Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS

32 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy "Sometime," concluded te old man, gatering is ragged toga abo ' " II ut 1111 ' you must te us some more stones of your country _' We wo are e1d erswtu' Instruct you In 'JI teir true meaning, so tat wen you return to yo ur 'I own and youre IderSWI seet atyouavenotbeensitlinginlebu 11' but among tose w 0 know tmgs and wo ave taugt you wisdom" Review Questions L In wat ways does Boannan's attempt (0 tell TIVIllustrate te concept of naive realism J t e story f Hamlet 10te 2 Using Boannan's experience of teijin t/ te response of te T lder I g le story of Hamlet t te Tivand iv e et s to rer words ill t understanding ' us rate era -cultural mil- 4 3 Wat are te mos t iimportant parts of H I sary to reinterpret? am et I at te Tiv found it neces- Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era of AIDS Claire E Sterk Many Americans associate social researc wit questionnaires, structured interviews, word association tests, and psycological experiments Tey expect investigators to control te researc setting and ask for specific information, suc as age, income, place of residence, and opinions about work or national events But etnograpic fieldwork is different Cultural antropologists may administer [ormal researc instruments suc as questionnaires, but largely teir goal is to discover culture, to view te actions and knowledge of a group troug te eyes of its members In tis sense, etnograpers are more like students; cultural infom1ants are more like teacers To implement etnograpic researc antropologists must often become part of te worlds tey seek to understand Tey arrive as strangers, seek entrance into a group, meet and develop relationsips of trust wit infonnants, and wrestle wit te etical dilemmas tat naturally occur wen someone wants to delve into te lives of oters, From Tricking and Tripping by Claire E Sterk (Putnam Valley, NY: Social Cange Press, 2000), pp 14-20 Reprinted by permission 33

34 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy C HAP T E R 4 Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era ofalds 35 Tese are te callenges discussed in tis selection by Claire terk: WO'*ing inside te United States, as many antropologists do tese days, se ellgaged in a long-term study of prostitutes in New York Citv and Atlanta Her researc required er to discover te places were er informants worked and ung 01/1, introduce lrer seli, develop rapport, and conduct open-ended interviews tat permitted illfonllants to teac er about teir lives During tis process, site learned not 10 depend 100 milc on contacts (gatekeepers) se met initially, tat it!i'as elpful 10 know someting about respondents but to avoid an "expert" role, 10 refrain [rom expressing er own opinions about te culture and lives of er subjects, a lid 10 /l /{/ Iwge a variety of ell,icfj/ questions Se ends by listing six temes tat emerged [rom er etnograpic siild), Prostitution is a way of li{e it is THE LIFE We make money for pimps wo promise I/S love and more, but if we don't produce, tey sove lis OUi lite door We tum tricks wo ave sex-far-pay Tey don't care ow Inany tirnes w~ serve every day Te Life is roug Te Life is toug We are put down, beaten up, and le[i for dead / t urts body and soul and m esses wll I~1 a person's ead Many of us get ig Don't you understand '1 a way of getting by? I IS Te Life is roug Te Life is toug We are easy to blame because we ar I e Q11le -Piper, /987/ o ne mg t in Marc of 1987 b a grou f usmess was slo I were kpoksdtreetprostitutes After a few o w was anging out on a "troll wit IC e out T lits In custo e wauress felt bad b tai a ne 'b y d: Incr/coffee sop, we mel's Four of dec-i ' use need d tree of us cat us eclded to sit in my car ~ aui' I~blc for SOITIe new us, te conve ted about fe, Piper wrote ti until te t-ain stopped Wile rsation sift d IS poem A', many assles of b e to more serious to ' : s SOon as se read 1 to ised a book abo: mg a prostitute, to name a~~cs-p1l11ps, Customers, cops,t e t prostitution, te book Id w We decided tat if I ever fin' wou starr I c I wu 1 er poem 'T e names of t cu I e women w somers, ave been re I 0 were interviewed fol P aced by pseudon m r t lis study, as well Y s to protect teir' p as (o~c of I("tr pimn<3nd nvacy r"-' Tis book is about te women wo work in te lower ecelons of te prosutunon