Vanshika Kundra- Week 10

Introduction of reader to sex work, a piece by Prabha Kotiswaran is an eye opener on a sex workers life and circumstances.She talks about how women, men and children are illegally trafficked and made to work as sex workers- living without any government protection. The moral panic around sex work and human trafficking is fuelled in large part by the scale of the problem and its complexity, prevalence and resilience; she correctly points out. 

Prostitution is the oldest profession. In India, it was practiced extensively, so much so that Kautilya mentions it in his master piece ‘Arthashastra’ written around the 4th and 3rd century before Christ. The Indian Government however, in order to implement the International Convention by the same name signed at New York on the 9th May, 1950, introduced the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act in 1954 which criminalized Prostitution. Consequently, whether innocent women are saved by police action from rape or not, the Police are certain to bust one prostitution racket or another periodically; which has been represented in various tv shows and movies.Around 10 million women are said to sell sex in Asia with 75 million regular customers, 30 million of whom are in India; and such a "problem" cannot be solved with violence or police brutality. The article offers quite a big amount of data, statistics and legislation to sex work; however, my biggest takeaway from this article is that one of the only solution to solve the problem of the brutality on sex workers in India is legalizing prostitution as sex workers are not only the "givers and recievers" of pleasure, but are also members of the unorganised sector. By legalising prostitution in India, sex workers will get benefits and financial stability; along with protection under law. By ignoring and shying away from the plight of sex workers, we are neglecting one of the largest sectors in our country that require great protection.

Anagha tambe in her work talks about the devadasi practice that is still prevalent in Maharashtra. The article calls devadasis as a devotee to their religion and god and hence does not belong to the men. People look at devadasis in a very degrading manner. It is very shocking to know that the men in the village want to keep the upper class women pure, so that they can marry them. it is believed by the men in the village that devadasis are not pure so it is okay to exploit them. Nobody wants to marry them as they are considered impure. They are segregated as a result of their standing. Thus, unavoidably, every one of them are either uneducated or have gotten next to no training, without any methods for a steady pay. In India Devadasi faction is such a strict practice, under which a young lady is committed to or hitched not with mortal man however to symbol or object of love or to a sanctuary. The paper endeavours to discover significant explanations for tirelessness and progression of this clique. The example including these ladies who work in the progressive division of work inside the town, as dictated by rank, in congruities and discontinuities with those selling sexual work in urban houses of ill-repute is likewise investigated.