Social Anthropology

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Browsing Social Anthropology by Subject "Addis Ababa, Sex work, sex workers prostitution,"

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    Aex-workers in Daylifht:The Social Context of Sex-work in Addis Abebe
    (AAU, 2004-06) Tekola, Bethlehem; Pankhurst, Alula PhD
    This thesis explores the social context of sex work in the city of Addis Ababa. It focuses on the social ties between sex workers and a variety of other categories of people, from their family members.to their relatives, from their roommates to their neighbors, from their coworkers to their clients. It explores which of these social ties are affirmed and reinforced, which come under s rain and which are cultivated and built by the women as a result of their engagement in sex work. It argues that these things depend on the women's background, on the conditions under which they turn to sex work, on the specific types and conditions of sex work that they do and on the places and conditions of their residence. The main thesis of the work is that sex workers share the same social milieu and value system with non-sex workers and that, despite severe constraints put on them by poverty and very difficult working conditions, they struggle on a daily basis to have social life and social relevance. The work critiques the very common castigation of sex workers as social misfits who pose dangers to society and proposes a humane approach towards them and their dependents, an approach that should begin by making a clear distinction between the institution of commercial sex and the women who practice it. The work employs both qualitative and quantitative methodology. It combines detailed one-to-one interviewing with focus group discussions and personal observation to bring out the perspectives of the women themselves. The quantitative data is composed of responses to a structured questionnaire by 100 sex workers.