world Tey worked in te streets and oter public settings as well as crack ouses Some of tese women viewed temselves primarily as prostitutes, and a number of tem used drugs to cope wit te pressures of te life Oters identified temselves more as drug users, and teir main reason for aving sex for money or oter goods was to support teir own drug use and often te abit of teir male partner A small group of women interviewed for tis book ad left prostitution, and most of tem were still struggling to integrate teir past experiences as prostitutes in teir current lives Te stories told by te women wo participated in tis project revealed ow pimps, customers, and oters suc as police officers and social and ealt service providers treated tem as "fallen" women However, teir accounts also sowed teir strengts and te many strategies tey developed to callenge tese oters Circumstances, including teir drug use, often forced tem to sell sex, but tey all resisted te notion tat tey migt be selling temselves Because tey engaged in an illegal profession, tese women ad little status: teir working conditions were poor, and teir work was pysically and mentally exausting Neverteless, many women described te ways in wic tey gained a sense of control over teir lives For instance, tey learned ow to manipulate pimps, ow to control te types of services and lengt of time bougt by teir customers, and ow to select customers Wile none of tese scemes explicitly enanced teir working condi tions, tey did make te women feel stronger and better about temselves In tis [article], I present prostitution from te point of view of te women temselves To understand teir current lives, it was necessary to learn ow tey got started in te life, te various processes involved in teir continued prostitution careers, te link between prostitution and drug use, te women's interactions wit teir pimps and customers, and te impact of te AIDS epidemic and increasing violence on teir experiences I also examined te implications for women Altoug my goal was to present te women's tougts, feelings, and actions in teir own words, te final text is a sociological monograp compiled by me as te researcer Te Sample Te researc was conducted during te last ten years in te New York City and Atlanta metropolitan areas One main data source was particrpant observation on streets, in otels and oter settings known for prostltutlon activity, and in drug-use settings, especially tose tat allowed sex-for-drug excanges Anoter data source was in-dept, life-istory interviews WIt 180 women, fr 18 to 59 years wit an average age of 34 One in two women rangmg m age am ' was African-American and one in tree wite; te remaining women ~ere Latina Tree in four ad completed ig scool, and among tem almost twotirds ad one or more years of additional educatlonal trammg TIrty women ad graduated from college

36 PAR TON E "Culture and Etnograpy Forty women worked as street prostitutes and did n t use drugs On average, tey ad been prostitutes for I J years Forty women began USing drugs an average of tree years after tey began work ing as pr surutes, and te average time tey ad worked as prostitutes was nine vcars, Forty women used drugs an average of five years before tey becam prostitutes, and on te average tey ad worked as prostitutes for eigt vears Anoter fan women b~gan smoking crack and ex~anging sex for crack a lrnost simultaneously, Wit an average of four yeal's III te life Twenty women wo were inlcrviewed were ex-prostitutes Comments on Metodology Wen I tell people about my researc, te most Ircqucnt question I am a ked IS ow I gamed access to te women rater tan wat I learned from t researc For many, prostitution is an unusual topic of conversnuon, and man; pea_~l~a~e e,xpressed surprise tat I, as a woman, conducted te res arc D1flllnbmyresearc some customers indecd tougt I wa-, a working woman a _ acti t at almost always am t I I ' c c uses ose w 10 rco r about rnv work J Iowevcr few f~~; :s;~~~~~io~~'~:~~:~~:~~~~ te women's sll~uggles an~1",dne,,", mctimes te lime, tey are surprised soinsllwl'ywomen become prost iturcs Mo t of w en te t em tat t c " II' customers represent all I f soci C pi ost n urcs as we as teir,ayers a society Before, f' Important to discuss t r- " pt cscl1l1ng t (' indings it seems e reseal c _ process I I li " women, developing relationsip' ' nc uc log gaining accc-,v to te s, mten"ewlllg, and ten