Subjected to abuse, clients who refuse to pay and law enforcement officers who force them to have sex in the back of police vans — this is the harsh reality for many Gauteng sex workers, three of whom spoke to TimesLIVE about their daily battle for survival on the streets. This festive season some took a rare break from their gruelling work to spend time with their families, a short-lived reprieve from a life often marked by violence, stigma and exploitation. TimesLIVE met three sex workers at the offices of the Sisonke National Sex Workers Movement in Johannesburg’s CBD.
For each of them, the journey into sex work has been shaped by different circumstances, but their stories share the same thread of resilience. A 38-year-old woman from GaMasela in Limpopo said she has been in the trade for more than a decade. “I don’t have a sad story, I have a sexual fantasy.
I decided to make a career out of it. I would undress a man with my eyes and fantasise about what we would do,” she said. Her work began at home, where her family ran a tavern, and she had five boyfriends at the time, she said.
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South Africa has an estimated 150,000 sex workers. For years there have been calls to decriminalise sex work to ensure better protection for those in the industry, who face high rates of violence and discrimination After moving to Johannesburg, she was introduced to the street life by friends, and it was there she met her French husband. “He used to be my client, but unlike others, he would come to talk.
He had lost his wife and was lonely. He allows me to continue with my work, though when I’m working we don’t have sexual relations,” she said. A 39-year-old from Dennilton in Mpumalanga said she was 21 when she turned to sex work.
“After my mother passed away I had problems with my stepmother, who didn’t want me to go to school. I had a child to support and no-one was helping me,” she said. She began going out on weekends and would receivemavuso, money given to a woman after spending a night with a man.
“That money changed my life. I could finally take care of my child. Later I moved to Springs, where I met my fiancée.
She was a regular customer and we ended up in a relationship,” she said. When asked how her fiancée feels about her male clients, she laughed softly. “Sometimes she gets jealous, but there’s nothing she can do.
I can’t survive on one client,” she said. A 36-year-old woman from Johannesburg said she was introduced to sex work by a friend in 2009. “It wasn’t easy in the beginning.
I remember not being able to attract clients. One day my friend had two clients and decided to share one with me,” she said.
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