C A S E S T U DY: S E X WO R K E R S Other informants gave similar accounts. A 31-year-old Ta’ang male informant said that ‘Youth in [his] area are trying to preserve their culture and traditions: music, clothing… the objective is to promote ethnic-nationalistic feeling of the youth. We are few in numbers so we need to preserve our culture.’ A 31-year-old male informant from Kachin State – member of the Kachin Youth Affair Committee – said he and his associates had ‘spent about seven years working hard to get people to recognise Tai Shan’, noting nonetheless with some disappointment that still ‘only a few people in Yangon are getting to know us.’ But he said they were continuing to ‘work for improving our literature. The purpose is to showcase our particular identity.’ Despite (or perhaps because of) the discrimination they may face, particular ethnic identity remained important to youth. Many felt, however, that the weight given to particular ethnic identities should not preclude an inclusive national identity. When surveyed, 57 per cent of youth felt that promoting a national Myanmar identity was important for securing lasting peace in Myanmar. In the words of one youth from northern Shan State: ‘We, ethnic people, are also proud of being citizens of the country – we are born here. A lot of us think that way. If external forces were to invade the country, we would all fight together.’ He lamented, however, that in the meantime, ‘we are having dog fights among ourselves. Each group tries to support its own ethnic group. The day we have a visible national characteristic, then we can overcome the difficulties.’ One small sub-group of individuals who are particularly marginalised are sex workers. In general, life as a sex worker in Myanmar is tough, marked by crippling stigma – many sex workers live a double life to conceal their identity and protect their families. With no legal venues to work, sex workers sell their services in the street, in karaoke bars, or as call girls/boys, and are vulnerable to malicious clients who may abuse the sex worker, make unreasonable demands or refuse to pay. Sex workers are also vulnerable to harsh treatment by authorities. A special grievance for the sex worker community, and in particular those sex workers who are men who have sex with men, is the attitude that the community face at hospitals. There are organisations driven by volunteers who help sex workers test for sexually transmitted diseases and, in the cases of positive results, seek treatment. But hospital workers’ attitude towards the community often function as a barrier to sex workers’ access health services. Sex workers report being scolded to the extent that some, one informant who works in a sex worker support organisation told us, come back to his organisation and say they ‘would rather die than go back to hospital’. Once a sex worker, informants told us, it is difficult to find other employment. Most take up the work because they see no other way to earn the money they need to support themselves and in many cases their dependants. One informant, for instance, said he sold sex because it was the only way he could get enough money to feed himself and his siblings after their parents died. He was illiterate, as were many of his friends in the same situation. Informants also described a strong resistance to hiring people who had formerly been sex workers, especially LGBT people in this group. Informants said any hint of a non-heterosexual gender or sexual identity was enough to discourage employers from recruiting. Tattoos were said to be seen as typical for sex workers and could also threaten chances for employment.