Condom negotiation and young women in Cambodia

A new paper from the research project I am involved with in Cambodia about young female sex workers and HIV. Drawing on the qualitative data from young women sex workers we’ve explored condom use. Originally a paper broadly about the determinants of condom use (incl alcohol and drug use by women and their clients, violence) it now focuses on the use of condoms across the relationships that young women are involved in – commercial, not commercial and those of ambiguous status.  We look at how the young women thought about their relationships – conceptualizing them as risky or not – and how that shaped their desire to use condoms as well as the strategies they employed to use them (or not).

Email me for a copy of the paper or find it here: Maher L, Mooney-Somers J, Phlong P, Couture MC, Phal S, Bates A, Sansothy N, Page K. (2013) Condom negotiation across different relationship types by young women engaged in sex work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Global Public Health [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract: Cambodia’s 100% Condom Use Programme is credited with an increase in
consistent condom use in commercial sexual interactions and a decrease in HIV
prevalence among female sex workers (FSWs). There has been little improvement
in condom use between FSWs and non-commercial partners, prompting calls for
more innovative approaches to increasing condom use in these relationships. To
understand why condoms are used or not used in sexual interactions involving
FSWs, we examined condom negotiation across different types of relationships.
We conducted 33 in-depth interviews with young (15 to 29 years) women engaged
in sex work in Phnom Penh. There was an important interplay between the
meanings of condom use and the meanings of women’s relationships. Commercial
relationships were characterised as inherently risky and necessitated condom use.
Despite a similar lack of sexual fidelity, sweetheart relationships were rarely
construed as risky and typically did not involve condom use. Husbands and wives
constructed their sexual interactions with each other differently, making agreement
on condom use difficult. The lack of improvement in condom use in FSWs’
non-commercial sexual relationships needs to be understood in relation to both
sex work and the broader Cambodian sexual culture within which these
relationships are embedded.