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\"The sexual revolution is unfinished. A sexual double standard between men and women still exists, and society continues to punish bad girls and reward good ones. Until we eliminate good-girl privilege and bad-girl stigma, women will not be fully free to embrace their sexuality. In Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution, Meredith Ralston looks at the common denominators between the #MeToo movement, the myths of rape culture, and the pleasure gap between men and women to reveal the ways that sexually liberated women threaten the patriarchy. Weaving in history, pop culture, philosophy, interviews with sex workers, and personal anecdotes, Ralston shows how women cannot achieve sexual equality until the sexual double standard and good girl/bad girl binary are eliminated and women viewed by society as “whores” are destigmatized. Illustrating how women's sexuality is policed by both men and women, she argues that women must be allowed the same personal autonomy as men: the freedom to make sexual decisions for themselves, to obtain orgasm equality, and to insist on their own sexual pleasure. Dispelling the myth that all sex workers are victims and all clients are violent, Slut-Shaming, Whorephobia, and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution calls out Western society's hypocrisy about sex and shows how stigma and the marginalization of sex workers harms all women.\"-- Provided by publisher.

Sex workers are at disproportionate risk of violence and sexual and emotional ill health, harms that have been linked to the criminalisation of sex work. We synthesised evidence on the extent to which sex work laws and policing practices affect sex workers' safety, health, and access to services, and the pathways through which these effects occur. We searched bibliographic databases between 1 January 1990 and 9 May 2018 for qualitative and quantitative research involving sex workers of all genders and terms relating to legislation, police, and health. We operationalised categories of lawful and unlawful police repression of sex workers or their clients, including criminal and administrative penalties. We included quantitative studies that measured associations between policing and outcomes of violence, health, and access to services, and qualitative studies that explored related pathways. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the average effect of experiencing sexual/physical violence, HIV or sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and condomless sex, among individuals exposed to repressive policing compared to those unexposed. Qualitative studies were synthesised iteratively, inductively, and thematically. We reviewed 40 quantitative and 94 qualitative studies. Repressive policing of sex workers was associated with increased risk of sexual/physical violence from clients or other parties (odds ratio [OR] 2.99, 95% CI 1.96-4.57), HIV/STI (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.60-2.19), and condomless sex (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.03-1.94). The qualitative synthesis identified diverse forms of police violence and abuses of power, including arbitrary arrest, bribery and extortion, physical and sexual violence, failure to provide access to justice, and forced HIV testing. It showed that in contexts of criminalisation, the threat and enactment of police harassment and arrest of sex workers or their clients displaced sex workers into isolated work locations, disrupting peer support networks and service access, and limiting risk reduction opportunities. It discouraged sex workers from carrying condoms and exacerbated existing inequalities experienced by transgender, migrant, and drug-using sex workers. Evidence from decriminalised settings suggests that sex workers in these settings have greater negotiating power with clients and better access to justice. Quantitative findings were limited by high heterogeneity in the meta-analysis for some outcomes and insufficient data to conduct meta-analyses for others, as well as variable sample size and study quality. Few studies reported whether arrest was related to sex work or another offence, limiting our ability to assess the associations between sex work criminalisation and outcomes relative to other penalties or abuses of police power, and all studies were observational, prohibiting any causal inference. Few studies included trans- and cisgender male sex workers, and little evidence related to emotional health and access to healthcare beyond HIV/STI testing. Together, the qualitative and quantitative evidence demonstrate the extensive harms associated with criminalisation of sex work, including laws and enforcement targeting the sale and purchase of sex, and activities relating to sex work organisation. There is an urgent need to reform sex-work-related laws and institutional practices so as to reduce harms and barriers to the realisation of health.

There is a notable shift toward more repression and criminalization in sex work policies, in Europe and elsewhere. So-called neo-abolitionism reduces sex work to trafficking, with increased policing and persecution as a result. Punitive “demand reduction” strategies are progressively more popular. These developments call for a review of what we know about the effects of punishing and repressive regimes vis-à-vis sex work. From the evidence presented, sex work repression and criminalization are branded as “waterbed politics” that push and shove sex workers around with an overload of controls and regulations that in the end only make things worse. It is illustrated how criminalization and repression make it less likely that commercial sex is worker-controlled, non-abusive, and non-exploitative. Criminalization is seriously at odds with human rights and public health principles. It is concluded that sex work criminalization is barking up the wrong tree because it is fighting sex instead of crime and it is not offering any solution for the structural conditions that sex work (its ugly sides included) is rooted in. Sex work repression travels a dead-end street and holds no promises whatsoever for a better future. To fight poverty and gendered inequalities, the criminal justice system simply is not the right instrument. The reasons for the persistent stigma on sex work as well as for its present revival are considered.

