Hookers with Responsibilities

The prostitutes who service foreign tourists in countries where sex tourism is common typically come from impoverished, rural areas. Their families are poor and often indebted. The prostitutes send a significant part of their income to their families. It's not uncommon for families to be supported mainly by a prostitute daughter.

In order to ensure a regular income, the girls often have to give in to client demands and work without condoms. This means that they are regularly infected by a range of STDs, and they have a relatively high rate of HIV infection. If they placed the welfare of their clients first, they would never work without condoms, regardless of client demands. But they obviously place the welfare of their families above the welfare of their clients by working without condoms, thus increasing the income they send to their families and increasing the rate at which clients are infected.

It's common for the girls to continue working after they discover that they're HIV positive, and to continue working without condoms. People are shocked when they discover that, but if the girls stop working, or work only with condoms, they won't able to support their families. They still have the same obligations, even if they have an HIV infection.