Intervention projects aimed at preventing STD and HIV generally tend to target women sex
workers and through them their clients. This approach sees women sex workers as agents of
change, with the attendant burden, but has failed to recognise gender issues surrounding sexual
health, particularly power relations existing in society. While gender justice is a recognised
legitimate concern, the discourse has excluded sex workers from its purview making them the
moral 'other'. Sexual health projects implemented currently in different parts of Kerala are not
sensitive to gender issues because they mistakenly assume that sex workers are autonomous
subjects. In the sexual health project for female sex workers implemented in the Kottayam
municipal area some gender issues were tackled with modest success. This paper makes a strong
plea for more gender sensitivity in sexual health projects and for men to take their fair share of
responsibility for HIV transmission.
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