Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected all spheres of life, and the sex industry is not an exception. However, when many businesses can function even if their employees work remotely, sex workers suffer from the restrictions significantly. The pandemic has disproportionally impacted the sex industry because governments have implemented protocols and policies to support most citizens but ignored sex work, which is criminalized in most countries.
Thus, governments developed “public health services, emergency legislation and economic relief” for all other industries except the sex industry (Lam, 2020, p. 778). Such disparity negatively affects migrant sex workers who are excluded from any social and health services and, for this reason, cannot stay at home to survive. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions increased discrimination, stigma, economic burden, and repressive policies and excluded sex workers from the global pandemic response.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sex Workers
When the pandemic led to mass restrictions and lockdowns, many people were forced to stay at home and work remotely. However, sex workers were left without any opportunity to earn for living. A representative of this profession, Sam, reported that the physical space where he performed his sex work was shut down while client interest decreased (Callander et al., 2021, para. 5-6). Many sex workers had to discontinue their work, thus being left without income. Still, some people continued to work because it was their only source of income. As a result, they experienced various punitive crackdowns, including home and workplace raids, increased surveillance, fines, arrests, and harassment (Lam, 2020, p. 778). Sex workers had to choose between risking their health and safety and earning an income to support themselves and their families. The sex work community was left to their fate, and they had to react quickly to the government’s responses.
Impact on Human Rights
The human rights of sex workers are often violated, and the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation, implementing punitive crackdowns against the representatives of this profession. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) (2020) stated that in some countries, increased policing during the pandemic led to “home raids, compulsory COVID-19 testing and the arrest and threatened deportation of migrant sex workers” (para. 6). The citizens of underdeveloped countries suffer the most. For instance, the Alliance of Women Advocating for Change reported 117 claims of women who were arrested within 14 days, 71 of them were arrested within 24 hours “through raids in Lira, Wakiso, Masaka, Kampala, Oyamu, Mbale, Nakasongola and Kasese” (NSWP, 2020, para. 2). Police officers harassed, assaulted, and blackmailed sex workers, thus violating their human rights and forcing them to choose between starvation and working while hazarding their health and safety.
Other examples of human rights violations are stigma and discrimination against sex workers. For example, with the beginning of the pandemic, governments developed public strategies aimed to support their citizens. However, sex workers are excluded from economic relief because their occupation is not regarded as labor, and the sex industry is not considered as business ownership (Lam, 2020, p. 778). As a result, sex workers are discriminated against, having no access to labor protection and economic support. Moreover, they cannot find other jobs to social stigma, especially if they identify themselves as transgender women. Thus, one sex worker from Singapore claims, “Which potential employer would employ us without any related or prior experience? […] the social stigma of being a sex worker, […], a transgender” must be considered (Tan et al., 2021, p. 2023). Society leaves no choice for such people and gives them no opportunity to change their lives.
Impact of the Pandemic on Health Services Availability
At the same time, sex workers have problems accessing health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The workers with positive HIV status suffer the most because they cannot receive HIV treatment, STI screening and treatment, and basic hygiene supplies (Campbell et al., 2020, p. 4). Migrant sex workers are excluded from accessing public health services, and they are not able to stay at home and decrease their contact with other people if they want to survive. Thus, when a Ugandan sex worker asked the government health workers when she could receive antiretroviral or other drugs, they responded that she should wait until the pandemic was over (Namubiru et al., 2020, para. 3). The situation is similar in Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, and Nigeria. However, these countries have found creative ways to provide HIV patients with medicines. They organized home deliveries and allowed multi-month refills for registered patients, including sex workers (Namubiru et al., 2020, para. 7). Still, the spread of HIV during the pandemic increases, and many people die because they do not receive their treatment.
Social Protection
Many sex workers suffer from a lack of access to social protection services. Even if the workers of the sex industry self-isolate, thus responding to governments’ appeals, society continues to exclude them from social and economic protection. As a result, they put their health, lives, and safety under hazard in order to survive. Since the sex industry is illegal in most countries, sex workers are not eligible for any government relief measures and social assistance. For instance, in Thailand, 40 percent of sex workers felt that they could not ask their employers to vouch for them as employees to access government financial aid after losing their jobs (Janyam et al., 2020, p. 101). The situation is similar in other countries, even if sex work is partially legalized.
At the same time, some governments have included sex workers in the pandemic response. Thus, government initiatives in Bangladesh included supplying food to sex workers, while England and Wales ensured that these workers would receive emergency housing (Platt et al., 2020, p. 10). Nevertheless, these social schemes exclude the most vulnerable groups of the population, such as migrants, the homeless, and transgender. As a result, a big number of sex workers do not receive any help from society.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the sex industry. Sex workers have suffered in all spheres of life, becoming the most vulnerable population during the restrictions. Governments developed different policies and protocols to support other industries and unprotected citizens. However, due to the mass criminalization of the sex industry, sex workers were left to chance. Their human rights are violated; they are stigmatized and discriminated against by police officers and society. They lost access to health services, drugs, social protection, and financial relief. If governments do not address all these issues immediately, the future of sex workers will be desperate. In conclusion, instead of treating sex workers as fallen people or victims who need to be rescued, society should use social justice and human rights approaches to recognize their profession and protect their rights.
References
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