Re: Protest against licensing sex work

[Guest guest]

Dear Ram Mohan,

Thanks for your note. I had a discourse with many individuals and

organizations working on sexuality and sex work and all over the world about

your last two letters. DMSC that works with 60,000 " sex workers " I repeat

" sex workers " in Kolkotta,has kindly shared their secretary's letter

to the Mayor. (the letter is posted as a seperate message) I agree that there

are areas that we have disagreement.

I made reference through Artha Sasthra of Kaudalya and Kamasutra (Whole

section on Kortisans) and confirmed that those days Kortisans were given

high regard. Ramayana has some reference about women in prostitution that

helped in the works cleaning and adorning the city prior to Ram's

incarnation (Now police and some of us are trying to clean the cities by

eliminating the existence of these women. What a paradox? Is this

modernity?).

So prostitution or selling of Sex was part of our culture and so-called greatest

tradition. It was the n values being brought by the British that

restricted sex as a matter of bed room murmurs. It was those same values banned

the selling of sex. But the west has changed a lot and we still hang up

whatever being shared by the west as modern. Selling oneself for sex is an

individual freedom and there is no problem if some body can take it as a work.

It is a matter of consent.

Trafficking and child prostitution are different We are all against that and it

seems we have some agreement on those issues. It is against all fundamental

human rights.

What is slavery according to you? All forms of sex? What about incidences of

domestic violence? Can we then say that Family and marriage are another form of

slavery?

You are confusing me on what is human right also. I had found police and goons

beating women on street for no reason. What you call it? Is there anything else

for being included into the Pandora's Box for human rights holders?

Moral judgements on sexuality and sexwork caused increase in stigma and

discrimination towards HIV/AIDS and people affected by that. We had incidences

of people being murdered just because of their sexuality and HIV status.

Moralists in our society are morally responsible for such incidences.

The question of dignity comes next. What is dignified sex? What about marital

rapes? We must read and re-read history not like religious texts but as a matter

and tool of critically analyzing the structures and functions of the society.

History must inspire us not to go back to the dark ages but to accept modernity

in it's true nature and spontaneity. Morality is not a bad word but

contextualizing it with things people are not comfortable is intellectual

criminalism.

I am doing a PhD on marginalization of sex workers and even traditional

universities did not hesitate to use the word sex work. I presented my thesis in

Newyork University. None of them also denied people's rights to live and

regarded as sex workers. Why are you against people taking name for themselves?

Love

Subhash

SEX WORKER'S FORUM KERALA

FIRM-ANASOOYA

T.C.14/1514,Beatrice Mansion

Thycaud Post, Thiruvananthapuram-695 014, Kerala, India.

Tel: ++91-471-2324060, ++ 91-9447389517

E-mail: <swfk@...>