization of sex workers, this leads to discrimination, violence and health risks among TG women involved in sex work. Hence, it is important to look at their gender identity and self-description context and nature of sex work involvement and their perceived and experienced occupational risks. | ||||
| Method / Issue: The method used was face-to-face in-depth interviews with fifteen (15) TG women involved in sex work in Cebu City as identified by the researcher based on purposive criteria. Content analysis was used for qualitative analysis of transcribed interviews. | ||||
| Results / Comments: The findings revealed that TG women involved in sex work do not necessarily identify themselves as TG but see themselves as women expressed in different modalities, but commonly undergoing body modifications such oral intake of hormonal pills, collagen injections, and breast implants. Economic benefits and sexual enjoyment gained are the main motivations for TG women to be involved in sex work, which is related to greater preference for foreigner clients and “versatile” sexual role. Escorting has the most economic benefits, followed by online chatting and online harvat. Lastly, there were lesser experiences of occupational risks (i.e. health, abuse, legal) than what they perceived. | ||||
| Discussion: The study concludes that perceived and experienced risks associated with sex work are not merely occupational, but are also behavioral and gender-based. As such, sexual behaviour and not their involvement in sex worker make TG women at risk to STIs, HIV and AIDS. Hence, HIV education and prevention strategies should be client-specific to address health needs of the general TG women population. | ||||
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