Will legalizing prostitution help or hinder? Our staff correspondent Sandhya Soans, spoke to several sex workers and NGO’s in the city to understand their perspective. Here is her ground report.
“I do it to avoid hunger, my husband has died”. “I do it for my family. Who will feed us?” Please I cannot talk to you”, said Meena (name changed) a woman dressed in sober attire, a Sex worker, as she patiently solicited customers in the twilight at the city’s bus stand.
Radhika (name changed), a resident of Kerala, has been in the clutches of sex trade for the past 20 years. She narrates, “I was cheated and brought into the industry by my neighbor aunt who misrepresented the nature of work she was offering. I was then forced into this activity. I’ve even sold my daughter to the same broker”.
A brutal profession
In the city, sex workers have been known to be treated brutally by their clients. A transgender sex worker Prem (name changed) says, “Some goondas, use us and then threaten us stating that we are boys and we can be normal.”
Taking the contrarian view, a female sex worker Ruby (name changed) said, “I have never been a victim of violence. Yes there have been times when I’ve been arrested by the Police or verbally abused by my clients and passersby while standing and waiting for customers, but have never had a physical encounter”.
Sex Workers are hesitant however, to open up. Ruby for instance, has marks on her face and hands – when asked, she said, “My husband used to hit me”, and giggled.
Another sex professional, said that there are instances when clients resort to violence, or do not pay the agreed amount. There is also the stress of unprotected sex which makes them prone to HIV and other STD infections.
Some of the sex workers are however, firm. Ruby says, “If customers do not agree to use a condom we do not go ahead, however when the business is not good we are bound too, then we place the condom in our mouth, as mostly the clients are drunk, so they won’t know.”
A common phenomenon
Prostitution (the exchange of sexual services for money) or Sex work, as it is called these days, is a very common phenomenon in most societies. A report published in December 2013 by philanthropic foundation Dasra, the Hummingbird Trust and Kamonohashi Project has revealed that India has three lakh brothels in 1,100 identified red-light areas, housing nearly five million children in addition to commercial sex workers. The report also claims that 85% India’s prostitutes enter the profession before the age of 18.
Per se, the profession is not illegal, but practicing it in certain circumstances is. These include soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and pandering.
Lodge based sex work
In the city, ‘Lodge-based sex work’ is popular among both clients and sex workers. Conversations with sex workers reveal that lodge-based sex work is organized and involves a few network operators such as Room boys or the Lodge Manager. The lodge provides the women a steady stream of clients, decides the price for sex, and usually takes 50% of the fee.
It is also learnt that lodge sex workers have a relatively high client volume and income, “Often,10 to 15 per day, though on some days, just 5”. The rates charged vary according to the age of the sex worker to time spent, although ‘Lodge-based sex work’ is concealed which allows sex workers to make more money.
A lodge based sex worker in the city, who wanted to remain anonymous said, “We do have a certain amount of liberty in Lodge-based sex work, however we are careful about whom we go out with, and our choice of clients, as we may not know what he might do to us.”
Legalizing sex work
The Supreme court had constituted a panel to deliberate on the existing provisions of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act 1986 (ITPA), loopholes, implementation of the law, and the impact of such implementation on the sex workers and their lives, after a public interest litigation was filed in 2010 on rehabilitation of sex workers.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam has placed a proposal for legalizing prostitution before this panel when it met recently, which according to the commission will enable them live with dignity in accordance with article 21 of the constitution.
“How will it matter”?
Radhika, was asked if legalizing prostitution would help women like her. “Yes it must be legalized, but how will it matter even if you don’t?. These things are happening today and the same thing will happen tomorrow, irrespective of what the government does” she added.
“As long as the demand lies supply will be there – legal or illegal”, she said it unemotionally.
Having worked extensively with sex workers in the city, especially with regard to their health and hygiene, officials of the Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh (HKNS) say that, it is a good idea. However, due to social stigma associated with the profession, a sex worker may hesitate to “come out in the open and identify herself as a prostitute” defeating the purpose of the proposal.
By way of an example, the HKNS project manager said, “Earlier the district administration had planned to allot homes to the high risk group (HRG) or the female sex worker (FSW) – in the city. However, with the fear that they might be identified, they declined the offer.”
“Pay and Abuse”?
Legalizing prostitution has been a subject of intense debate for years now. The proposal of the NCW has already raised eyebrows, and might place the conservative BJP government in a tight spot.
Many national women’s organizations, have already, on November 20, 2014 opposed the proposal on various grounds. Instead they want the existing ITPA to be strengthened.
Legalization might also imply detailed record keeping, which is not conducive for the trade.
A sex worker who was forced into the profession at the age of 16 and has been in the profession for 25 years, sums it up nicely, “To those who would say legalization would make prostitution safer, then you may as well legalize rape. You cannot legislate away the dehumanizing, degrading trauma of prostitution, and if you try to, you are accepting a separate class of women should exist who have no access to the human rights everyone else takes for granted.”
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