Fish-for-Sex

The practice is simultaneously economically rational as a livelihood strategy and deeply harmful in health terms. Female fishmongers increasingly must offer sex to male fishermen in exchange for fish supply as stocks decline and competition intensifies. Fish-for-sex is structurally driven by gender-unequal power dynamics rather than being a matter of individual choice. Fish-for-sex distorts fish pricing and reduces income for fishmongers and their dependents. Fish-for-sex reinforces existing structural gender inequalities rather than dissolving them. The fish-for-sex practice, locally termed 'Jaboya', involves the exchange of sex for access to fish.