I think Graham is making a very good point on one hand, but missing the point on the other. It is not university-based academics or social service workers who chose to call the women at WISH sex trade workers, but the women themselves. While I fully agree that their lives are full of contradictions, inequality and danger, they deserve to be able to name their own work. Using the word “prostitute” will not improve the situation and it doesn’t seem respectful — and respect is a foundation of both good Harm Reduction and good literacy work.

So if this is the reality that we work with, what role can Harm Reduction play? In his review of Harm Reduction and sex work, Rekart (2005) describes several promising projects, including: training in condom-negotiating skills, safety tips for street-based sex workers, self-help organisations, and community-based child protection networks. He also provides a list of principles for doing harm reduction with sex trade workers, which include:

• being non-judgemental,
• being respectful of privacy, dignity and views,
• including sex workers in the development of programs, capacity-building and leadership development, and
• “targeting the whole sex work setting, including clients and third parties, rather than only sex workers” (Rekart, 2005)

Peer programs can be a great source of learning and support for sex trade workers, just as they are with drug users (see description in previous section). We see peer networks developing naturally among the women at WISH, and three authors describe how they incorporate these into their programs. Rekart (2005) mentions this as a promising practice, and Green and Goldberg (1993) describe a Glasgow-based project in which sex workers were peer teachers. Similarly Olivera (1998) speaks glowingly of the “power of peers”, because they can have a more powerful influence than program workers who have not experienced similar addictions or barriers.

Lessons for Literacy Work

The literature on Harm Reduction work with sex trade workers describes issues related to violence, health and poverty that affect their lives and work on a daily basis. As educators, we need to keep educating ourselves about current developments that affect sex trade workers (including documents such as the Pivot report and Living in Community) and about how violence, drug use and mental health issues intersect with their learning. Where it makes sense to do so, we can include these issues in the learning materials, discussions and writing tasks we bring to the learning centre. We can also, as Alderson and Twiss (2003) say, work in partnership with sex trade workers and support them to take active roles in community development and social change. The next section describes some inspiring literacy and educational programs that have done just that.