Below are just some of the many studies, reports and informative essays on the global sex trades. While each is roughly categorized, almost all touch on multiple issues and are tagged to be more searchable. Not all of the tags are terms used by the groups who produced the reports, especially around trafficking and youth, and are only included for ease of searching.
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Public Health
Where to start: “Policy Brief: The Impact of Criminalisation on Sex Workers’ Vulnerability to Violence and HIV.” Global Network of Sex Worker Projects.
“HIV and Sex Workers.” The Lancet. July 23, 2014.
- Deering, Kathleen N et al. “A systematic review of the correlates of violence against sex workers.” American journal of public health vol. 104,5 (2014): e42-54. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.301909 [Violence, Criminalization, Police Violence]
- Footer KHA, Park JN, Allen ST, Decker MR, Silberzahn BE, Huettner S, Galai N, Sherman SG. Police-Related Correlates of Client-Perpetrated Violence Among Female Sex Workers in Baltimore City, Maryland. Am J Public Health. 2019 Feb;109(2):289-295. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304809. Epub 2018 Dec 20. PMID: 30571295; PMCID: PMC6336048. [Police violence, sexual violence, client violence, United States]
- HIV Criminalization Beyond Non-Disclosure: Advocacy Toolkits on Intersections with Sex Work and Syringe Use, The Center for HIV Law and Policy and National LGBTQ Task Force (2017)
- Krüsi, Andrea, Jill Chettiar, Amelia Ridgway, Janice Abbott, Steffanie A. Strathdee, and Kate Shannon. 2012. “Negotiating Safety and Sexual Risk Reduction with Clients in Unsanctioned Safer Indoor Sex Work Environments: A Qualitative Study.” American Journal of Public Health 102 (6): 1154–59.
- Persist Health Project, “No Lectures or Stink Eye: The Healthcare needs of People in the sex trades in New York City.” April 2014. [Community research, health centers, stigma, New York City]
- Platt L, Grenfell P, Meiksin R, Elmes J, Sherman SG, Sanders T, et al. (2018) Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies. PLoS Med 15(12): e1002680. [Global, international, criminalization, stigma] https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680.
- Sex Workers at Risk: The Use of Condoms as Evidence in Four US Cities. Human Rights Watch. (July, 2012) [public health, HIV, United States]
Public Health Crisis: The Impact of Using Condoms as Evidence in New York City, PROS Network/Sex Workers Project. April 2012 [public health, HIV, New York City, policing] - Shannon K, Strathdee SA, Goldenberg SM, Duff P, Mwangi P, Rusakova M, Reza-Paul S, Lau J, Deering K, Pickles MR, Boily MC. Global epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers: influence of structural determinants. Lancet. 2015 Jan 3;385(9962):55-71. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60931-4. Epub 2014 Jul 22. PMID: 25059947; PMCID: PMC4297548. [police violence, criminalization, international, global]
- Wurth, Margaret & Schleifer, Rebecca & McLemore, Megan & Todrys, Katherine. (2013). Condoms as evidence of prostitution in the United States and the criminalization of sex work. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 16. 18626. 10.7448/IAS.16.1.18626. [public health, HIV, United States]
Criminalization of Clients: Nordic Model/End Demand
Where to Begin: “Policy Brief: The Impact of ‘End Demand’ Legislation on Sex Workers.” Global Network of Sex Worker Projects (NSWP). Feb 2012.
- Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Rebecca Glass, “Sex Work Law Reform in Canada: Considering Problems with the Nordic Model,” Alberta Law Review (2013) 51:1. [Canada, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)] Literature review of countries which have implemented End Demand, pre-PCEPA.
- HIV Legal Network, “The Perils of Protection.” April 2019. [Criminalization, Canada, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA)] Report post-passage.
- Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Police Affairs, op. cit.; Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare op. cit.; Dodillet & Östergren, op. cit.; P. Östergren (2003), Sex Workers Critique of Swedish Prostitution Policy. [Sweden, impact assessment, community research]
- Swedish Institute, “The Ban against the Purchase of Sexual Services. An evaluation 1999-2008.” [End Demand, Impact]
Anti-Trafficking
- Chapman-Schmidt, Ben. 2019. “‘Sex Trafficking’ as Epistemic Violence.” Anti-Trafficking Review. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.2012191211.
- Ham, Julie “Moving Beyond Supply and Demand Catchphrases,” Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW). [End Demand, International]
- Freedom Network, “Human Trafficking and Sex Worker Rights,” April 2015.
- Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation, and working conditions. Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, 2018. [International, community organizing, labor]
Youth
- Ric Curtis, Karen Terry, Meredith Dank, Kirk Dombrowski, Bilal Khan, “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in New York City, Volume One: The CSEC Population in New York City: Size, Characteristics, and Needs.” Sept 2008. NIJ-Sponsored research. [CSEC, trafficking, minors, boys, New York City]
- Dank, M.; Yu, L.; Yahner, J.; Pelletier, E.; Mora, M.; Conner, B.; “Locked in: Interactions with the Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Systems for LGBTQ Youth, YMSM and YWSW who Engage in Survival Sex,” Urban Institute, Sept 2015. [Trafficking, Police Violence, New York City, Participatory Research]
- Meredith Dank, Jennifer Yahner, Kuniko Madden, Isela Banuelos, Lilly Yu, Andrea Ritchie, Mitchyll Mora, Brendan Conner. “Surviving the Streets of New York: Experiences of LGBTQ Youth, YMSM, and YWSW Engaged in Survival Sex.” Urban Institute. February 25, 2015. [CSEC, youth homelessness, LGBTQ, transgender, New York City, community research]
- Durso, L.E., & Gates, G.J. (2012). Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Service Providers Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth who are Homeless or At Risk of Becoming Homeless. Los Angeles: The Williams Institute with True Colors Fund and The Palette Fund.
- Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP), “Bad Encounter Line.” 2012. [CSEC, police violence, client violence, Chicago]
- Young Women’s’ Empowerment Project, “Girls Do What They Have to Do to Survive: Illuminating Methods Used by Girls in the Sex Trade and Street Economy to Fight Back and Heal.” 2009. [Community Research, participatory research, LGBTQ, harm reduction, violence, resilience, Chicago]
LGBTQ
- Fitzgerald, Erin; Patterson, Sarah Elspeth; Hickey, Darby; Biko, Cherno and Tobin, Harper Jean. “Meaningful Work: Transgender Experiences in the Sex Trade.” National Center for Transgender Equality. Dec 2015.
- Stonewalled: Police Abuse And Misconduct against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People in the U.S. United States: Amnesty International, 2005.
Migrant Sex Work
- Clancey, A., & Mahon, F. (2020). Strategic Redirection through Litigation: Forgoing the anti-trafficking framework to address labour abuses experienced by migrant sex workers. Anti-Trafficking Review, (15), 171-175. https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.2012201512. [Legal strategies, international, civil, labor]
- Global Network of Sex Worker Projects, “Briefing Paper: Migrant Sex Workers.” 2017.
- Lam, Elene “Behind the Rescue: How Anti-Trafficking Investigations and Policies Harm Migrant Sex Workers.” Butterfly Asian Migrant Workers’ Support Network. April 2018. [Asian Migration, Canada, trafficking, impact]
- Lam, Elene. “Understanding Migrant Sex Workers.” Butterfly Asian Migrant Workers’ Support Network. August 2018. [Asian Migration, Canada]
Technology/230/SESTA-FOSTA
- Blunt, Danielle, Ariel Wolf and Naomi Lauren. “Erased: The Impact of SESTA-FOSTA & the Removal of Backpage.” Hacking//Hustling and Whose Corner Is It Anyway. 2020.
- Cunningham, Scott, Gregory DeAngelo, and John Tripp. “Craigslist’s Effect on Violence Against Women.” 2017. [Anti Violence, Harm Reduction, violence against women]