Sex Workers' Lifestyle Sex Workers' Lifestyle_Final (1) | Page 36

1. Introduction
Sex work is considered to be an unforced sale of sexual services in
exchange of money or other material goods, between consenting adult
individuals. Sex work on the territory of the City of Skopje takes place in an
indoor or outdoor scene, and also by means of offering escort services, phone
sex services, pornography, striptease, as well as sex services offered online. A
sex worker can be a male, female or a transgender individual.
Sex work is frequently ignored and rejected by the society as a whole and state
institution which contributes to persecution, violence and discrimination
against sex workers. Sex work is not officially recognized as a profession, which
in turn forces sex workers to operate secretly and in hiding, not wanting to
talk openly about their job neither with members of their family and friends,
nor with their partners in fear of being publically disclosed about what they
do. This kind of perception about sex work within the frames of society poses
the greatest risk to all sex workers. Sex workers who operate on the outdoor
scene, in order to avoid being arrested or abused by police officials are quite
frequently forced to work in more isolated areas, exposed to various kinds of
violence, especially by their clients. The fear of arrest and abuse by the police
also restricts the time and methods used by sex workers in terms of safely
working with their clients.
Due to the fact that sex workers in Skopje, as well as on the entire territory
of the Republic of Macedonia, are socially excluded, they are faced with
multitudes of problems which have an enormous impact on their lifestyle.
Therefore, the major problems that sex workers are faced with on a day-to-
day basis include the following:
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Limited access to healthcare services.
Sex workers’ limited access to healthcare services by state institutions is
mainly due to the fact that healthcare professionals are not sensitized to
this marginalized group. Sex workers are frequently faced with stigma
and discrimination when they refer to public healthcare institutions for
help, which is the reason why the often refer to NGOs and/or other service
providers. The limited access and the inadequate healthcare services largely
contribute to the decrease in the probability for sex workers’ inclusion in
healthcare programs for their protection.
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