Sex workers in Goa more likely to end life

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Sex workers in Goa more likely to end life

PANAJI: Young girls pushed into prostitution in Goa are more likely to think

about suicide or attempt to commit suicide as compared to their counterparts

from other states, as they feel extremely stigmatized and live under the daily

threat of disclosure and exclusion from their communities, reveals a study.

The study Suicidal Behaviour Among Female Sex Workers in Goa, India: The Silent

Epidemic on 326 female sex workers in Goa reveals that suicidal behaviours were

very common, particularly in young women.

Gender disadvantage (notably violence, entrapment and childlessness), type of

sex work and poor mental health were associated with suicide attempts.

Almost 18.7% of commercial sex workers attempted suicide once in three months,

while 25.6% were planning suicide, even as the prevalence of suicidal ideation

in commercial sex workers in the state is as high as 34.9%, the study notes.

About 20% of the girls studied were of Goan origin.

" Studies reveal that an estimated 0.6% to 0.7% of the female adult urban

population is engaged in commercial sexual transactions. This is the first

attempt to study suicides amongst sex workers and for the same we recruited 326

female sex workers (majority below the age of 30) in Goa from 35 different sex

work networks in the state, who had provided sexual services in exchange for

goods or money over the past 3 months, " said Dr am Shahmanesh, who is part

of the study conducted by NGOs Sangath and positive people.

Of these, 125 had at some time or the other worked in the Baina red-light area

and 201 had never worked there.

The study, which has been published in the American Journal of Public Health' in

2009, includes only those women who identified themselves as sex workers.

The objective of the study was to understand the prevalence of suicidal

behaviour and its association with social and gender disadvantage, sex work and

health factors, among female sex workers in Goa.

Attempted suicide was independently associated with intimate partner violence,

violence from others, entrapment and worsening mental health score but was not

associated with lack of financial autonomy, the study reveals.

" The migrant women were less likely to report suicide attempts. Goan sex workers

in contrast are extremely stigmatized and live under the daily threat of

disclosure and exclusion from their communities, " the study notes.

" Female sex workers in India are a traditionally stigmatized group, with high

prevalence of HIV and levels of stigma and violence that relate to the context

of their work. Gender disadvantage is increasingly seen as an important

contributing factor to the high rates of suicide seen in women in Asia.

Gender-based violence is a common manifestation of gender disadvantage and has

been linked to common mental disorders and suicide in population-based studies

of women and young adults in Goa. Lack of autonomy, early sexual debut, limited

sexual choices, poor reproductive health and social isolation are other

manifestations of gender disadvantage, " added Dr Shahmanesh.

The study reveals that 35% of all study participants had experienced intimate

partner violence, 9% had experienced sexual violence, 27% had been coerced into

unsafe sexual activity with a client, and 14% had been involved in a police raid

over the past year.

Physical and verbal intimate partner violence, violence from other people and

sexual violence were associated with suicide attempt.

" Having exposure to an HIV prevention intervention was associated with lower

likelihood of suicide attempt, but there was no association between likelihood

of suicide attempt and sexually transmitted infections, " the study added.

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