Fear, Exposure and Vulnerability: Sex Workers and Human Rights in Macedonia records and explores the experiences and issues of sex workers in Macedonia.
In Macedonia, as throughout the world, sex workers are pushed to the margins of society by a combination of prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Sex workers inhabit a particularly vulnerable position in Macedonia, facing harassment and violence not only from clients and pimps, but also from law enforcement and other authorities. These abuses include physical violence, illegal detention, compulsory testing for STDs, and rape, which are compounded by the substandard enforcement of law and lack of access to health and support services. Adding to these challenges are the risks of HIV/AIDS and other STDs, drug addiction, a hostile public attitude, and mass-media harassment. Because of the tremendous negative stigma connected to prostitution in Macedonia, most sex workers are living double lives, concealing the fact that they are sex workers from their families and communities. A disproportionate number of street-based sex workers, those most vulnerable, are members of the Roma community, Macedonia’s most harshly discriminated against ethnic minority group.
Building upon my previous projects documenting sex workers in New York City, I spent several weeks in the spring of 2010 photographing and recording the stories of sex workers in Macedonia. It is my hope that this project will be a source of support and empowerment for sex workers by providing a unique opportunity to bring attention to their issues and give them a chance to speak about their lives in an honest, realistic and, most importantly, a safe and respectful way. In challenging public opinion, I believe that the first and most important step is for sex workers to recognize and change internalized negative beliefs about themselves. In documenting sex workers’ lives I hope to counter the de-humanizing imagery that is so prevalent in mainstream media - challenging the viewer to question their own preconceptions.