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Extract from The Dynamics of Sex Work
GAD Talk Bulletin, Vol3, May 2002
Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN)
May 2002

I want out but can't make it
This story is built around the testimonies of sex workers who spoke to the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network in May 2002. It tries to present their perspectives on the work they do and the circumstances that have led to their various situations. We promised to protect their identities so while the names have been changed, everything else is as we heard it. The women shared their experiences a wider group of people interested in understanding more about Sex work at our monthly Gender and Development (GAD) Talk on May 30, 2002.

"I was married and had problems with my mother-in-law", begins Rose, pinpointing the moment her life began to change.

"After several painful encounters I decided to leave my home and start this business. My first customer was this white schoolboy who used to give me his pocket money. We would have sex in his parent’s bedroom. One day the mother caught us and calmly told me to leave the room. I could hardly button my blouse from shaking. That was the beginning of my career".

Now 49, Rose started selling sex as early as 1978. At that time most of the attention around her home country Zimbabwe was focussed around the liberation struggle. The war was meant to bring freedom and prosperity to all, but Rose has found, like many other women in situations similar to hers, that some promises never become reality.

Sex work is widespread in the southern African country, as it is in other parts of the continent and the world. Poverty has been given as one of the major reasons why it exists and why women are the victims of it.

Across the length and breadth of the African continent women form the vast majority of the poor and the unemployed. It is therefore not surprising that they are the ones who are most visible in the sale of sex, to largely male customers.

Women who work in commercial sex often share harrowing stories of abuse and violence, something that because of their seemingly ‘unclean’ position in our societies is not taken seriously by the law.

"My friend was killed by a client and cut-up. Pieces of her body were found in a plastic bag. This is a dangerous job. You never know what will happen next," explains Rose.

Law fails to protect us
While the law is very clear about bringing criminals before the justice system, sex workers often say that because of their profession they are not able to access the law. Their ‘criminalized’ life styles, they say, mean that when they try to access the law for redress in cases where they have been raped or beaten, they are usually ill treated because of who they are and what they do.

"The police know about our friend’s death but they are not taking it very seriously", she says.

Rose is responsible for caring for her sickly younger sister. They share a one-roomed apartment, which is also where Rose works. A sewing machine and bundles of cloth point to the other activity Rose does to bring cash into the family. Her clothes making business works as a kind of insurance for when Sex work is not making the kind of income she needs to meet all her responsibilities. But these days the market for clothes is slow. People do not have the cash to spend on luxuries like clothing. "I get very little money from sewing. My real living comes out of sex work. That is my business".

At the time we spoke to Rose, her mother was also visiting. She had come to help with caring for her other daughter, but also looks to Rose for financial support.

"All these people look up to me for support. My mother used to think that the money comes from my sewing activities, but today she is hearing the truth."

Before us Rose tells her mother the truth, "Mummy, I sell my body for a living". The mother does not respond verbally. She just shakes her head sorrowfully.

Rose refers to her room as her "office". She says she gets an average of five customers a day.

"My customers are all white. That old man you see in the photograph pays for the rentals of this flat," explains Rose pointing to a picture by the bedside. "I met him in 1983 and he found this flat for me in 1991. He is married and his children are all grown-up. You might call me his second wife. He comes to see me for less than an hour once a week. All the other men who come here know about my steady man and they respect that. He pays the rent on this place".

"Now that I am looking after my sick sister and my mother is here, business has slowed down out of respect for my mother. Sometimes, some of my customers take me out to the Botanical Gardens or the University grounds for sex. I need the money so I go out with them since we cannot use the house".

Condoms are effective when used
For many years sex workers have been seen as the people who are responsible for spreading HIV – the virus that leads to AIDS. But they are themselves at great risk of being infected because of the nature of their work.

"We use condoms. But some HIV positive men can bring condoms with holes in them. I always make the man use my own condoms or else I wear a female condom. You can’t trust anybody these days".

The very high cost of the female condom though means that when money is tight, Rose has to rely on the male condom. This makes it very difficult for her to handle those customers who refuse to wear a male condom. The choice is hard safe sex or money.

How much income does one make?
It is unclear just how much sex workers make from their work. There is very little local documented evidence that offers sound economic analysis. There is also no basis for how much sex workers charge. The rates for their work are not standardised.

"I don’t charge before hand because you may ask for $1000.00 when he was prepared to give you $10,000.00. I tell my customers to pay me according to the satisfaction I give them and they always give good money. All my customers are from way back; I have been seeing many of them since the early eighties. I do not go out in the streets to look for new customers", says Rose.

The telephone rings mid-way through the interview. Rose tells her caller how much she loves and misses. While she is talking to him, there’s a knock on the door and an elderly white man walks in. He’s a bit taken aback by the presence of another person.

He is an unusual kind of customer. A priest. He says he does not worry about HIV/AIDS because he does not have penetrative sex with Rose. He asks that she just take of her clothes and dance for him. He says that after he has visited Rose he goes straight to confession and asks for forgiveness.

"What do you say to this? Asks Rose. " Love or an obsession? I really would like to stop. This business is dirty and degrading. He is actually a priest in one of the churches. He says after visits like these he always goes for confession to cleanse his soul."

The question we ask ourselves is what about Rose? Where does she go? How does she cleanse herself? How does she understand her life?

Society castigates her, religion condemns her, the law is against her but make a living she must.

"I would like to get out of this business, but I can’t. I am getting old. Sometimes I say to myself; what will happen once Mr Rent-payer dies? Where will I go? I will lose all my customers, as they prefer to come to nice respectable places like this flat. I will not be able to pay the $5.500 Zim rent required. I will have to join my friend Chipo at Snake Park, but who will come to Snake Park when the sea is full of younger fishes?"

Where do old sex workers go?
Chipo has become one of Rose’s closest friends. She is in her early fifties and is trying to move away from Sex work.

"I was given away to an old man while I was twelve years old. I never went to school. I had two sons with this man who used to physically and emotionally abuse me. I ran away after seven years of marriage to Harare. I earned my living as a Sex worker," she explains.

"Because I am beautiful, I used to dress up and put on a wig and pretended to be coloured so I can catch white clients. Most used to be violent or would require you to inflict violence on them like burning their naked buttocks with a lighted cigar," she says.

She says that some of her clients have strange sexual habits and desires. "I soon got used to them. I married one of my clients but he passed away recently after twenty years of marriage. He did not leave me any money; instead I had to sell a lot of our property to pay for the funeral costs."

Sex workers are like casual labourers. They have no social benefits – medical aid, pension schemes, insurance are not something they are able to make use of so when they grow old, they have no way of looking after themselves.

"I cannot go back into Sex work because of my age. Even if I try to flash by the roadside, as soon as the clients see my face, they drive away. I managed to get a stand in Snake Park and erected a temporary structure with a plastic roof to stay in. I have now turned to God, I find relief when I pray."

What advice does Chipo have to sex workers?
"Most of us do not have a choice. In my own estimation, about 92% would rather not be in this business. They will never make enough money to be able to save for the future. Most live from body-to-mouth so to speak. If possible they should look for alternative ways to survive so they do not end up like me, a used and thrown-out rag".

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