Systemic Violence, Social Harms and Necropolitics: The Interaction of Prison and Life ‘on Road’ for Women Engaged in Sexual Commerce in East London

Abstract This study draws on theories of systemic violence (Ruggiero 2020; Žižek 2008), social harms (Canning and Tombs 2021; Hall et al. 2020; Pemberton 2016) and Mbembe’s (2019; 2003) necropolitics to highlight social harms experienced by women ‘on road’. Data originally generated for a consultation funded by Doctors of the World UK (Henceforth DOTW UK) to examine the self-perceptions of health needs by women engaged in street level sex work was reanalysed to tease out a panoramic view of the social harms and systemic violence experienced by the women interviewed. The reanalysis highlighted how the early life systemic violence experienced by many of the women interviewed exacerbated acute marginalization, resulting in spiralling levels of systemic and personal violence, stigma and social harm.