When the Law Fails to Protect: Stigma, Violence and Sex Workers’ Multi-Layered Responses in the Kenyan Cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisii and Meru

Abstract

In Kenya, criminal laws on sex work and same-sex activities, combined with stigma on sex work and homosexuality, shape sex workers’ vulnerability to violence. This paper explores sex workers’ responses to violence at various levels of social and legal organisation. Drawing from a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach including qualitative interviews and focus group data, the paper illustrates a close and mutually reinforcing nexus between criminalisation, sex work stigma and homophobia as well as a resulting climate of impunity for perpetrators. By understanding sex workers as agentic actors, it demonstrates how sex workers respond to, rework and resist this repressive landscape of violence. It argues that sex workers mitigate the risk of experiencing violence by ‘getting by’ and ‘getting ahead’, while sex worker organisations support them to engage in collective resistance. The paper demonstrates a need to reform sex work-related laws and argues that action should extend beyond legal reform to include efforts to mediate the social processes that undercut sex workers’ access to rights and social justice.

‘Fundermediaries’ in Nairobi, Kenya: Development Partnerships in the Aid Chain

“…This excerpt also shows the frustration that SWL-CBOs felt when fundermediaries finally decided to take up issues other than HIV prevention. SWL-CBOs continuously tried to raise attention for issues outside the realm of HIV, such as widespread violence (see also Woensdregt, 2022b). Generally, the fundermediaries silenced these concerns and only acknowledged them when they were programmatically relevant or when money was specifically allocated to address them.…”

Making Noise

“…Topics included sex work characteristics, experiences of and reporting of violence, and risk-mitigation strategies (AidsFonds-STI AIDS Netherlands, 2020). My involvement in this study broadened my understanding of the context of Kenyan sex work, and some of the data from this parallel project have been used in this dissertation and have provided the foundation for a publication on sex workers' risk mitigation strategies (Woensdregt, 2022). everyday lived realities.…”

“…Nonetheless, almost 15 years after its establishment, there is still an urgent need for its existence. Kenya's national Penal Code implicitly and explicitly penalizes activities related to sex work as well as same-sex relationships (Mgbako, 2016;Woensdregt, 2022). These laws, combined with widespread stigma on sex work, queer sexualities and living with HIV, push underground the men at centre of this research and make them vulnerable to various forms of structural violence.…”

“…These laws, combined with widespread stigma on sex work, queer sexualities and living with HIV, push underground the men at centre of this research and make them vulnerable to various forms of structural violence. The SLO's members experience a high number of evictions, economic exclusion, prosecution by police officers, discrimination in access to housing, which can all be attributed to the stigmatization and criminalization of this group (Mgbako, 2016;Woensdregt, 2022). In response to these everyday lived realities of members, the organisation engages in ongoing efforts to work towards emancipation and social justice by navigating the societal structures that were never built to serve them.…”

“…This excerpt also shows the frustration that SWL-CBOs feel when fundermediaries finally decide to take up issues other than HIV prevention. SWL-CBOs continuously try to raise attention for issues outside the realm of HIV, such as widespread violence (see also Woensdregt, 2022). Generally, the fundermediaries silenced these concerns and only acknowledged them when they were programmatically relevant or were given money to do something about it.…”