The Condom Quandary is a study of the impact of law enforcement practices on effective HIV
prevention among male, female, and transgender sex workers in China, produced by Asia Catalyst.
Sex work is illegal in China, and law enforcement practices that focus on condoms as
evidence of prostitution are having a negative impact on HIV prevention among sex workers. There is little public debate on the impact of law enforcement on the HIV response, in part
because of a lack of substantiated data on the issue in China. Little is known about law
enforcement operations in general; the extent to which the police are using condoms as
“evidence” of sex work in practice; what impact, if any, this is having on the safety and
health of sex workers; and how it is affecting China’s national HIV prevention strategy.
Between late 2014 and August 2015, Asia Catalyst and four community partners undertook
this study in three major Chinese cities with the support of UNFPA.
The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to better understand how relevant laws and
law enforcement practices in China affect the ability of sex workers to access and carry
condoms and access HIV and SRH services and, (2) to provide recommendations to revise
laws and policies and to change law enforcement practices to improve the health and rights
of sex workers in China.
The study combined quantitative and qualitative methods, including 517 survey
questionnaires and 74 in-depth interviews with male, female, and transgender sex workers,
and 18 interviews with key informants. The report uses the terms “survey respondents” and
“interview respondents,” respectively.
