The Hindu : Front Page : Hear now: A daring new voice for the voiceless

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 11, 2005

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Hear now: A daring new voice for the voiceless

Mandira Nayar

THE BESTSELLER: The title page of "An autobiography of a sex-worker" by Nalini Jameela.

NEW DELHI: Nalini Jameela is a Malayali writer from God's own country who has set a record of sorts in the publishing world. A sex-worker, she has little in common with Arundhati Roy -- who got the English world to notice the desi experience -- except the Kerala connection. But like Ms. Roy, she has used her story to talk about the hitherto silent lot.

Writing about her life in "An autobiography of a sex-worker'' (Oru Lymgikathozhilaliyude Atmakadha) Nalini has finally given a community, usually depicted only in cinema by beautiful actresses in de-glamorised roles, a "real" voice.

"One of the reasons I wanted to write the book was to share my experiences of discrimination. There is also no voice from within the community that talks about us. I wanted to say loudly that I am a sex-worker,'' she said here in the Capital over the weekend. She was here to join hands with organisations of sex-workers in their protest against a proposed amendment to the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act (ITPA) that seeks to make clients of sex-workers culpable and subject to legal action.

An activist with Sex Workers' Forum Kerala and now a voice for many others who are yet to break their silence, Nalini has exposed the brutality of her world with its constant threats of police beatings and the harsh truth of living at the rough edge of society. Having studied only up to the third standard, she has been an inspiration for many others in more than just coming out.

"Sex-workers are human beings too. This new legal amendment that seeks to punish clients is not a good move for it does not allow us to be human beings. The police brutalities will increase as any adult male in the company of a sex-worker would now be subject to arrest. We have male friends and families too,'' she said talking about the amendment proposed by the Central Department of Woman and Child Development.

Published by DC Books, one of the largest publishing houses in Kerala, the book has created more than a ripple in the State. One of the bestsellers of the year, it vanished from the bookstores' shelves within days of its release. Narrated by Nalini and re-told by I.Gopinath, an activist-cum-journalist, the book -- in first person singular -- has already been translated into English and will soon reach out to many more people.

Breaking more than a few stereotypes, the book apart from being an attraction for its topic, is also being described as a landmark of sorts because for the first time a sex-worker chooses to look at her work as a regular job. Forced into the trade because she had to keep her family alive, she has no regrets about her line of work and does not feel that she needs to be apologetic.

While Nalini's stance has invited criticism from some quarters, Nalini insists that sex-workers are human beings too. Refusing to let the tag of middle-class morality dictate her identity, she has worked to spread the message of AIDS and also made two documentaries about sex-workers.

"I have no regrets. I did have a problem with one of my daughters who was very unhappy once I wrote the book as everyone found out that I was a sex-worker. If I had not become a sex-worker, then I would not have become a social worker, an educator, a filmmaker or a writer,'' she says with a bright smile.

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