leming te ficld Locating Prostitutes and Gaining Entree One of te first callen e unnion t k I g s I faced was to ident i! I, 00 pace Manyoft I y oca t rong were street pros, ututior, tivi _ " ese worneri work I ac IVlly IS concentrated 01' I ee On strol!s strcct-, w ere proser-s suc ' 111 ate s k f ' Ot cr-ack OLlset~S t e crack prostitutes work ed i~~\vn 01 prost uuuon activity Lofr I at migt be someones apa 'I css pubc scttings,uc as a en earned of well k I ment suc as law enforceme ' nown public places fr and sexualjy t' nt officials and ealt _ am professional e'pert, " c; lansjlllttedd" calcprovld JIlciuding taxi' d nvers b Isease d clinics, I gao 1I1eeot I, ers at cmergcnc\" rooms bers of neigborood arten ers, and communit I' CI II1Slg t, from laye,pert5, strolls as t I associations T y epresentatl\'es suc", meme paces w e contacts attention, Or we ere many women wol'k d "~nlversallv mentioned me teir neigboro:d e residents ad organized e,were te local police focused A s prolests, s I began visiti against prostitution in tings In one sens ng vanous locales I After s e, I was devel',eontlllued t I everal viss to a OpIng etnocrra - 0 earn about new set- < SpeCIfic b p IC maps f area, I also was able t a street prostitution a expand tese map by C HAP T E R 4 " Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era ofaids 37 adding information about te general atmospere on te stroll, general car, actertstics of te various people present, te ways in wic te women and custamers connected, and te overall flow of action In addition, my visits allowed te regular actors to notice me I soon learned tat being an unknown woman in an area known for prostituuon may cause many people to notice you, even stare at you, but it fails to yield many verbal interactions Most of te time wen I tried to make eye can, tact wit one of te women, se quickly averted er eyes Pimps, on te oter and, would stare at me straigt on and I ended up being te one to look away Customers would stop, blow teir orn, or wave me over, frequently yelling obscenities wen I ignored tem I realized tat gaining entree into te prostitution world was not going to be as easy as I imagined it Altoug I lacked suc training in any of my qualitative metods classes, I decided to move slowly and not force any interaction Te most I said during te initial weeks in a new area was limited to "How are you" or "Hi" Tis strategy paid off during my first visits to one of te strolls in Brooklyn, New York After several appear, ances, one of te women walked up to me and sarcastically asked if I was look, ing for someting Se caugt me off guard, and all te answers I ad practiced did not seem to make sense I mumbled someting about just wanting to walk around Se did not like my answer; but se did like my accent We ended up talking about te latter and se was especially excited wen I told er I came from Amsterdam One of er friends ad gone to Europe wit er boyfriend, wo was in te military Se understood from er tat prostitution and drugs were legal in te Neterlands Wile explaining to er tat some of er friend's impressions were incorrect, I was able to sow off some of my knowledge about prostitution I mentioned tat I was interested in prostitution and wanted to write a book about it Despite te fascination wit my background and intentions, te prostitute immediately put me troug a Streetwalker JOJ test, and apparently I passed Se told me to make sure to come back By te time I left, I not only ad my first can, versation but also my first connection to te scene Variations of tis entry process occurred on te oter strolls Te main lesson I learned in tese early efforts was te importance of aving some knowledge of te lives of te people I wanted to study, wile at te same time refraining from presentmg myself as an expert Qualitative researcers often refer to telr Imtlal connectlons as gatekeepers and key respondents Trougout my fieldwork I learned tat some key respondents are important in providing initial access, but tey become less central as te researc evolves For example, one of te women wo mtroduced me to er lover wo was also er pimp, was arrested and disappeared for monts Anote'r entered drug treatment soon after se facilitated my access Oter key respondents provided access to only a segment of te players on a 'f woman worked for a pimp, [sel was unlikely to scene For examp I e, I a 11 1 d t n working for anoter pimp On one stro my mltja mtro uce me 0 ' warne om nobody '-' liked By assocjatmg " WIt Im, I a 1 most contact was WIt ap,mp w ke res ondents were less lost te opportumty to meet oter pimps Some Y P

