A lot of people may disagree with me or even feel offended but this issue has often bothered me and given a choice i would have loved to voice my support to sex workers.I haven't forgotten my grand dads word " wine,woman and gambling has existed from ancient times and will never become extinct"as a child i could understand wine and gamble but prostitution had such deep and vast meaning it was beyond my comprehension at that age.
Some time back i had a discussion with a Mumbai based friend about the ban on Beer Bars in Mumbai , few thousand girls lost their source of income . Though the Govt did try to rehab them but it doesn't seem to have worked and i have a strong feeling it never will as the girls sure cant survive on what they earn from a rehab as they have huge families to support, nor they are educated enough to take up good paying job due to lack of education nor would people accept them in a society where prostitution is looked down upon until its legalised.Few days back i saw a few girls being arrested from a cellar of a bar in Mumbai and last night i saw about 300 girls have been arrested in various raids in Mumbai alone in past few days. Everytime i see girls hiding their faces coming out of their hideout with lady cops who look very proud after the kill makes me wonder, why cant prostitution be legalised in our country like few western countries , where a sex worker files an income tax return and live a normal life , like any other normal female and is not looked down upon.there are pros and cons in every business ,every relationship , most foods , almost everything then why cant we accept this trade just like any other trade . I accept the fact that there are people who do not afford to be in a bar or a brothel and end up spending all their earnings in such place while their families starve but why cant we have a law where a minimum entry free is charged or right to enter is reserved like a luxury hotel or a night club, by the owners which is not affordable by such people ??The latest stats of men going for paid sex that i saw in the news were 23 % and if we calculate the number considering Indian population its huge. And i am sure that 23% does not include men who must have chosen or not felt comfortable to disclose that part of their lives . Lets accept the fact men are men they do stray ( not all men) nor can we stop the girls who are in this trade then why not have a system . Men do it for pleasure its natural instinct with them and if we go back in History a king could have any no of wives but with women becoming aware of their rites and restrictions by the law a married man is not allowed to have a relationship outside his marriage but extra marital affairs and one night stands do exist and in huge nos , neither wives nor govt has been able to stop or control them .I personally feel a man who pays for sex is much more honest to his wife as he has pleasure with no strings attached rather than the one who gets entangled in an emotional relationship , where a man in case is not able to balance both sides of his life ends up hurting himself and both his wife and the other woman . And where as sex workers are concerned no girl want to get in to it unless she is in desperate need , but who tries to understand them or their problems. who knows how many deaths a girl dies every time she indulges into an act of no choice.Here i am not at all supporting forced or child prostitution nor trying to defend men who use these services, but i do discount the girls like models or film stars in case they do indulge into such an activity , i totally understand the reason .sometimes when we are used to luxuries and glamour it becomes difficult for us to maintain a certain lifestyle which one finds difficult to maintain once deglamourised and we live in a democratic country where every one has a right to choose and do what one wants to. I personally visited beer bars in Mumbai one a high end and the other a low end out of curiosity and understand these females.i couldn't stop myself from dancing with them on the floor with the music on and was actually forced to come back on my seat by my friend , for not being misunderstood by other men present in the bar, but i found no difference between the girls and me as human beings except for they wanted to dance for money but i wasn't there for money ,it was the music i enjoyed.They were all flesh and bones like me with a heart beat inside , but were wearing a mask that one could not see through .I strongly feel it should be legalised so that these girls do not have to live a life of guilt ,certain measures do need to be taken . Any body familiar with Delhi would know about the round about next to posh Defence Colony market where one can find a number of girls making inviting gestures and walking up to the cars that had stopped for them and the cops around turn a blind eye as Hafta ( from these girls ) . These girls are harassed if they refuse to pay them (seen with my own eyes and after speaking to these girls personally ) And i am sure every one is aware its not just men these days women too are indulging into buying sex and Gigolo are also on rise in metro pols . But if you really ask me no govt ,no wife or family can stop a man from from indulging into it in fact if the prostitution is legalised it will ensure safety ,respect for the so called antisocial elements of the society and generate revenue for the govt which right now goes into the pockets of some greedy policemen.
copyright(c) alka narula
excerpts from the book"should prostitution be legalised"by alka narula copying the concept or matter is strictly prohibited and will lead to legal repurcussions
