Prostitution :Analysis

Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world.

A prostitute is a person, generally, a woman, who offers sexual services in return for payment. However, Indians, who are popular for being fond of modifications, generally according to what they are taught from the beginning, have defined prostitutes as heinous sinners. In the land of Kama Sutra, the world’s oldest profession is ironically frowned upon.

According to the latest census, there are around 2-3 million sex workers across India. While the significant count of them have been forcefully abducted and thrown into the quagmire, most of them have voluntarily, yet forcefully, taken up this occupation due to poverty and other pressing circumstances. These women belong to backward families and/or lower social classes which means that they lack any formal education or training in anything besides being immensely poor and surviving, however, they can. To feed their family’s and their own stomachs and to provide livelihood, these women resort to selling their bodies.

To be fair, there are a lot of male prostitutes around too, who are victims of the same fate. But as mentioned not every person ‘chooses’ to be a sex worker, a significant number of them are forced to be one. Sold to the middlemen(women), called ‘dalals’ , by their own families for money that offers temporary survival, these victims of human trafficking have no or very less choices - to obey their masters, face torture, both physical and mental, run away or perish in the attempt.

While we have mentioned sex workers who are victims of either poverty or human trafficking, there is another class of sex workers too, the victims of social customs. These traditions are old as the civilization itself. Sometime around the 6th Century, the practice of ‘dedicating’ girls to Hindu gods became prevalent in a practice that developed into ritualized prostitution. Devadasi literally means God’s (Dev) female servant (Dasi), where according to the ancient Indian practice, young pre-pubertal girls are ‘married off’, ‘given away’ in matrimony to God or Local religious deity of the temple. The marriage usually occurs before the girl reaches puberty and requires the girl to become a prostitute for upper-caste community members. Such girls are known as ‘Jogini’. It is viewed that the Devadasi`s are the Buddhist nuns who were degraded to the level of prostitutes after their temples were taken over by Brahmins during the times of their resurgence after the fall of Buddhism. According to the 1934 Devadasi Security Act, this practice is banned in India. Though that does not prevent extremists and blindly devout from practicing these immoral customs. There are several locations where prostitution happens to be the only way to generate any income. These locations are Wadia in Gujarat, Natpurwa in Uttar Pradesh, and Bachara tribe in Madhya Pradesh. Natpurwa is inhabited by people belonging to the Nat caste. They have a tradition of 400 years. At Wadia it is the menfolk of the village who find suitors for the women. In case of Bachara tribe the eldest daughter in the family is forced to become a prostitute.

While our focus should be on eradicating human trafficking and forced prostitution under the veil of traditions, and those who are forced by circumstances, we need to improve the conditions prevalent in the business for women who are in the field by choice. These are women who aren’t victims, but traders of sex. They enjoy it, and they choose to make money from something they are good at.

“If you are good at something never do it for free” – Joker.

If a maniac like Joker is so wise on the freedom of people to pursue what they are good at, shouldn’t an educated person like you be wiser?

Laws around the world

States like Canada, Argentina, Germany and Netherlands (Most prominent and earliest) have taken steps to decriminalize the profession and has initiated regulation of the industry subjecting it to the labor laws of the country like any other ‘Normal Profession’. The states have taken such steps to restore the fundamental right to life, liberty and profession and has recognized the job as noble as any other profession. The prostitutes are duly registered in the employment category and the municipality is responsible for taking care of the standard of working conditions. The prostitutes pay taxes and also charge a VAT on the services that they offer. The brothel owners have to take proper food and liquor license if they serve them.