38 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy connected tan promised-for example, some of te women wo workedt street to support teir drug abit Often teir- connections were more frequen~ wit drug users and less so wit prostitutes Key respondents tend to be individuals central to te local cene, ucbas in tis case, pimps and te more senior prostitutes Teir function as gate: keepers often is to protect te scene and to scr-een outsiders Many lim Ibad to prove tat I was not an undercover police officer or a woman wit ambinons to become a streetwalker Wile I tougt I ad gained entree, J quick) learned tat many insiders subsequently wondered about my motives an~ approaced me WIt SuspICIOn and distrust _Anoter lesson involved te need to proceed cautiously wit selfnominated key respondents, For example, one of te women presented erself a knowin everyone on te stroll Wile se did know everyone, se was not a centralfi g ~ u,~ On te contrary, te oter prostitutes viewed er as a failed sll'eetwalk ~ osj drug use caused er to act unprofessionally Bv as ociating wit me ~r tooie tt~regain so~e of er status For me, owev~r, il meant limited ac'ces: to t: ~ce'::'ewoomen ecausei affiliated myself wit a woman wo \ as rnarainal n anot el occasion my main k 0 claimed to own tree crack ' ey respondent was a man wo ouses In t e nei i d negative reputation, and eo Ie acc g»or 00 However, e ada alliance wit im delayed Pa d P I usbeldi m of ceat ing on oters initial ' n a most ocked m a - I borood He intentionally tried t k ' Y ccess to ot iers In te neige would gain someting from ~:~~ me from oters on te scene, not because powerful Wen I told im I ransact ron but becau se it made im feel I was going to ang t I p e, e t reatened me until f ou Will some of te oier oeo- I one 0 t e ote - d I r- stay away Te two of tem ar ued I ea erosstepped in and told im 10 Fortunately, te dealer wo :d s o~:~k and fort, and finally I wa free to go positively associated wit te I PI up for me was muc more central and ad success i ' oea scene FInally I s in gaining entrance t t -' am unsure If I would ave o e scene ad I not been a woman, Developing R e I a ti lonsips and Tru T st e pl~ocesses involved in de tose Involved in d velopmg relationsj s i to know eac eveloping relationsips I' p III researc situations amplify ot cr bec n general B engage in a reci roc offie aware and acce ti at parties need to get assistance were ~e al relatl~nsip Being su pong of eac oter' 1'01,and develop a relationsim~~ VISIble and direct:: I ~,ve and providing practical vlded cild care on ~~ rougout te years, I ::v or me as te I'C earcer to ours to stories tat merous Occasions bo e given counties ride proally, my role allowed were unrelated to rr: y inuf It groceries, and Ii (ened for rapport wit many of mteto become part of t l la researc que -tion Gradu Ov' em ese warne' I' I' er lime, many w n s Ives and to build p ostllute and tat I omen also realized t genuinely' at wa was Interested' I s umnte,-ested in being ~ In earn" 109 as muc as po ible C HAP T E R 4 Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era ofaids 39 about teir lives Many felt flattered tat someone wanted to learn from tem and tat tey ad knowledge to offer Allowing women to tell teir stories and engaging in a dialogue wit tem probably were te single most important tecmques tat allowed me to develop relationsips wit tem Had I only wanted to focus on te questions I ad in mind, developing suc relationsips migt ave been more difficult At times, I was able to get to know a woman only after er pimp endorsed our contact One of my scariest experiences occurred before I knew to work troug te pimps, and one suc man ad some of is friends follow me on my way ome one nigt I will never know wat plans tey ad in mind for me because I fortunately was able to escape wit only a few bruises Over a year later, te woman acknowledged tat er pimp ad gotten upset and told er e was going to teac me a lesson On oter occasions, I first needed to be screened by owners and managers of crack ouses before te researc could continue Interestingly, screenings always were done by a man even if te person wo vouced for me was a man imself Wile te women