Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding Author: Joanne E. Male sex workers MSWs and male clients MCMs who engage their services face increased vulnerability to violence in Kenya, where same-sex practices and sex work are criminalized. This study explored the types of victimization experienced by MSWs and MCMs, the contexts in which these experiences occurred, and the responses to violence among these groups.
Explicitly negotiating the price for the sexual exchange before having sex helped avoid conflict and violence. For many participants, guesthouses that were tolerant of same-sex encounters were perceived as safer places for engaging in sex work.
MSWs and MCMs rarely reported incidents of violence to the police due to fear of discrimination and arrests by law enforcement agents. Some MSWs fought back against violence enacted by clients or tapped into peer networks to obtain information about potentially violent clients as a strategy for averting conflicts and violence.
Our study contributes to the limited literature examining the perspectives of MSWs and MCMs with respect to violence and victimization, showing that both groups are vulnerable to violence and in need of interventions to mitigate violence and protect their health. Future interventions should consider including existing peer networks of MSWs in efforts to prevent violence in the context of sex work.
Moreover, decriminalizing same-sex practices and sex work in Kenya may inhibit violence against MSWs and MCMs and provide individuals with safer spaces for engaging in sex work. Keywords: male sex workers, men who have sex with men, violence, victimization, stigma. In sub-Saharan Africa, men who have sex with men MSM are a highly stigmatized group, and are often subjected to homophobia, harassment, and discrimination, including criminalization and exclusion from protections afforded to heterosexual individuals Baral et al.
