But contact tracing proved difficult as the mayor, Ignazio Abbate, began receiving anonymous phone calls from men “asking for a friend” what the sex worker looked like. The secrecy and stigma around unregulated sex work put “everyone in danger,” Mr. Abbate said. “Of course I am scared,” said Fernanda Ponciano, a 31-year-old sex worker from Torre del Lago, in Tuscany. Ms. Ponciano started taking clients again after a three-month hiatus during the lockdown. She works as a maid in the morning and as a sex worker in the afternoon, she said.

Source: International New York Times August 03, 2020 21:56 UTC