also were cautious, te ways in wic tey cecked me out tended to be muc more subtle For example, one of tem would tell me a story, indicating tat it was a secret about anoter person on te stroll Altoug I failed to realize tis at te time, my field notes revealed tat frequently after suc a conversation, oters would ask me questions about related topics One woman later acknowledged tat putting out suc stories was a test to see if I would keep information confidential Learning more about te women and gaining a better understanding of teir lives also raised many etical questions No textbook told me ow to andle situations in wic a pimp abused a woman, a customer forced a woman to engage in unwanted sex acts, a customer requested unprotected sex from a woman wo knew se was HIV infected, or a boyfriend ad unrealistic expectations regarding a woman's earnings to support is drug abit I failed to know te proper response wen asked to engage in illegal activities suc as olding drugs or money a woman ad stolen from a customer_ In general, my response was to explain tat I was tere as a researcer Dunng tose occasions wen pressures became too severe, I decided to leave a scene For example, I never returned to certain crack ouses because pimps tere continued to ask me to consider working for tem Over time, I was fortunate to develop relationsips wit people wo "watced my back" One pimp in particular intervened If e perceived oter pimps, customers, or passersby arassing me He also was te one wo gave me my street name: Witie (indicating my racial background) or Ms_WllIe for tose wo disrespected me Wile tis was my first street name, I subsequently n a street name was a symbolic gesture of acceptance ad at ers_ B emg give -'d d Gradually, I developed an identity tat allowed me to be bot an msi er an an outsider Wile anging out on te strolls and oter gatenng places, mcludmg 't some of te same uncomfortable conditions as crack ouses I ad to deaiwi ' Id or warm weater lack of access to a rest room, te prostitutes, suc as co '

40 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy refusals from owners for me to patronize a restaurant, and of course, arassment by customers and te police I participated in many informal conversations Unless pused to do sot seldom divulged my opinions I was more open wit my feeling about situa tions and sowed empaty I learned quickly tat providing an opinion ca backfire I agreed tat one of te women was struggling a lot and tared tat] felt sorry for er Wile I meant to indicate my genuine concern for er eard tat I felt sorry for er because se was a failure Wen se FinaJi aft e several weeks, talked wit me again, I was able to explain to er tat Iw~ er judging er, but rater felt concernedfor er Se remained cynical and m::; urnes asked me for favors to make up for my mistake It took me mont bef I felt comfortable telling er tat I felt 1 ad done enoug and tat it wa time :0 let go However, If se was not ready, se needed to know tat I would no onger go along TIS was one of many occasions wen I learn d tat altou I wanted to facilitate my work as a researcer, tat [ wanted people to like and nust me, I also needed to set boundaries 'pate ~:~~n~~~s~lt~:~i:~~ ;~:L7~r~rded good opporturuues for me to partiework safely, wat to do about condo women Popular topicsrn luded ow 10 served as a ealt educator and a s mi'use, O'"'d'to make rnore money I often t upp lela f can Oms gels v aj d and a er femmine products M vagrn u dernic However tey also any women were vel')' worried about te AID 'epi, were warned about customer refused to do so T ow to use a condom wena tey needed money badly d ey warned particularly about condom use wen c an, consequently d d tamer use one for fear of ' I not want to propose tat te cus- " rejection Wile sam b 109 t err customers use ad' e women ecame experts at "makprior t I a beairmi eguuung oral sex--ot can om-for I exam p Ie by id I 109 Jl in teir mout pull one out If a woman was HIV' ers wou d can')' co ndoms to please me but never dam, I faced te etical dilemma of~~~:i~e and I knew se failed 10 use a con- CI'a Developmg trusting relationsi s WI ngrng er or staying out of it ckouses were not te ngt p t crack prosututes was more difficult lealiy, te atrno environment for infor- I Te b sp ere was tense and 01rna onversations Typtoget:~t ~mesito talk wit tese woe~:,;;one was suspicious of eac oter, en elped t wer-e