Transgender people, sex work and HIV

[lovingboth]

Someone recently gave a presentation to a semi-official body on transgendered people and sex work. Most are doing sex work to pay for gender reassignment surgery.

However she said that around 70-80% of mtf sex workers were HIV+ and gave several reasons for this, including being more vulnerable to taking more money to have (anal) sex without a condom.

She also opined that there was a very high rate of HIV infection in mtf people generally (much higher than the about 17% for gay men in London).

Now, it may just be the people I know, but this sounds extremely high to me. Had I been at the meeting, I'd have been asking 'where's the evidence for that?'

Not least because AIUI most of the surgeons who do gender reassignment won't take HIV+ patients.

Thoughts?

Comments

[uran.livejournal.com]

Wow, where the hell did those figures come from?
Every transgendered person I've met has been through sexwork, true, but that doesnt mean so many take it on - possibly the only people open about being transgendered are those who are also open to other sexworkers about being a sexworker.
And I'd love to know where the HIV+ figures came from - seventy or eighty percent is just insane! I want studies and research notes. I think she's full of poo.

[lovingboth]

Quite.

The HIV rate among male sex workers in London who attend the specialist clinic is about 1%. My work's clients rate is slightly higher than that, but is still less than 5%. And that's a bunch who've faced all sorts of very tough situations.

I wonder if some of it is her projecting her behaviour etc on to others - she's BTDT and may have picked it up too.

I'd have loved to have been at the meeting, not least as the minutes deliberately miss out on some of her even more controversial thoughts.