Florine Roche
Daijiworld Media Network
Mangalore, Oct 22: In a comment to the recent news report on Daijiworld.com by Home Minister K J George about seeking public opinion on legalizing prostitution flame warrior R Bhandarkar said I was on vacation because I had not given my comments on this issue. As usual Bhandarkar was at his wittiest best by mentioning names of a few women who regularly comment on various issues, though I must say I don’t comment regularly. I fail to understand what this issue has anything to do with feminism. Still I have to live up to the reputation of being a feminist (though I am not) as presumed by Bhandarkar and hence this write up on legalising prostitution in India. The oldest profession of the world is making waves in Karnataka now that the government is slowly waking up to the issue and is seeking public opinion for its legalisation.
A lot of people both men and women look down on prostitutes or prostitution even in places or countries where it is legalised or is a common occurrence. Generally in India at least when we say prostitutes it means female sex workers and their very mention invokes nothing but repulsion and disdain. It is a common knowledge that the flesh trade flourishes because men patronize it though this factor conveniently gets sideline. However, all the scoffing, criticism, abuse, discrimination and ill-treatment are directed only towards female sex workers. In fact we fail to see that it is the simple law of demand and supply that works in this case. Men, however, flaunt a holier than thou attitude whereas women sex workers brave all the revulsion, disgust, disrespect, shame and diatribe directed towards them by the society. Despite being equal partners in crime men get away easily because it is a male dominated society that allows men to get away with to put in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s infamous words ‘boys will be boys’.
Male Hypocrisy
We judge prostitution as a morally corrupt act and therefore we assume that those who indulge in it are guilty and deserve to be ill-treated. We don’t need a better example to display our hypocrisy. Do we? We don’t just stop at that. Any kind of violence, discrimination or altercation against these sex workers is treated with ‘they deserved it” kind of callousness. It is another example of the blame game wherein men brashly attribute increasing instances of rape as “women invite it by their provocative dressing”.
Though sexual violence is rampant in India our society suitably forgets that crimes on women would have been much higher if not for prostitutes. Many families would have crumbled if women did not have the last option of selling their own bodies in exchange of money to take care of the families. If offering her body in exchange of money is demeaning and morally incorrect so is availing or buying these services. Then why condemn only female sex workers? Like female sex workers there are male prostitutes doubling up as masseurs (malishwalas) who are increasingly becoming noticeable in India in the recent past. Known by different euphemisms like male escorts, gigolos or rent boys these men render services similar to that of female sex workers offering services to both male and females. But the male prostitutes are not viewed with the similar contempt and disrespect reserved for their female counterparts.
No other option
Often we hear people say women demean themselves by offering sex in exchange for money and bring disrespect to womanhood. Given a chance I don’t think any woman would like to continue as a prostitute unless it is forced upon her or she is compelled to do so. It is easy to criticize or pass judgement without pondering over the larger aspects interlinked to the issue. A large number of poor women abandoned by their families or husbands turn to prostitution to take care of their dependents because they don’t have other options of doing so. Then there are also victims of sexual abuse like rape or those who are into prostitution by default and are treated as unfit for marriage even after coming out of it. What is the alternative option left for such women? Will our society give an opening for rehabilitated sex workers by absorbing them in a decent profession rather than see them with a jaundiced eye? Unless we get an answer to it in the affirmative what we hear is a lot of boring bushwa from those who have no moral right to do so.
Though the estimated number of sex workers in our country is said to be ten million or even more than that it is believed that at least half of this number of prostitutes are forced into sex trade and are victims of trafficking. People and NGOs working with these sex workers have pointed out that we the general public talk about prostitutes in a debasing way not knowing what these women go through regularly. These sex workers face violence on a daily basis as they have to deal with men of varied backgrounds and moods. They have to provide services to men regardless of whether they like it or not and are prone to diseases passed on to them.
Now that we have at least come to a stage where the state is mulling over legalising prostitution and want to seek public opinion before going ahead I really don’t see any reason why we need to cry hoarse. We know that prostitution is not illegal in India though other things to do with prostitution like pimping, soliciting, running a brothel, trafficking are illegal. We also know that even in countries in which prostitution is not legal it is flourishing clandestinely. For example prostitution is not illegal Thailand. It is an open secret that many sex starved Indian men or those who want to fulfil their sexual fantasies hop to Thailand which is famous for sex tourism. Of course, here morality takes a backseat. Both men and women laughed it off when comedian Jim Norton who confessed having patronised hundreds of prostitutes, while delivering derogatory, shameful and crushing statement on women last year, not realising the impact of his haughty attitude.
There are both pros and cons of legalising prostitution. In 2009 in response to a PIL filed by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan run by Nobel Peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi the Supreme Court of India had suggested that the government should consider legalising prostitution if it is unable to curb prostitution. This ruling of Supreme Court has received mixed response from various quarters. Any law will have pros and cons as people always try to find loopholes. But that should not prevent us from legalising prostitution if the advantages outweigh disadvantages and if that benefits the sex workers.
As I conclude I would like to say let us not put in a facade that we are morally better than other people. I cannot desist from citing the famous quotation by a sex worker who had said “men come to us to do things they can’t do to their wives or girlfriends at home. That is part of the reason why we exist”.