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Magazine
Reaching out to the hidden element
SUMITA THAPAR
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The female condom is helping women at risk take control of their safety.
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The condom for HIV/STI prevention argument doesn’t work. As Renu says, “There is pressure to pretend to be naïve and ignorant; knowing and asking about these things implies promiscuity.”
Small beginning: A poster advocating the use of the female condom.
The sex trade is changing and the definition of women in sex work broadening. In West Bengal, NGOs working on HIV prevention say the newly introduced female condom is helping women protect themselves
The “hidden” sex worker is a growing phenomenon across the country. Economic distress and domestic violence is pushing women over the edge. Abuse and exploitation in various forms leaves them no option but to turn to sex work.
Some are married women who must repay family debts; others have been deserted by husbands, disowned by families they were married into as teenagers. Still others are single women who must provide for a family of eight.
Most are women in their 20s who say working as cooks and maids doesn’t get them the money they need to repay debts, run the family, secure children’s future and, in many cases, provide for husband’s daily dose of alcohol. In most cases, families are unaware of the work they do, or at least pretend to be.
Kalpana, 26, lives by herself in Kolkata and has been in the trade six years. Working out of hotels and lodges and soliciting off the streets, she’s no stranger to risk, danger or violence. She is the sole breadwinner for a family of eight. Deepali, 40, in Naihati, recounts how her in-laws wanted to throw her out when her husband, a migrant labourer in Gujarat remarried. Despite abuse and humiliation, she chose to stay on as returning to her parents’ home “would bring shame on her family”. Starting as a salesgirl, it was only a matter of time before she took to sex work.
Camouflage job
Most “hidden” sex workers have a “camouflage” occupation — salesgirls, domestic help, vegetable vendors ... The pressure to “hide” from the family is extremely high, adding to the stress and guilt. Kalpana is careful about concealing her identity. “It’s because of family,” she says. At one level proud of being the breadwinner, at another she knows only too well the hypocrisy of ‘family prestige and honour’.
Avijit Mitra, programme coordinator for Naihati-based NGO Naihaiti Prolife, says the sex trade is moving out of the brothel. “With growing land mafia, brothel areas are diminishing. Also, there is always the fear of police raids.”
In North Bengal, New Jalpaiguri district has the unique distinction of having two international borders — Bhutan in the north and Bangladesh in the south-west. “Hidden” sex work is on the rise in this area, fast developing as a tourist centre. Resorts and hotels double up as centres for sex work. The presence of two BSF camps and high mobility from nearby villages adds to the traffic.
NGOs working on HIV prevention among women in sex work such as Chittaranjan Welfare and Research Centre (CWRC) and Calcutta Samaritans in Kolkata, and Jalpaiguri Hriday in New Jalpaiguri, say ‘hidden’ sex workers are an extremely difficult-to-reach mobile population.
Peer educators
The NGOs have recruited a network of peer educators to reach out to the community. Peers become an entry point to increase awareness on HIV among a population whose access to health services is poor. Clinics have been set up in easy-to-access areas to treat sexually transmitted infections. Peers are trained to talk to women about STI and HIV and encourage them to get treatment. Of late, peers are also social marketing the newly introduced female condom.
The female condom, made of polyurethane, is about 6.5 inches in length. It lines the vagina and protects against HIV, STI and unwanted pregnancy. Unlike the male condom, it also protects the female external genital area from STI. It can be inserted up to eight hours in advance. In April this year, six NGOs in West Bengal introduced the female condom for a select group of women under a pilot project by Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) and NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation).
Imported from the Female Health Company, London, at Rs. 45, the female condom is being social marketed among women at risk for Rs. 5. The initiative has received an enthusiastic response. Women say response from male partners and clients has also been good, making it possible for them to use it.
Bridging gaps
HLFPPT is positioning the female condom as a product that can help bridge gaps where the male condom is not being used. This includes difficult and drunken clients, regular partners and husbands. Although women are aware of HIV, they say it is not possible to ask their husband/boyfriend to use the condom. The condom for HIV/STI prevention argument doesn’t work, women say. As Renu says, “There is pressure to pretend to be naïve and ignorant; knowing and asking about these things implies promiscuity.”
With the female condom in place, these women feel safe from unwanted pregnancies as well as HIV. It helps reduce domestic violence and enables them strengthen fragile relationships. They tell the men the female condom is a contraceptive. Men are fine with it, as long as they don’t have to use one.
Sumita Samanta, project co-ordinator, CWRC, hits the bull’s eye: “Men don’t want to use the condom. When they come out of the house for sex, they tell the woman ‘I am paying for this; why should I use a condom?’ At home, they say ‘why should I use a condom with my wife?’.”
In an environment where women at risk constitute a broad spectrum, a woman-controlled method such as the female condom is helping women be confident of controlling their own safety. It’s a small beginning.
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