The business of sex and HIV in India

[Guest guest]

Sex on call: Cut out the sleaze, please

ANUBHA SAHWNEY. TIMES NEWS NETWORK [sUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2004 01:15:27 AM]

NEW DELHI : She's dressed in her best: shiny salwar-kameez, bright red lipstick,

and kohl-lined eyes. She calls out to the man on the street... 60 mein doongi,

lega kya? The deal is struck for Rs 50.

Welcome to a world trapped between `illegal' and `immoral': Prostitution might

be illegal in India , but the business of life goes on.

The business of sex: Assuming that there are approximately 20 lakh sex-workers

in India — the unofficial estimate by NGOs — and the income generated by each

one is Rs 1,000 daily, this figure translates into an economy of Rs 200 crores a

day or Rs 72,000 crores a year.

But sex-workers themselves probably get only a tenth of this amount.

" The rest is pocketed by pimps, brothel madams, and cops on the take,even as

sex-workers themselves live wretched lives, are victims of client violence and

venereal diseases which shorten their lives, and leave their children even more

vulnerable than they are, " says an NGO activist.

Class Act: Among sex-workers themselves, there are three well-defined

categories. The top layer: discreet call-girls for the affluent, much like the

services Heidi Fleiss offered.

The middle layer: bordello-dwelling prostitutes or others in less subtle

environments such as strip clubs and massage parlours that offer backroom

services. The lowest layer: Streetwalkers (harlots, hookers, nightwalkers...).

The AIDS Connection: Cut to AIDS. According to the US National Intelligence

Council, if prevention efforts are not dramatically scaled up, the number of

Indians living with HIV could jump from 4 million today to 25 million by 2010.

Their profession makes sex-workers the most vulnerable, but it could affect

perhaps everyone in the world. " If for nothing else, we must legalise

prostitution to legalise the fight against sexually-transmitted diseases and

AIDS, " says film-maker Kalpana Lajmi.

Why legalise prostitution? Making it legal will allow the act to be managed

instead of ignored.

" I see prostitution as a reality. The chances of eliminating it are practically

nil. It is better to keep it in check by giving it a legal framework. Legalising

will help humanise the status of thousands of women who are irretrivably into

the profession, notwithstanding the laws on paper, " says high court advocate

Sanjay Kumar Singh.

Says Umesh Lakhanpal of Patita Udhar Sabha, an NGO working for the upliftment of

sex-workers on GB Road for the past two decades: " It is only by legalising the

profession and issuing licences to sex-workers that the threat posed by AIDS can

be curtailed and sex-workers saved from exploitation. "

When adult women decide to exchange money for sex, it is a personal choice open

to them under the philosophy of a free, democratic society. But legalising

prostitution will help prevent exploitation of minors by pimps and organised

crime leaders, say these experts. According to the Immoral Traffic Prevention

Act, 1986, `Any sexual intercourse outside socially-acceptable unions is

regarded as prostitution. Procuring, inducing or taking persons for the purpose

of prostitution is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of at least three

years, but not more than seven years, and a fine of Rs 2,000.'

As psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh, MD, says: " When prostitutes are treated as

second-class citizens, and in extreme cases, as less than human, then all women

who dare to step out of their social constructs will be labelled as whores and

treated accordingly. For these reasons, the rights of all women are dependent on

the rights accorded to the most vulnerable women. "

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