SALUD PÚBLICA GOC-2021-796-O94

Peru‘s diverse sex industry operates largely outside of licensed venues (Campos et al., 2013; Cáceres et al., 2015). Female sex workers may meet in outdoor spaces (streets, squares, parks, highways), brothels (prostíbulos), bars, video pubs, night clubs, saunas, massage parlours, and

54_{Serenazgo officers (roughly translating as watchman units) were originally voluntary but were brought into local}

government in the 1990s. The entry and training requirements are less demanding than those of police officers (Plöger, 2012; Gandolfo, 2014).

97

via agencies, phone or online (CARE-Perú, 2008b; Campos et al., 2013). Except for venue- based sex work, women typically move to nearby hotels, guesthouses (hostales) or rented rooms (cuartos) to provide sexual services, or to a client’s home or car, but very rarely in outdoor spaces (CARE-Perú, 2008b; Campos et al., 2013; Nencel, 2001).

Ethnographic and survey research reflects similar diversity in trans and male sex work. Early studies explored the experiences of men who sought clients in parks and plazas in middle-class Lima neighbourhoods (Cáceres and Jiménez, 1999; Cáceres and Rosasco, 2000) but more recent research in Lima and cities in the Amazon region (see Figure 1, below) incorporates a wider variety of venues, modalities, and neighbourhoods (Nureña et al., 2011; Bayer et al., 2014c; Bayer et al., 2014b). In working-class neighbourhoods, trans and male sex workers often meet clients in outdoor spaces, bars, and clubs―an activity known as fleteo when practised by men (fletes)55_{. They may provide sexual services in a nearby hotel,}

guesthouse, or their rented room when allowed (Bayer et al., 2014a; Bayer et al., 2014b; Runa, 2007), although many establishments ban trans people and same-sex couples56 _{(Runa, 2007)}

and some housekeepers/landlords do not allow clients. Trans sex workers may work on peri- urban highways, in unlicensed brothels, hotels and nightclubs, sometimes alongside female sex workers (Nureña et al., 2011; Salazar, 2009), and some men work as transformistas―wearing ‘feminine’ clothes and make-up while working outdoors at night and presenting as ‘masculine’ at other times and in other places (at and outside of work) (Pollock

55_{This and the related term flete (a man who sells sex in this way) remain in common use but I do not use them,}

except where participants or other authors do so, in common with Bayer et al. (2014c: 375) who notes some men’s “strong dislike” of the term.

56_{In Lima there are a small number of ‘scene’ hotels (hostales de ambiente) that are aimed at ‘LGBT’ guests, but at}

98

et al., 2016; Nureña et al., 2011). Men working in venues may market themselves as strippers, hosts (anfitrión) or waiters (mozo), providing sexual services in nearby hotels or inside venues (Nureña et al., 2011). Independent sex work appears to be expanding, facilitated in part by greater access to internet and mobile phone technology (Nureña et al., 2011; Cáceres et al., 2015). In addition to bars, night clubs, saunas, porn video clubs (male sex workers)57_{, porn}

cinemas (trans and male sex workers), and via agencies, trans and male sex workers may seek clients via online/print advertising and personal networks, often providing services in apartments (Nureña et al., 2011; Bayer et al., 2010). Earnings, client numbers, and the involvement of third parties vary across sectors and regions (CARE-Perú, 2008b; Kohler et al., 2016) (see Social & economic (power) relations of sex work).

99

Authors also describe forms of “compensated” or “transactional” sex which they consider distinct from organised sex work (Cáceres et al., 2008b; Salazar et al., 2005; Fernández-Dávila et al., 2008). In working-class neighbourhoods in Lima and Trujillo (see Figure 1), young, heterosexually-identified men may offer company or sex to “effeminate homosexual men”58_{, in return for money, drinks, food, clothes, and/or “unconventional” (e.g.}

anal or oral) sexual practices in which women do not want to participate and in which men

58_{See discussions of gender and sexuality in Latin America (Chapter 2, Gender & sexuality in Latin America) and in}

Peru specifically (see Inequalities & identities at the intersections, below). Figure 1: Map of Peru

Map data ©2017 Google, Imagery © TerraMetrics

Peru has three geographically and, to some extent, culturally distinct regions: the coast to the west, the highlands (sierra/Andes) running the length of the country and the jungle (selva/Amazon) in the (north)east.

100

feel that they should not participate (Cáceres et al., 2008b; Salazar et al., 2005; Fernández-Dávila et al., 2008). Men engaging in compensated sex typically meet at parties, community chicken- dinners (polladas)59 _{or volleyball tournaments}60 _{and have sex in abandoned houses,}

construction sites or in parks at night, if not permitted entry into guesthouses. They may also generate income through petty theft, selling drugs, and/or small gang activities (Fernández- Dávila et al., 2008). Young women who socialise and/or have relationships with these men may also engage in transactional sex with wealthier men, in exchange for material goods or longer-term financial support for themselves and/or their children; they may also do paid sex work in other cities (Salazar et al., 2005). In Iquitos, Lalani (2014) describes women spending time on the main promenade with the goal of meeting tourists who may offer them gifts, money, and/or the opportunity to travel overseas. Yet they do not view themselves as sex workers―in common with experiences elsewhere (Cabezas, 2004). Later in the chapter, I discuss how sex work is linked with other ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ economies (see Connections with other (in)formal economies). In Chapter 6, I consider the implications of how participants view their work for activism and public health.

UNAIDS estimates that there are 65,000 female sex workers in Peru―a highly approximate figure based on expert opinion rather than empirical analysis (Sabin et al., 2016) and thus subject to the general uncertainties of such statistics (Cusick et al., 2009). No national data are available relating to trans and male sex work, but Bayer et al. (2014a) project―employing size estimation techniques―that in the region of 1000 trans and male sex

59_{A fund-raising party where a community member sells chicken and drinks to cover their unexpected expenses,}

such as healthcare costs.

101

workers work in street- or establishment-based settings in Lima. However, this does not include the growing independent sector (Nureña et al., 2011). Findings that around a third of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (Cáceres et al., 2015), and almost two thirds of trans women61 _{in Lima, report current or recent sex work (Silva-Santisteban et al.,}

2012) suggest far higher numbers in the wider industry. Most women who sell sex are aged between their 20s and 40s and typically begin doing so in their early to mid-20s. However, a larger minority62 _{in the poorer Amazon region report starting before the age of 18 (see}

Connections with other (in)formal economies, below) (CARE-Perú, 2008b) and some women continue into their 60s and 70s (Campos et al., 2013; Perla et al., 2012; Sanchez et al., 2003). Most trans and male workers are under 30 (Bayer et al., 2014b; Runa, 2007), reporting starting to sell sex at an average age of 18 or 19, although some may continue into their 40s (Nureña et al., 2011).