Grant: CIHR Fellowship

In Canadian urban settings, drug-using youth who are street involved and exchange sex for money, shelter and/or drugs are particularly vulnerable to HIV, sexually transmitted infections and high levels of violence. In greater Vancouver, rapid urban development, recent policy initiatives such as the creation of supportive housing for at-risk youth, and legislative changes in criminal policies around sex work and drug use (e.g., the possible decriminalization of sex work in Canada, mandatory minimums for drug sentences), have the potential to transform young people's experiences of safety, risk and harm in the places in which they live and work. The proposed ethnographic study will explore how these various changes impact young people's health over time. A key focus will be the effect of these changes on where and how young people conduct sex work (e.g., online, indoors, outdoors), and the relationship between these places and HIV and drug-related risks. I will also explore how young people's gender (their ascribed roles and relative power as men and women and sexual minorities) shapes experiences of different kinds of violence in the places where they live and work. Over a three-year study period, I will conduct participant-observation in the places frequented by young people, as well as formal and informal in-depth interviews with both young men and young women who use drugs and do sex work. In addition, I will use visual methods (e.g., the creation of photo essays, maps) to better understand young people's perspectives on risk, harm and safety in relation to different places. The results from this research will be important in informing the development of health policy and interventions that address the complex environments that shape HIV and drug-related risks, harm and safety among young people who use drugs and do sex work.