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In-Tranitivity: Network Patterns of Female Sex Workers (FSWs) in China

Abstract

Previous studies propose “transitivity” as a key network property. Our research suggests that when networks consist of relations that potentially carry major social costs, members of those networks may actively prevent transitivity (e.g., information flow), fostering in-transitivity. Using mixed research methods, we analyzed the social network structure of 175 female sex workers (FSWs) in post-socialist China. We identify four patterns of sex worker networks (i.e., dense, moderate, weak, separate relationships) depending on the degree of social cohesion between urban and rural networks. The distinct network configurations that we discovered result from a combination of factors: the level of hometown stigma (against female sex workers), age/work experience, and competitiveness in the sex industry. We conclude that triads trend toward in-transitivity when subgroups within social networks maintain competing cultural norms. As the first study mapping the social networks of female sex workers in China, this article demonstrates the women’s aptitude for network management in order to prevent negative consequences of their engaging in stigmatized activities.

Yu, Y.J., McCarty, C., Jones, J.H., & Li, X. 2016. In-Transitivity: Network Patterns of Female Sex Workers in China. Human Organization 75(4):358-370. http://sfaajournals.net/doi/abs/10.17730/1938-3525-75.4.358?code=apan-site

 

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Subjectivity, Hygiene, and STI Prevention: A Normalization Paradox in the Cleanliness Practices of Female Sex Workers in Post-Socialist China

Abstract

This article illuminates the principal mechanisms that increase the risk of STIs for female sex workers in China. It draws primarily on my 26 months of ethnographic fieldwork (2006–2009) in red-light district neighborhoods in Haikou that have become centers of internal migration in post-reform southern China. Chinese sex workers here challenge dominant representations of them as illegal, immoral, and unclean subordinates and understand themselves also as sacrificing, capable, and modern women. I show how the women’s conflicted subjectivity, continuously shaped through social networks, affects their personal health decisions and, significantly, leads them to adopt clinically risky practices. I conclude by arguing that public health interventions in southern China in and around certain red-light districts should take these conflicted subjectivities into account in working to improve sex workers’ health.

Yu, Y.J. 2013. Subjectivity, Hygiene, and STI Prevention: A Normalization Paradox in the Cleanliness Practices of Female Sex Workers in Post-Socialist China. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 27(3):348–367. http://medanthroquarterly.org/article/subjectivity-hygiene-and-sti-prevention-a-normalization-paradox-in-the-cleanliness-practices-of-female-sex-workers-in-post-socialist-china/