Survival Sex

Abstract

Survival sex has been used to describe a transactional relationship in exchange for money, sex, drugs, food, shelter, or any other daily means of survival. It encompasses sex as work as well as other forms of small scale, money-making, in informal sectors such as selling homemade goods, brewing illicit beer or liquor, petty trade and other crimes. The term "survival sex" originated among researchers and sex workers in Durban, South Africa. Many women and men engage in some type of these activities at some point in their lives, which is primarily due to increasing unemployment, lack of options for financial support, war and conflict, and basic daily survival. Survival sex is about getting by in a world of poverty, prejudice, and disempowerment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)