Executive Summary
“My life is too dark to see the light, I don’t know when
we’ll reach the end of these dark days.”
– Xiao Dongbei, a transgender female sex worker, Beijing, January 2014
Based on research in Beijing and Shanghai, China this report focuses on the daily
life, working conditions, access to services and legal frameworks for transgender
female sex workers in China. Globally, discrimination, stigma and low levels of
education combine to deprive transgender persons of work opportunities, resulting in
economic marginalization and, in the Asia-Pacific Region, a considerable percentage
of transgender women are engaged in sex work. An increasing amount of evidence
shows that transgender women and, in particular, transgender female sex workers
are among the populations most heavily affected by, and at risk of, HIV. Transgender
women are 49 times more likely to acquire HIV than all adults of reproductive age, and
the rate of HIV infection among transgender female sex workers is 27.3%, which is nine
times higher than that for female sex workers, and three times higher than for male sex
workers. By 2020, transgender women and MSM (men who have sex with men) will
most likely constitute the majority of all new HIV infections in the Asia-Pacific region.
Despite this arc, transgender specific data collection, HIV programming and outreach
is almost non-existent, with most services for transgender populations only included
as part of MSM programming. This is not only fundamentally at odds with the gender
identity of transgender women, but has also served to limit attention and resources
to the unique HIV-related needs of transgender people. It has also prevented the
development of effective public health interventions for this population.
Between January and September 2014, Asia Catalyst and two community based
organizations in China, Beijing Zuoyou Information Center and Shanghai CSW
(commercial sex workers) & MSM Center, interviewed 70 sex workers [transgender
female and crossdressing male] in two of China’s largest cities. Supplemented by
interviews with other community based organizations providing services to transgender
communities across the country, as well as extensive legal and policy research, the
findings indicate transgender female sex workers are among the most marginalized and
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