Female, male, and transgender sex workers continue to have disproportionately high burdens of HIV infection in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries in 2018. 4 years since our Lancet Series on HIV and sex work, our updated analysis of the global HIV burden among female sex workers shows that HIV prevalence is unacceptably high at 10·4% (95% CI 9·5–11·5) and is largely unchanged. Comprehensive epidemiological data on HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage are scarce, particularly among transgender women. Sustained coverage of treatment is markedly uneven and challenged by lack of progress on stigma and criminalisation, and sustained human rights violations. Although important progress has been made in biomedical interventions with pre-exposure prophylaxis and early ART feasibility and demonstration projects, limited coverage and retention suggest that sustained investment in community and structural interventions is required for sex workers to benefit from the preventive interventions and treatments that other key populations have. Evidence-based progress on full decriminalisation grounded in health and human rights—a key recommendation in our Lancet Series—has stalled, with South Africa a notable exception. Additionally, several countries have rolled back rights to sex workers further. Removal of legal barriers through the decriminalisation of sex work, alongside political and funding investments to support community and structural interventions, is urgently needed to reverse the HIV trajectory and ensure health and human rights for all sex workers.

\"In the darkness of a May night in 1916, two 'sporting girls' walking home through New Orleans' Storyville district come upon a body that's been hideously ravaged. Valentin, the Creole detective who has spent the previous ten years working the scarlet streets, is drawn into a maze of lies, corruption, and madness\"-- Adapted from Amazon.com.

We conducted a systematic review in June 2012 (updated September 2013) to examine the prevalence and factors shaping sexual or physical violence against sex workers globally. We identified 1536 (update = 340) unique articles. We included 28 studies, with 14 more contributing to violence prevalence estimates. Lifetime prevalence of any or combined workplace violence ranged from 45% to 75% and over the past year, 32% to 55%. Growing research links contextual factors with violence against sex workers, alongside known interpersonal and individual risks. This high burden of violence against sex workers globally and large gaps in epidemiological data support the need for research and structural interventions to better document and respond to the contextual factors shaping this violence. Measurement and methodological innovation, in partnership with sex work communities, are critical.

\"Asian women are often labelled with biased stereotypical images, ranging from \"subordinate housewife\" to \"migrant domestic maid,\" and \"overseas bride.\" Asian women, in fact, are being constructed as \"women among women.\" These feminine roles are related to the various activities that women perform for others in intimate relationships both within and outside the family. This book comprises contributions from a distinguished group of international researchers who examine the historical development of \"new women\" and \"good wife, wise mother,\" women's roles in socialist and transitional modernity and the transnational migration of domestic and sex workers as well as wives\"-- Provided by publisher.

Background Especially in high HIV prevalence contexts, such as Zambia, effective biomedical prevention tools are needed for priority populations (PPs), including key populations (KPs), who are at higher risk. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been scaled up nationally in Zambia, but little is known about barriers to PrEP use among specific PPs to date. Methods To understand barriers and facilitators to PrEP use in Zambia, we conducted a qualitative case study of PrEP services to PPs including sero-discordant couples (SDCs), female sex workers (FSWs), and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Livingstone. The study conducted in 2021 included in-depth interviews ( n  = 43) guided by the socio-ecological model, and focus group discussions ( n  = 4) with clinic and community-based providers and PrEP-eligible clients including users and non-users across PP groups. We used thematic analysis to analyze data using codes derived both deductively and inductively. Results We found multilevel barriers and facilitators to PrEP use. Cross-cutting barriers shared across PP groups included amplifying effects of PrEP being mistaken for antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV, including anticipated stigma, and concerns about side-effects based on both misinformation and experience. In addition, stigmatized identities, particularly that of MSM, served as a barrier to PrEP use. The fear of being mislabeled as having HIV was of greatest concern for FSWs. Facilitators to PrEP use primarily included the importance of confidential, KP-sensitive services, and the role of informed, supportive family, friends, and peers. Participants across all PP groups urged expanded education efforts to increase awareness of PrEP within the general population toward mitigating concerns of being mislabeled as living with HIV. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study of the PrEP cascade among multiple PPs in Zambia. This study provides important explanation for the low rates of PrEP continuation found in earlier demonstration trials among KPs in Zambia. The study also offers recommendations for programming efforts going forward such as inclusive PrEP awareness campaigns, expanded KP sensitivity training, and related efforts to thwart PrEP stigma while expanding access.