Disputats, Stockholms universitet, 2008. / Med litteraturhenvisninger.

In India, the estimated number of people in sex work is high - figures show an appraisal of three million female sex workers. Most women who enter sex work tend to be very young and do so due to severe economic circumstances. The situation is considered especially severe in some parts of India due to a combination of poverty and the low status of females, which contribute to their exploitation in the sex industry. This vulnerability often leads to women being marginalized and stigmatized from society.   The aim with this thesis is to investigate how social workers, at an organization in Pune, India, work with women in sex work and their children. What motivates the social workers to pursue work with this group? How do they feel about their work and their clients? Further questions we wanted to answer were how the organization worked to secure good and sufficient living conditions for the children. Our initial goal for this study was to examine how the staff members at Saheli Sangh work to prevent the children from entering sex work. While doing so, we gained knowledge about the social worker’s own thoughts, values and experiences of doing social work with this group. Hence, this newfound knowledge became our main focus throughout our study.   The results showed that education and safe housing were the primary interventions offered to prevent children from entering sex work. It also showed that the staff in the organization forms a special bond with the children and women with whom they work. To provide the needed interventions, the organization needs more resources and more support to combat negative perceptions and stigma from the society of women who do sex work and the social workers who help them address their needs. / I Indien är det uppskattade antalet personer i sexarbete högt - siffror visar en uppskattning på tre miljoner kvinnliga sexarbetare. De flesta kvinnor som börjar med sexarbete tenderar att vara väldigt unga och gör det på grund av svåra ekonomiska omständigheter. Situationen anses särskilt svår i vissa delar av Indien. Detta på grund av en kombination av fattigdom och kvinnornas låga ställning i samhället, vilket bidrar till deras utnyttjande i sexindustrin. Denna utsatthet leder ofta till att kvinnor marginaliseras och stigmatiseras.   Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socialarbetare, i en organisation i Pune, Indien, arbetar med kvinnor i sexarbete och deras barn. Vad motiverar socialarbetarna att arbeta med denna grupp? Hur upplever de sitt arbete och sina klienter? Ytterligare frågor vi ville ha svar på var hur organisationen arbetade för att säkerställa goda och tillräckliga levnadsvillkor för barnen. Vårt ursprungliga syfte med denna studie var att undersöka hur socialarbetarna i organisationen arbetar för att förhindra barnen från att börja med sexarbete. Under processens gång fick även kunskap om socialarbetarens egna tankar, värderingar och erfarenheter av att arbeta med denna grupp. Därigenom blev denna nyfunna kunskap vårt huvudfokus under resten av vår studie.   Resultaten visade att utbildning och tryggt boende var de primära insatserna som erbjuds för att förhindra att barn börjar med sexarbete. De visade även på ett starkt band mellan personalen och de kvinnor och barn som de arbetar med. För att kunna erbjuda nödvändiga insatser behöver organisationen mer resurser samt stöd från samhället för att bekämpa den rådande negativa uppfattningen som finns om kvinnor i sexarbete.

Several studies suggest that sexual assaults are experienced differently by males than by females. In dominant discourses in which sexual perpetration is associated with males and sexual victimisation with females, males are expected to practice and exhibit hegemonic masculinity. This gendered perception of sexual assaults means that female perpetration of male child sexual abuse often goes unrecognised and that male perpetration is particularly problematic for male victims. Using a feminist critical paradigm and critical discourse analysis as a research design, this study explored how a sample of male victims in Zimbabwe experienced sexual abuse as children and how they were affected by it. The study, further, explored how the male victims of childhood sexual abuse sought to reconcile the experience of victimisation with their identity as males. Nine men participated in the study. The sample was, due to the sensitive nature of the topic, purposively selected using letters describing the nature of the study and inviting participation. The letters were distributed through diverse channels, including a newspaper with national coverage. Most participants reported experiences of female perpetrated abuse. The study found that, in keeping with dominant discourses of hegemonic masculinity, the participants struggled to construct themselves as victims. Many of the participants were considerably and negatively affected by having been sexually abused. Participants utilised a variety of methods to come to terms with the fact that they were males who had been victimised. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)