In the US and other countries, there have been several efforts in recent years to gain legal recognition for sex workers, and prostitution is legal in many parts of Nevada. In the Netherlands, Germany and New Zealand, sex workers already enjoy recognition by the state. The term "sex worker" is primarily used among people who support these protections. It is also used by public health workers who are trying to prevent or reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among these workers and their clients.
In practice the growth in sex tourism has led to a corresponding growth in the sex industry. Illegal sex tourism with under-age boys and girls has become a notorious problem in Costa Rica and Thailand, for example. Meanwhile a legal and consensual sex industry often makes a significant contribution to local economies. The HamburgReeperbahn is a licensed and taxed prostitution zone serving tourists from all over the world, whilst the sex industry has also tended to thrive around military bases. The British naval port of Portsmouth had a flourishing local sex industry in the nineteenth century for example, whilst in the present day young Korean women in the Itaewon district of Seoul receive money for satisfying the sexual needs of both American and South Koreansoldiers.
Sexworkers must be identified, registered and regularly sent to government STI clinics where their registration card is stamped.
Sexworkers who are unable to read the letter from the government are vulnerable to it being used as another instrument of control by brothel management.
Sexworkers usually still have to buy condoms, either at reasonable prices from condom social marketing companies or at inflated prices from brothel keepers and local traders in direct contrast to workers with rights whose employers are required to supply health and safety equipment from their profits.
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