The Graduate Institute, Geneva. The article describes the social challenges and violations faced by this group due to different types of stigma present in Colombian society and discusses current political debates around the legality of sex work. It proposes that through empowering these women using a participatory approach and giving them access to technology such as photography and video, empathy can be mobilized and can reduce the barriers that FSWs and their children are facing.
By raising awareness of the problem of stigmatization, it becomes possible to effect change on a political level through critical social inclusion praxis. The article begins by analyzing different stigmas that exist in Colombian society and the problems that result from such stigmas, before offering a review of social initiatives and proposing a project outline and policy options using participatory methods.
Out of 43 submissions, the jury eventually selected three finalist teams to present their projects in Geneva on 15 September As it was screened and selected by an independent jury, this article did not undergo the usual double-blind peer review process. We decided to draw up a proposal regarding the empowerment of sex workers by measures to combat stigma through participatory audiovisual praxis. According to the literature and evidence review that we carried out, a successful way to acknowledge and fight stigma is to use participatory methods.
These authors defined sex work as one or several services in which sex is exchanged for money or goods. Of all these types of work, street workers have been most severely depicted as deviant due to them sometimes having drug related dependencies and practicing drug abuse. However, it is a common myth that sex workers fund their drug use through their work. Studies suggest that sex workers are likely to start or increase their drug use in order to deal with distress caused by activities associated with their occupation including social pressure or discrimination Burnes et al.
By empowerment, we refer to the process through which people gain control over their lives, organizations, and community. We argue that sex work can be a form of self-determination for women rather than a source of stigma and discrimination Burnes et al. Conceptualizing sex work as exploitative endorses victimization and powerlessness. Moreover, stigma is seen by others as something inherent to the person or inside the person, rather than something that can be placed on that person or imposed by others.
