Experiences of Sex Workers in Times of Pandemic: from Lawful to Risk-Producing Environments in Switzerland
This paper aims to shed light on the difficulties faced by sex workers (SW)during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research was carried out in collaboration with anon-governmental organisation (NGO) supportingSW in canton Vaud, Switzerland. Drawing on the idea, developed by Scoular (2015), that the law is not sufficient to address the problems faced by SW, we propose to consider Swiss SW'sexperiences in order to analyse interactions between the law and other societal forces in times of pandemic. We used a mixed-methods approach (observations, focus groups and questionnaires) to understand the needs of the SW, theassistancethat has been offeredto them, and the obstacles they have encountered in accessing it since March 2020. Our findings suggest that SW were confronted with a broad range of financial, administrative, psychological and relational difficulties that were conducive to health risks. We call for political responses and structural changes to promote SW's empowerment and improve their working conditions.