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Crago, Anna-Louise Bitches Killing the Nation: Analyzing the Violent State-Sponsored Repression of Sex Workers in Zambia, 2004–2008 2014 Article Women and Work, African History, Third World Women, Women's Work in History, Non-Western Societies Zambia, Sex Work, Prostitution, Violence, Sexual Economy, Africa, Legal Context
Citation Crago, Anna-Louise 2014 Article Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society Zambia Sex Work Prostitution Violence Sexual Economy Africa Legal Context Women and Work African History Third World Women Women's Work in History Non-Western Societies

"Bitches Killing the Nation: Analyzing the Violent State-Sponsored Repression of Sex Workers in Zambia, 2004–2008"

by Crago, Anna-Louise (2014)

Abstract

In 2004, the Zambian government ushered in a period of increased state repression of sex work that took place in the name of protecting the nation from HIV. Repression was articulated through the application of a new curfew ordinance, detention, and high levels of violence against sex workers by state actors in the public sphere. This article critically examines the context of overlapping prohibitionist and abolitionist approaches in transnational and domestic antiprostitution policy in which the repression occurred. This research is based primarily on in-depth interviews with twenty-six Zambian sex workers in Lusaka and Kabwe, as well as on media reports and institutional records.

Keywords

Zambia, Sex Work, Prostitution, Violence, Sexual Economy, Africa, Legal Context

Themes

Women and Work, African History, Third World Women, Women's Work in History, Non-Western Societies

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