wen b Often te wo em clean teir- o we aug t groceries wen tey wer;;,e~~ere very different wen t~es~ o~ wen we sared a meal tatwileimi if, orcravmgcrackinm c y e1enot,gtanteywere migt not rem;mtb ave observed teir act':"s ~~versatlons wil tem, I leamed any detail unless I ~tem Once I realized t,s ~ nigt before, tey temselves ew tat te woman ' I'f would be very arefulto omit else did remem ber te event In-Dept Interviews Allinterviews car Or were conducted i s my office, a resta n a pnvate sellin i elected I did not begin~o d t of te women's c~;cncluding women's residences mv n Uctmg ffj a Clalintervi e, or any a t' er sellmg te women ' ews until I developed relationsips C HAP T E R 4 Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era ofaids 41 wit te women Acquiring written informed consent prior to te interview was problematic It made me feel awkward Here I was asking te women to sign a form after tey ad begun to trust me However, often I felt more upset about tis tec, nicality tan te women temselves As soon as tey realized tat te fonn was someting te university required, tey seemed to understand Often tey lauged about te official statements, and some asked if! was sure te form was to protect tem and not te scool None of te women refused to sign te consent form altoug some refused to sign it rigt away and asked to be interviewed later In some instances te consent procedures caused te women to expect a formal interview Some of tem were disappointed wen tey saw I only ad a few structured questions about demograpic caracteristics, followed by a long list of open-ended questions Wen tis disappointment occurred, I reminded te women tat I wanted to learn from tem and tat te best way to do so was by engaging in a dialogue rater tan interrogating tem Only by letting te women identify teir salient issues and te topics tey wanted to address was I able to gain an insider's perspective By being a careful listener and probing for additional information and explanation, I as te interviewer, togeter wit te women, was able to uncover te complexities of teir lives In addition, te nature of te interview allowed me to ask questions about contradictions in a woman's story For example, sometimes a woman would say tat se always used a condom However; later on in te conversation se would indicate tat if se needed drugs se would never use one By asking er to elaborate on tis, I was able to begin developing insigts into condom use by type of partner, type of sex acts, and social context Te interviewer becomes muc more a part of te interview wen te conversations are in-dept tan wen a structured questionnaire is used Because I was so integral to te process, te way te women viewed me may ave biased teir answers On te one and, tis bias mig t be reduced because of te extent to wic bot parties already knew eac oter; on te oter, a woman migt fail to give er true opinion and reveal er actions if se knew tat tese went against te interviewer's opinion I suspected tat some women played down te ways in wic teir pimps manipulated tem once tey knew tat I was not too fond of tese men However, some migt ave taken more nrne to explam te relationsip wit teir pimp in order to "correct" my image ' My background, so different from tat of tese women, most likely affected te nature of te interviews I occupied a Iger SOClOeconOlTIlC status I ad a place to live and a job In contrast to te nonwite women, I carne from a dlfferent facla ac graun tey must ave ad some effect on tis rese31c piayed a roie, I acknowiedge I b k d W,'le I don't know to wat extent tese differences tat Leaving te Field d ometing tat occurred after completion of te field- Leavmg te fiel wasnot ski daily Altoug I sometimes stayed on te work, but an event t at too pace I ad a ome to return to strolls all nigt or ung out for several days, I a ways

