Legalise prostitution
Saturday, December 17, 2005 11:27:12 IST : They live a terrible, wretched life in hellholes. The police are after them - but not after the real culprits - the pimps, the agents, the managers and other men who are merciless and exploit them. The only way to rescue and rehabilitate them is to legalise prostitution.
A woman - a citizen of India - must have the right to do whatever she likes with her own self. Nobody can tell her what she can and cannot do. She must be free to work out her own salvation. The question of ethics should not come into the picture. What is involved here is the liberty and the survival of the individual. If a woman wants to sell herself, she must have the right to do so. The whole question boils down to this: so long as a prostitute - a person who sells herself - does not hurt or harm others, she should be allowed to pursue her profession, earn money through it and survive. Society should create conditions in which a woman can earn money and survive. If a woman chooses prostitution and decide to practice and live by it, things should be easy for her to do so.
They are treated like dirt
The conditions under which a prostitute works today are horrible, cruel, degrading...
A prostitute is hounded, harassed, exploited and treated like dirt. Men have a good, hearty laugh when they say with a touch of contempt: “Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world”. Nobody is bothered about the agony and the horror and the torture to which the so-called sex workers are exposed. They refer to a prostitute as sex worker these days, but this has not helped her in any way. They want to do something for the prostitute not in order to end her ordeal but to achieve some other objective.
For instance, the Planning Commission has suggested that prostitution should be legalised - because it will help tackle the menace of HIV/AIDS. The Planning Commission should have made the suggestion because it would have brought some relief to them, and maybe, liberated them. The aim is something else, not the prostitute herself. We are totally inhuman in our attitude towards these girls, most of whom are forced into the profession due to poverty or by criminal gangs who use muscle power.
Consider the rural scenario. The 14-year-old girl does work in the fields and earns Rs. 20 per day. The old landlord and his sons cast their net carefully and catch her. The father of the girl is addicted to drink, that is, he cannot do without it. He will do anything for a drink - even turn a blind eye to the rape of his daughter. He gets some drink, a little oil, maybe a kg of rice. The man is as poor as a churchmouse. His dependence on drink is exploited by the feudal musclemen. He does not have the strength or the inclination to object. And he gives his consent readily when some agent from the city comes and offers to take his daughter and provide her with a job. The father may or may not know what that “job” really means, but he is in no mental or physical condition to object. The girl goes to the city - a minor girl - and is sold to a brothel. She may not exactly know the nature of job she is called upon to do, but it is, she thinks, better than being raped by the village goons mercilessly.
Chances are, the girl who comes to the city is “fresh maal” - a minor and a virgin. Such a girl is in great demand if she has a pretty face she may - that is the brothel keeper - get as much as Rs. 10,000. In the brothel, the first time is celebration time. And then begins the horrible exploitation of the helpless, hapless girl. She is made to have sex day and night - six times, eight times. She does not have proper sleep. She lives in the brothel itself. Sometimes, she is taken out to hotels where her body is devoured by three or four men at the same time. Some Arabs who come to the city like this sort of thrill. In no time at all, the girl gets HIV. HIV does not kill immediately. It takes 8 to 10 years for the virus to destroy the body. During this period, the girl infects hundreds of clients. And there is human traffic through India’s borders - from Nepal, from Bangladesh. The girls are tricked, promised jobs and then sent to the brothel. Once in the brothel, the girl has no chance of escape. She is beaten up, raped, drugged - and tamed. In Mumbai, if I am not mistaken, prostitution is legal but soliciting is not. How can a prostitute get a customer without soliciting? She cannot be in the street, she will be taken away promptly to a police station, locked up and if she is pretty, raped. The girl has no go but to remain in a brothel.
In a red-light area where life is a never-ending, painful hell. In a red-light area, prostitution is legal, even soliciting is legal. There is no red-light area in Ahmedabad. There are prostitutes operating from their own homes - with the members of their own family around. They can pick and choose. They can take precautions against HIV. There is no exploitation. If she is not in a mood, she does not have to do it. She can rest and relax. There is no compulsion, no torture. She earns money and as the breadwinner, she gets respect. They are housewives who have, by choice, become part-time prostitutes. The law lets them alone and they can carry on their business without harassment from any quarter. Sometime they carry on their business without the knowledge of their families. There are certain places - homes - where they go and meet their customers. There is no pimp there, there is no merciless agent, there is no cruel manager or madam. All classes - lower, middle, upper - work as prostitutes.
Ahmedabad provides a good example which other states can follow. The spread of HIV will be checked, women do not get exploited. Women become free and get a chance to survive. What is happening now is the assault on prostitutes by the state - the police. In Mumbai, the prostitutes are dragged to the police stations and kept in lock-ups all night. They can have no say, against brute strength.
The real criminals are men
The real criminals are men - the agents, the pimp, the managers, the police. What is necessary is, pimping and not prostitution should be made illegal. All the men in the business merit strict action. All their activities must be declared illegal. The police must be after them and not the prostitutes. If the existing situation continues there will be an explosion of HIV/AIDS cases. There are at least two lakh prostitutes in Mumbai city. Living in terrible conditions, infected with HIV, they are in dark, dingy, dirty, inhuman hellholes.
They need to be rescued. Maybe the Planning Commission has suggested the right remedy. The reasons may not be correct but what it aims at is okay: legalise prostitution.
), will likely end up in Flesh Trade...