The current level of commonwealth, state and other funding addressing men’s health issues does not
adequately serve male sex workers. Sex Worker services require funding in order to deliver services and peer
education to male sex workers.
Australian sex workers have a strong history of effective prevention programs combating Sexually Transmitted
Infections (STI) and HIV. This is mostly achieved through peer to peer skill-sharing. Primarily, resourcing for
services targetting male sex workers comes from STI and HIV prevention funding. Whilst most services are
highly effective at delivering these services, few primarily target men’s health.
Male sex workers experience discrimination from health care professionals upon disclosure of occupation,
reducing quality of care available. Sex workers are often not acknowledged as part of Australian society,
thus negatively affecting their health and wellbeing and contributing to social exclusion.
