NCJ Number
130381
Journal
Criminology Australia Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (October/November 1990) Pages: 6-8
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The relationship between AIDS transmission and prostitution is examined in 135 prostitutes in brothels in Sydney, Canberra, and the New South Wales (NSW) north coast between March and August 1990.
Abstract
An example of the application of an obsolete State public health legislation to prostitutes in NSW under the guise of protection of the community from infectious diseases is cited as an example of legal discrimination against prostitutes. The study of prostitutes and AIDS risk showed that most saw an average of 35 clients per week. In their private lives, one-fourth of the women were in monogamous relationships and 12 percent had no sexual partners. Avoidance of pregnancy was a higher priority in private sexual relations than avoiding risk of infection. While over 97 percent used condoms at work, less than 47 percent did in private relations. Vulnerability to infections is much higher for prostitutes in their private lives, just as it is for many non-prostitute women because of trust placed in the fidelity of the men in the monogamous relationship. None of the women had HIV infection and needle sharing was not a common practice. On the basis of these findings and medical evidence for negligible incidence of HIV infection in heterosexual prostitution, the State governments are urged to change their health legislation so that legal discrimination does not occur when decriminalization of prostitution laws takes place. 4 references