Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2018

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Harm Reduction Journal

Volume

15:56

First Page

1

Last Page

4

DOI of Original Publication

10.1186/s12954-018-0261-7

Comments

Originally published at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-018-0261-7

Funded in part by the VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.

Date of Submission

October 2019

Abstract

Background
Female exotic dancers are a population at high risk of unintended pregnancy. The objective of this study is to describe the reproductive health needs and contraceptive utilization of exotic dancers.

Methods
New exotic dancers (< 6 months dancing) from 26 clubs in Baltimore City/County completed a one-time survey.

Results
Of 117 participants, 96 (82%) had current contraceptive need. The mean age was 24 years, and 55% were black. Sex work (45%), alcohol use disorder (73%), illicit (44%; e.g., heroin, crack, cocaine), and injection drug use (8%) were common. The majority (66%) reported contraception use in the prior 6 months. Condoms were reported by 46% whereas 45% reported non-barrier methods, most commonly hormonal injection. Consistent condom use was rare (3%), and only 11% used a long-acting reversible method.

Conclusions
Despite their unique reproductive health vulnerabilities, female exotic dancers have unmet contraceptive needs. Targeted harm reduction strategies are needed to fill this gap.

Rights

© The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

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VCU Obstetrics and Gynecology Publications

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