Unintended Consequences of Intimacy: Political Economies of Peacekeeping and Sex Tourism

Jennings, Kathleen M.

doi:10.1080/13533311003625126

Cited by 40 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…It is suggested that transactional sex emerged in Liberia during the conflict and post-conflict periods as a means of coping with scarce resources and limited economic opportunities (4), although few published qualitative or quantitative studies in Liberia have examined this issue to date (10). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia

Atwood

Kennedy

Barbu

et al. 2011

J Health Popul Nutr

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This paper presents findings on sexual risk behaviours of Liberian youths based on five focus-group discussions conducted with 6th and 7th graders (n=36) attending an elementary/middle school in Monrovia, Liberia. The purpose of the focus-group discussions was to gain an understanding of the sexual behaviours of in-school Liberian adolescents. The focus-group discussions were part of a larger study to adapt an evi-dence-based HIV-prevention intervention—Making Proud Choices!—for in-school youths. Post-conflict conditions were discussed as a contributor to the emergence of high-risk sexual behaviours, including transactional sex, sexual violence, and lack of condom-use. Transactional sex was often described by the focus-group participants as occurring between young females and older, more financially-secure males to obtain cash, food, clothing, western commodities, and school-fees and was often encouraged by parents and promoted by peers. The findings also indicate that female adolescents make choices to engage in transactional sex to gain access to a continuum of material and consumer needs. These findings suggest that individual risk-taking behaviours are nested within complex sexual economies and that HIV-prevention interventions should be considered that leverage females’ agency and control.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Local entertainment industries have been established and created what Jennings refers to as ‘peacekeeping economies’ (10). Peacekeeping economies may provide a relatively-affluent pool of potential transactional sex partners to engage in sex in return for western commodities, goods, services, and possible employment (10).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia

Atwood

Kennedy

Barbu

et al. 2011

J Health Popul Nutr

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“…With destroyed justice, police, and military systems, large international peacekeeping forces are deployed in Liberia to maintain peace and rebuild governmental institutions. Local entertainment industries have developed in their midst, creating what have been referred to as “peacekeeping economies” that provide a relatively affluent pool of potential sex partners in Liberia (Jennings, 2010), potentially increasing risks of HIV infection to conflict-affected populations (Speigel, 2004). Former combatants, who were conscripted as child soldiers during Liberia’s civil war, now find themselves in early adulthood with little formal education and limited skills (Peters & Laws, 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

Impact of School-Based HIV Prevention Program in Post-Conflict Liberia

Atwood¹,

Kennedy²,

Shamblen³

et al. 2012

AIDS Education and Prevention

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This paper presents findings of a feasibility study to adapt and evaluate the impact of an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention on sexual risk behaviors of in-school 6th grade youth in post-conflict Liberia (n = 812). The study used an attention-matched, group randomized controlled trial. Four matched pairs of elementary/middle schools in Monrovia, Liberia, were randomly assigned to either an adapted eight-module HIV prevention or a general health curriculum. Three- and nine-month impacts of the intervention on sexual risk behaviors and on mediating variables are presented. The intervention significantly impacted protective peer norms and positive condom attitudes and increased frequency of condom use at the nine-month follow-up. The intervention did not impact sexual initiation or multiple sex partnerships. Future intervention research should address the salient pressures that are unique to post-conflict settings and include longer follow-up time periods and smaller class sizes to meaningfully impact sexual initiation and multiple sex partnerships.

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“…1 It is not entirely evident what precipitated the decision by India to establish the all-female unit (Beri, 2008), but it is clear that the UN was hopeful that the deployment, along with other gender-mainstreaming initiatives (Barnes, 2006;Bridges and Horsfall, 2009), would positively alter the conditions for local girls and women as a direct consequence of numerous reports of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by male peacekeepers in a number of PSOs (Higate, 2004;Martin, 2005) and encourage local women to join the national police service within Liberia. 2 In any event, the UN's reputation would have been uplifted by this measure in light of media accounts of peacekeeping misconduct and ineffectiveness which have dominated peacekeeping news since at least 2003 (Higate, 2004(Higate, , 2007Higate and Henry, 2009;Jennings, 2010; see also Whitworth, 2004 for discussion on historical legacies in Cambodia).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Peacexploitation? Interrogating Labor Hierarchies and Global Sisterhood Among Indian and Uruguayan Female Peacekeepers

Henry

2012

Globalizations

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As a result of UNSCR 1325, the UN has been eager to decrease incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations, improve local women's security, and balance out the number of women and men in the police and military at both local and international levels. As peacekeeping missions begin to include more female peacekeepers, questions are raised about what this means for women in national militaries, local women in peacekeeping missions, and soldiers or militarized laborers from the 'developing' world. While countries such as Uruguay have been sending increasing numbers of female peacekeepers to various UN missions, it was not until 2007 that an all-female contingent was first deployed from India to Liberia and hailed as a gendered success. But in altering the gendered landscape, will the UN merely continue to exploit the cheap military labor of the global South? Will countries like India and Uruguay (major troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping operations) continue to bear the burden of providing security? This article examines the limits of a conventional interest in gender and gender relations in thinking about peacekeepers and advocates for an intersectional approach to the issue of female peacekeepers, importantly including the role of geography (and therefore 'race', empire and colonialism) in the thinking through the social, cultural, and political effects of peacekeeping deployments.

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Unintended Consequences of Intimacy: Political Economies of Peacekeeping and Sex Tourism

Cited by 40 publications

References 0 publications

Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia

Transactional Sex among Youths in Post-conflict Liberia

Impact of School-Based HIV Prevention Program in Post-Conflict Liberia

Peacexploitation? Interrogating Labor Hierarchies and Global Sisterhood Among Indian and Uruguayan Female Peacekeepers

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