The dramatic increase in local and transnational sex work corresponds to growing impoverishment of the female population due to political and economic restructuring following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The war in Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular, led to intensified crossborder movements and exacerbated the general level of poverty with thousands of internally displaced persons. Although it is commonly held throughout the Caucasus and especially in Azerbaijan that economic difficulties are the primary reason for engagement in sex work, …