Sex work is a major income-generating opportunity but most sex workers want to leave the profession, a recent Hillbrow study shows. David Macfarlane and Glenda Daniels report In today’s insecure job market, any employment that requires no CV, low skills and no education, allows you to be your own boss, work your own hours and even drink on the job and carries no risk of retrenchment sounds irresistible.
These are the perks Hillbrow sex workers say their jobs entail, according to a study called Women at Risk, conducted over the past two years by the Reproductive Health Research Unit in partnership with the Sociology of Work Programme at Wits University and the national Department of Health. The study focused on sex work as an income-generating activity that the state needs to acknowledge, legalise and make safer. “Yet 99,5% of sex workers are tired of the work and want to leave,” said Dorothy Nairne, who headed the research involving more than 500 sex workers and presented her findings last week at Wits. Many didn’t consider their work legitimate employment. “This job isn’t OK, we should all be arrested,” said one, while another vowed: “One day I ll get a proper job, maybe cleaning this building.” The vast majority of sex work in Hillbrow takes place in hotels, bars and flats. Ages of workers range from 15 to 47, with an average age of 25 years. Ninety percent have never been married, 58% have steady boyfriends and 65% have children. The incomes of those interviewed support anything from one to 24 dependants a worker. What Hillbrow workers earn depends heavily on the class of establishment they are based at and the types of sexual activity they offer. Vaginal penetration costs between R20 and R500, R52 on average; anal sex R20 to R800, R130 on average; oral sex R30 to R400, R78 on average. Weekends net an average of R600 but can be as high as R6 000 while weekdays notch up about R300. Some of the research findings startlingly contradict stereotypical prejudices and assumptions. A hefty 99% of sex workers, for instance, say they regularly use condoms with one-off clients; and 95% do so with regular clients. “I’ve been able to use condoms successfully with clients but the problem is with my boyfriend,” said one. The vast majority of women interviewed show impeccable business savvy 97% of them ensure that they get the cash in hand before attending to the job at hand. And some don’t need to get handy at all. “When taking clients upstairs, I just jive a bit and sometimes he’ll ejaculate right there. That one I do like.” Surprisingly low levels of exploitation were evident. Workers spoke of supportive hotel managers and security guards, and close to 100% said they work for themselves. Pimps, in other words, are almost unknown in Hillbrow, Nairne observed. And, contradicting widespread xenophobic assumptions, 88% of sex workers are South African, 4% from Lesotho and 4% from Mozambique, with a sprinkling from other countries. But the study also confirmed some serious occupational hazards. These include risks of violence, sexual disease, substance abuse and mental ill health. Sixty percent of workers have experienced violence at the hands of clients, 53% are HIV-positive, 30% have gonorrhoea, 28% syphilis and 10% chlamydia.
Sixty percent reported regular police harassment and 16% say they were forced into having sex with police to avoid arrest. Risks escalate on the streets, to which even hotel-based sex workers sometimes have to resort when business is bad. Workers are far more vulnerable here. They are particularly at the mercy of clients in cars, being in a more difficult position to negotiate, and insist on, fees and condom use. After sex, they also risk being dumped anywhere by clients. The study found that clients come in all races and classes. Sixty-two percent of the men are black, 30% white and 8% other races. They come from everywhere Alexandra and Sandton, Soweto and Houghton. The average age is 35 and 62% are married. Nairne said sex work should be made safer, not eradicated. There should be urgent legal reform to ensure the profession is not constantly under police harassment. In addition, sex worker organisations and support groups could assist in destigmatising the work, raising the workers’ self-image and confidence, and addressing the “raging issue” of the HIV/Aids pandemic, she said.