Independent Goa Observer

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THE COMPULSIONS OF SEX WORK

THE HISTORICAL belief is that prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. And journalism is the second oldest. From the beginnings of time there have always been prostitutes. There have also been journalists in some form or the other. In recent times there has been some debate on whether the status of the oldest profession should go to journalists rather than to prostitutes. Particularly in Goa since journalists have been behaving like commercial sex workers. For a price they are willing to sell their minds and their computer mice to the highest bidder. Though perhaps its unfair to compare journalists with commercial sex workers. Unfair to commercial sex workers that is. Because commercial sex workers only sell their bodies and that too out of economic compulsions. Journalists do so out of pure greed.

The commercial sex workers have been eliminated from Baina. Presumably there is much celebration and jubilation in Vasco because Baina has been restored to its pristine glory. Or at least that is what the government and the Sangh Parivar would have us believe. There is no red light district now in Baina. But the whole of Goa has now become a red light district. Contrary to any claims that the government might make that all the sex workers may have gone back to their home towns, all that has happened is that they have spread out to other parts of Goa. The last place that the sex workers are likely to go is their home towns. If there had been a respectable way of making a living and keeping body and soul together in their home towns, they would not have come to Goa in the first place. And after having being in the profession they are not likely to be particularly welcomed in their home towns.

Sex workers have always been with us from the beginnings of time in every civilisation. In fact, even in the great Hindu kingdoms, that of the Maurayas and presumably at the height of the glory of the Kadambas in Goa, there were sex workers. In fact far from being looked down upon the courtesan has been considered a very respectable person and has been celebrated in history and legend. Sex workers have been part of every invasion and every army. Including the tourist invasion in Goa. And there is not a port in the world that does not have a red light district. Sex workers are a safety wall for those in society who have an overpowering uncontrolled libido. It is the sex worker who ensures that our sisters, our daughters and our wives are safe. With the degree of sexual frustration in the country if there were no sex workers there would be far more rapes. In fact it is believed that the last time around when the former MLA John Manual Vaz tried to rid Baina of sex workers the number of rapes increased and some sailors are believed to have assaulted perfectly respectable women in the streets of Vasco.

The overwhelming majority of women who take to prostitution in the country are lured into it. In many cases in a society where the girl child is still considered a burden it is parents who sell children. Living in Goa we have no idea of the poverty that prevails in the rest of the country particularly in the rural areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Marxist-run West Bengal and Nepal from where majority of the sex workers in the country come from. And whether we like it or not there are some people who voluntarily take to prostitution because they have no skills and there is no other way they can make a living and support large families back in their villages. And whether we like or not a lot of young women who are brought up on MTV and fashion TV do turn to at least some freelance sex working to be able to achieve the kinds of lifestyles that they see and envy and become desperate to emulate.

There has been lot of talk of rehabilitation. In Baina, of course, there was not even a pretence of rehabilitation. But in states where a genuine effort at rehabilitation has been made it has seldom worked. This is because most sex workers are illiterate and have no skills. In any case none of the alternative jobs they may be offered will fetch them anywhere near the income that their profession earns. This unfortunately is a hard economic and social reality. The Goa pseudo rehabilitation package absurdly enough talked about sex workers taking up jobs as domestic servants. One wonders which housewife in the state would want to hire a former sex worker as a domestic servant? Rehabilitation to our minds in unrealistic. What is possible and must be done is to ensure that children of sex workers re not forced to follow their mother in the profession. What is important is to provide an alternative viable future for the children and other dependents of sex workers.

We know that what we are going to suggest will evoke loud protests. But we do believe that the far more humane solution is to legitimise prostitution. Treat sex workers like other workers. Ensure that they get a decent wage. Let them also live life with dignity. By legalising prostitution it would be easier to control the inevitable side effects of prostitution. Such as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. In fact, the elimination of sex workers from Baina is a cause for worry rather than a celebration or jubilation. Because at least as long as they were in Baina the health officials could monitor their health and keep AIDS under check. Now that they have spread out to the entire state the chances are that AIDS will multiply more rapidly in Goa. As Datta Naik, the Lok Shakti covenor pointed out, at least basic humanity should demand that society -- which means all of us-- should do all that we can to provide at least shelter and food to those who were so brutally dispossessed of their homes and belongings in Baina.