42 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy C HAP T E R 4 Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era ofaids 43 I ad a ouse wit electricity, a warm sower, a com Fortable bed, and a kitcen My ouse sat on a street were I ad no [ear of being sot on my way tere and were I did not find condoms or syr-inges on my doorstep During several stages of te study, I ad access to a car, wic Iu ed togive te women rides or to run errands togeter However, I will never forget te cold nigt wen everyone on te street was freezing and I left to go omel turned up te eat in my car, and tears streamed down my ceek I appreciated te eat, but I felt more guilty about tat luxury tan ever before I truly felt like an outsider, or maybe even more appropriate, a betrayer Trougout te years of fieldwork, tere were a number of tim weni left te scene temporarily For example, wen so many people were dying from AIDS, I was unable to ignore te devastating impact of tis disease Ineeded an emotional break Pysically removing myself from te scene was common wen I experienced difficulty remaining objective Once I became too involved in a woman's life and almost adopted er and er family Anoter time I felt a true atred for a crack ouse owner and was unable to adere to te rules of courteou inter actions Still anoter time, I got angry wit a woman wose steady partnerwas HIV positive wen se failed to ask im to use a condom wen tey ad ex I also took temporary breaks from a particular scene by sifting ettings ~nd neigboroods For example, I would invest most of my time in women mm a particular crack ouse for several weeks Ten I would sift to spend mz more nrne on one of t t II i] ki,0 1 e s ro s, w I e rna II1gsorter and less frequent vis Its to te crack ouse Bv sift' I I' d ' mg scenes, was able to tell people wy I was eavlilg a~ to remind all of us of nly researcer role Wile I focused on leaving t fi ld Lbecarnr- : ad left te life It d e e, ecame mrerested in women wo seeme Important to 1 d and current circumstances I kn lave an un erst aridj ng of teir past working, but identifving t' ew some of tem from te days wen tey were J' f a ers was a calleng T or ex,prostitutes Informal networkin :' e re was no gatering place and local clinics and co g, adver nsernenr-, 111 local nev spapers mmumty setting 11 d ' women Conducting interview s a owe me to reac twenty of tese prepared me to ask specific s WIt t em later 111 te data collection process about te life to know wat to qu~s~lonsi I'eazed tat I ad learned enoug for moving fyom te fieldworkast nfer'viewjnp ex'prostitutes also prepared me It' a wntme is ar-] to determine bo tat never ends AItoua I,;:actl y wen I left te field It eems like a process ~\nutd to be involved wile an~!~~~: ~~Y~cally removed [yom te scene, I con <fedcbopportunities to go back f e ata and wliting ti book I aj ocre ee ack on "f ' or example b k' bl k paj ts a te manusc ' y as li1g women to give me oc and my c npt Or at times ave developeda:t~emed to automatically steel' its~f en 1 expenenced writer's example, bot er researc projects in sam f to one of te stmll I also intervention p a project on l11tergenerational ~ 0 te same communities For to te same p~o~ttto elp women remain HIV ~ug use and a gender, pecific tese new p P atlon Some of te worn egatlve ave brougt me back rojects w'l en ave b, I e oters now a ecome key respondents in re membe f rs 0 a researc learn For example, Bet, one of te women wo as left prostitution, works as an outreac worker on anoter project Six Temes in te Etnograpy of Prostitution Te main intention of my work is to provide te reader wit a perspective on street prostitution from te point of view of te women temselves Tere are six fundamental aspects of te women's lives as prostitutes tat must be considered Te first concerns te women's own explanations for teir involvement in prostitution and teir descriptions of te various circumstances tat led tem to become prostitutes Teir stories include justifications suc as traumatic past experiences, especially sexual abuse, te lack of love tey experienced as cildren, pressures by friends and pimps, te need for drugs, and most prormnently, te economic forces tat pused tem into te life A number of women describe tese justifications as excuses, as reflective explanations tey ave developed after becoming a prostitute ', Te women describe te nature of teir initial expenences, wic often involved alienation from tose outside te life Tey aiso sow te differences in te processes between women wo work as prostitutes and use drugs and women wo do not use drugs, Altoug all tese women work eiter on te street or 111 dr-ug-use set, tings, teir lives do differ My second teme is a typology tat captures tese differences, looking at te women's prostitution versus drug, use identities Te t 010 distinguises among (a) streetwalkers, women wo work strolis and,~o d~not use drugs; Cb)ooked prostitutes, women wo identify temselves mainly as prostitutes