Police violence and sexual risk among female and transvestite sex workers in Serbia: qualitative study

doi:10.1136/bmj.a811

Published 30 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a811
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a811

Research

Police violence and sexual risk among female and transvestite sex workers in Serbia: qualitative study

Tim Rhodes, professor and director¹, Milena Simi $c$ , researcher¹, Sladjana Baro $s$ , researcher², Lucy Platt, lecturer¹, Bojan $Z$ iki $c$ , lecturer²

¹ Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London WC1E 7HT, ² Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Correspondence to: T Rhodes tim.rhodes{at}lshtm.ac.uk

Objective To explore female and transvestite sex workers’perceptions of risk in the sex work environment in Serbia.

Design Qualitative interview study.

Setting Street based locations for sex work in Belgrade andPancevo, Serbia.

Participants 31 female and transvestite sex workers.

Results Violence, including police violence, was reported asa primary concern in relation to risk. Violence was linked tounprotected sex and the reduced capacity for avoiding sexualrisk. Participants reported that coerced sex was routinely providedto the police in exchange for freedom from detainment, arrest,or fine, and was enforced by the perceived threat of violence,sometimes realised. Accounts contained multiple instances ofphysical and sexual assault, presented as abuses of police authority,and described policing as a form of moral punishment. This waslargely through non-physical means but was also enforced throughphysical violence, especially towards transvestite and Romasex workers, whose experience of police violence was reportedas relentless and brutal and connected with broader social forcesof discrimination in this setting, especially towards Roma.

Conclusion Preventing violence towards sex workers, which canlink with vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections,is a priority in Serbia. This requires monitoring perpetratorsof violence, providing legal support to sex workers, and creatingsafer environments for sex work.

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