Patterns and Perceptions of Risk
and Help-Seeking
Amongst Sex Workers in Denver
PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT
Introduction
Sex trafficking is defined as activity “in
which a commercial sex act is induced by
force, fraud or coercion” (U.S. Congress
2000). “Sex work” is defined as the
exchange of sexualized intimacy (including,
but not limited to, intercourse) for money or
something of value. The stigma and beliefs
about sex workers has the potential to
influence the public policy debate and thus
influence the services available for safety
and prevention. Sex workers are at a higher
risk of violence, rape, STI’s, HIV/AIDS,
exposure to addiction and other social
problems which increases their need for
services. Previously the research focus
comes from the criminal justice and public
health fields, due to the nature of the work.
Consequently scholars are limited in
understanding about sex worker’s lives and
the social services that restrict help-seeking
behavior. This research will be the first of its
kind to document how beliefs about sex
trafficking coincide or differ between law
enforcement, social service providers and
sex workers.
Photo provided by All About Addiction.com
Purpose Statement
The proposed research to
offer
empirical evidence
to be used to
advance scholarship on sex work and
public policy by providing researchbased recommendations regarding ways
that anti-trafficking legislation and
public policy could better assist women
who wish to leave sex work or who are
victim/survivors of sex trafficking.
Truck drivers
wearing
condoms
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
decrease in
HIV/AIDS cases decrease in
among Truck
HIV/AIDS in Sex
Drivers
Worker
3-6%
5%
6-14%
10-11%
10-21%
16-18%
15-30%
23-26%
21-40%
31-35%
28-51%
40-45%
38-63%
51-58%
51-83%
64-79%
70-100%
80-100%
Misty Heil
Dr. Susan Dewey
Social
Work/Women’s
Studies
Research Objectives
Importance of the Study
With the broader goal of improving
services for women engaged in sex
work through informed advocacy, the
objectives of this study will draw on
law enforcement, social service
workers and sex worker to assess; the
similarities and differences in view of
how sex workers conceptualize risk,
strategies for risk avoidance, and their
descriptions of needed, but currently
unavailable, services.
This study will attempt to fill a gap in
the literature pertaining to the
understanding of sex worker’s lives and
the social services that restrict helpseeking behavior. This harm reductiondriven project situates sex worker
women as authorities of their own
experiences, and will employ their
voices and descriptions of their life
situations as empirical evidence to offer
recommendations for change in legal,
social services, public policy and
advance scholarship on sex work.
Expected Results
This study is anticipated to reveal
inconsistencies of ideal means of risk
prevention amongst sex workers, law
enforcement and social service
Sticker created by Nigel Brunsdon, available on www.redbubble.com
workers. This study will provide the
Kassem, T. G., Roudenki, S., Tennebaum, S., Castillo-Chavex, C.,(2005). The role of transactional
sex in the spread of HIV/AIDS: A modeling perspective. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, pg.
justice
and
social
systems
empirical
334.
evidence to analyze services provided,
Methods
to better help victims of sex trafficking
 Interviews and participant observation will be conducted at venue deemed appropriate by
that are consistent with the overall
participants.
themes of unavailable services put forth
 Participants will include a maximum of 66 predominantly male law enforcement officers, by sex workers.
66 predominantly female sex workers, and 66 male and female social service providers,
Dr. Susan Dewey of the Women’s Studies Department
between the ages of 18 to 60.
University of Wyoming McNair Scholar Program
Zackie Salmon, Susan Stoddard and Pilar Flores
 Semi-structured interviews will cover the following four topics: [1] occupational norms;
University of Wyoming Department of Social Work
[2] occupation-specific perceptions of force; [3] perceptions of occupational norms amongst
the two other occupational groups; [4] personal experiences with occupation-specific
perceptions of force.
 Interview are not to last for more than one hour (60 minutes)
 Participant observation will last the duration of one hour but will not to exceed five
hours.
Background photo provided by www.dipity.com