Hotel Ritz - Comparing Mexican and U.S. Street Prostitutes

This unique book draws on nearly two hundred face-to-face interviews that the author conducted on the streets with heroin-addicted street prostitutes in Southern California and their counterparts in four large Mexican cities. It illustrates the significant—and surprising—differences in the risk of exposure to HIV and other STDs that exist between street prostitutes in the two countries; differences arising from the legality, sociology, and economics of sex work in each country. Helpful tables and an appendix containing the author's survey questions make the data in this well-referenced book easily understandable.

R Dennis Shelby

- Preface - Chapter 1. Introduction - Theory, Research Design, and Study Limitations - Mexican Study - Main Drugs of Abuse and Injection Methods - Concern of Street FSWs in Requiring Condom Use Compared to Ten Years Ago - Chapter 2. Etiology of HIV Transmission - Incidence and Prevalence of HIV/AIDS - Hepatitis C (HCV), a Potentially More Serious Health Threat - Reported AIDS Cases in Mexico - The Relationship Between Commercial Sex Work, AIDS, and IDU - Chapter 3. A Short History of Heroin and Commercial Sex Work - Heroin - Definitions of Prostitution - History of Prostitution - The FSW Hierarchy and the Bottom Rung of the Ladder - Chapter 4. Study Setting and Methods - Why Mexico? - Why Particular Mexican Cities Were Chosen in Which to Interview Prostitutes - The Tijuana Street Interview Experience - FSW Interviews in Ciudad Juárez - FSW Interviews in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas - Cuernavaca, Morelos: Another Interview Site - Chapter 5. Findings: Comparing Mexican and San Bernardino Sex Workers - Interview Research Questions - Analysis and Discussion - Chapter 6. Summary, Recommendation, and Conclusions - Recommendations for Mexican FSWs - Recommendations for American FSWs - Conclusions - Appendix. Survey Questionnaire - References - Index