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Courting danger?

Rather than shunning them, commercial sex workers should be helped out of the trade and rehabilitated

A BRIGHTER FUTURE? It's time commercial sex workers were trained to pursue alternative and safer professions

The women sit around a table, sharing news, anecdotes and experiences. A meeting of commercial sex workers (CSW) is in progress at the premises of the NGO, World Vision. The mood is set by one particular anecdote — the news of Sheila, a young commercial sex worker who was caught in the act by a policeman, and remanded to custody in a police station in the city, only to be exploited by the four policemen standing guard there. A thoroughly battered and bruised Sheila was later released at daybreak.

"When Sheila rang me up, I rushed to the spot and had to hospitalise her," relates Mallika, coordinator of the self-help group (SHG) promoted by World Vision, which has been networking among commercial sex workers to reform and improve their condition. "Though the girl was battered and bleeding, I tried talking to her about the peace and dignity that a lesser paying, but safe profession like making pickles could give her," says Mallika. Mallika was not being insensitive. As she says, it is only when confronted with such battering that these women gather their will power to get out of the trade.

Mallika should know. Herself a former commercial sex worker (CSW), Mallika is one of the few who have managed to come out of the trade. "Just about 7 per cent of commercial sex workers, whom she refers to as `makkal', manage to get out," she says.

"It is all about money," Lakshmi, another CSW says. My husband earns Rs.80 a day, but returns home with just Rs. 20, blowing up the rest of the money on alcohol. I work as a maid-servant, but this fetches me just Rs. 1,000 a month. Now, how do I run a home with this money? There is food to be bought, my child's school fees to be paid and the thandal (loans from local moneylenders) to be repaid. My drunkard husband never questions me as to how I manage the costs, nor has he ever suspected me of being a CSW, she adds. Other women too relate similar stories, and it becomes clear the issue will not fade away until their men folk get out of alcohol addiction.

Quick money

"Most women step into the trade by necessity. The tragedy is, they are not able to get out of it, because over the years they become habituated to their trade and the comparatively quick money," says Clara Raphael, World Vision, whom these women look up to as their mentor. In fact, it is suspected that well-off women too get into the trade in the never-ending quest to make more money.

These women are aware about the HIV-AIDS risks involved, a fact that Mallika and others use to deter women from throwing themselves away through this profession. So-called conservative Chennai abounds in prostitution, and there are thousands of sex workers in the city, Mallika recounts from first-hand observation.

"This is a profession where the turnover rate is fast, and so older sex workers try to lure younger women into the trade in order to continue making money as brokers or pimps," explains Christopher Bhaskeran, programme manager, World Vision. This is another link that needs to be broken, if the issue is to be resolved. Another disturbing aspect about the whole issue is that the law punishes just the commercial sex worker, but is silent about the client the CSW services.

Pitiable circumstances

Most of CSWs have a sad family background. Mallika herself was forced into it when she became a widow and had to fend for herself and feed her family. So, apart from promoting small-scale businesses for these women, part of the forum's programme is to help women save money and become economically independent. In fact, the forum experimented with a chit fund scheme against which the members could take loans. "With economic independence comes the ability to say no if a client wants to have unprotected sex and, perhaps, to walk out of the trade altogether," observes Clara.

Sums up Sushila, a veteran CSW, "Fear never leaves us. There is fear of the police and the local dadas who are always brutal to us and exploit us sexually if they catch us, fear of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, fear that the client who solicits us may turn abusive (as happened with another sex worker who was locked up in a room and subjected to burn wounds right through the night), fear that we may be battered by a group of men rather than one... "

Prostitution is illegal and controlling the offence is essential in the interest of society.

But let us help them out of it, rather than pushing them away as lowly beings. World Vision can be contacted at 2620 1644 / 2620 1645.

HEMA VIJAY

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