but wo upon teir entrance into te life also began u;~ng ~~~;:;a~l ~~~t~t:ct~:;e a~~~t~~~:~~oe~u;~~r;i:;':j~l;~~e~vae~i;':~~~~s cr~~~ t 'men wo trade sex for crack, prostitut es, "0 lai te differences in te women's strategies for solic- TIS typo 1 ogy exp ams, ricin of sex acts, and bargain, iring customers, teir scre~i1l~~ ~~r~~~::~;:~~ ~ave t~e most bargaining power, mg for services For examp~, be lacking among te crack prostitutes wile suc power appears 0 T tird teme is te role of pimps, a Few prostitutes w~kii~ a v~c~o~:ic~ t~yprefer to substitute "old man" label tat most women IS ' e an fi d ntrepreneur lovers, men wo mainly or 'boyfriend" Among te plm~~~~l ~o:t~tutes and sometimes prostituting employ street-walkers and P I'f for business reasons Tey treat I rs engage m tel e addicts Entrepreneur ave ty alld view tem pnmanly as an I s or t eli' proper te women as tell' emp oyee ful 'oman is in earning tem money, d't Te more success a" economic commo 1 y t leave er entrepreneur pimp te more difficult it is for tat woman a ked prostitutes work for a lover ddicts and some 00 Most proslitutmg a 'b t wo also lives off teir earnmgs " teady partnel u i pimp, a man w a ls t ell s an Te dynamics in te relations p Typically,suc pimps employ only one wom

44 PAR TON E Culture and Etnograpy C HAP T E R 4 Fieldwork on Prostitution in te Era of AIDS 45 between a prostitute and er lover pimp become more complex wen bot pan ners use d rugs Drugs often become te glue of te relarionsip For many crack prostitutes, teir crack addiction serves as a pimp Few plan to excange sex for crack wen tey first begin using: often everal weeks or monts pass before a woman wo barters sex for crack realize tat se is a prostitute Historically, society as blamed prostitutes for introducing sexually trans mitted diseases into te general population Sf miiarly, it make tem cepegoats for te spread of HIV/AIDS Yet teir pimps and customers are not eld accountable Te fourt teme in te antropological study of prostitution is te impact of te AIDS epidemic on te women's lives Altoug most are knowl edgeable about HIV risk beaviors and te ways to reduce teir ri k, many rnisconceptions exist Te women describe te complexities of condom use, especially wit steady partners but also wit paying customers Many women ave mixed feelings about HIV testing, wondering ow to cope wit a po itive test result wile no cure is available A few of te women already knew teir HJV infected status, and te discussion touces on teir dilemmas as well Te fift,teme is te violence and abuse tat make common appearances in te womens lives An etnograpy of prostitution must allow te women to describe violence in teir neigboroods as well as violence in prostitution and drug-use settings Te most common violence tey encounter is from customers Tese men often assume tat because tey pay for sex tey buy a woman Apparently, casual customers pose more of a danger tan tose wo are regulars Te typddesofabuse te women encounter are emotional, pysical and sexua'l In a I non to cust " ii omers, pirnps and boyfriends abuse te women Finally te women (!ScUSS arassment by law enforcement officers ' Wen I talked wit te women it ft tunities to escape from te life Yet t~ s~xt~n s~e;e~ tat tere were no opporfrom prostitution Women wo av an na teme must be te escape of teir exit from prostitutio A e left prostllutlon can describe te process of teir past, te callenge n' d S ex-iprostltutes tey struggle wit te stigma s 0 f eve Oping a d t eu- past on current intimat I' i new I ern uy, and te impact of f e re ations IpS T o ten VIew temselves as ose w 0 were also drug users ex-prostilutes and t at seems to create a role conflict 0 recovenng addicts, a perspective past follows tem like a bad verall, most ex-prostitutes find tat teir angover 3 Wat were some of te tecniques used by Sterk to enter te field, conduct er researc, and leave te field? Wat problems did se face? 4 Wat advice does Sterk ave for aspiring etnograpers? 5 Wat are some of te etical issues faced by antropologists wen tey conduct etnograpic researc? Review Questions 1 Based on reading ti I f IS se ection o Tom oter social science appr ' w IS et nograpic researc different 2 Wat can et oac es to researc? ) nograpic researc ~::~a~~at can te use of questio~~:~etat ~ter forms of researc can a out people tat etnograp' s an observational experiments ic researc migt miss?