Acceptance is one of the most difficult and elusive traits to acquire. We as a race refuse to accept, and are somewhat completely ignorant, or I would say rather blind to the realities of our own lives as well as the society at large. Indians in particular have this tendency to turn a blind eye to whoever or whatever they perceive to be against their value system, in turn totally disregarding them and refusing to see even a fraction of humanism in those they reject so blatantly. If we could simply develop the ability to accept things in our lives and in society, just as they were without any pretence, it would in fact empower us to deal with it in the most effective manner possible.
In our society Prostitutes or Prostitution is one such social evil which often flutters a lot of Indian feathers. Ours is a sex starved society in which ironically even talking about this basic human need is considered a taboo, leave alone a profession which solicits buying sex. The reality of this situation is that with the ever increasing disparity in the male-female sex ratio, somehow the world’s oldest profession twistedly helps in the easing of the Indian male testosterone, which otherwise would have lost all control leading to a rapid increase in sex crimes already so rampant in our Indian society. This fact could actually help us change our mind-set towards Prostitution as a profession and see it in a positive light.
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I for one have been really pondering and trying to see this situation as it is, without any pressure or any preconceived notion – Should Prostitution be legalised in India? Or should it remain a social evil?
Well I have finally come to a conclusion that legalising prostitution would definitely be a great thing provided if it is executed correctly by the Government authorities, which somehow has always been the Achilles heel in our society dominated by opportunistic corruption.
In coming to this conclusion the first question for me was that – in India prostitution is illegal, so if that’s the case, has it been stopped? The obvious answer is NO and this is true for any country in the world in which prostitution is illegal. This profession is here to stay so it is better that we accept this reality and work towards making it safe, protecting the dignity of the lives of the sex workers and at the same time enable this profession to contribute to society.
My opinion of legalising prostitution was largely based on the following reasons
Human Trafficking in this profession
In spite of many sex workers willingly working in this profession to earn their daily living, most of them who enter this profession are sold to the brothels against their will – including minors. Legalising prostitution could help government authorities to identify girls, both minor and major, who have been trafficked, thereby saving them and restoring the dignity of their lives. This would also help the authorities to bust the trafficking nexus between human traffickers and brothels.
Control of Sexually Transmitted diseases
One of the major sources of the spread of life threatening STDs such as HIV/AIDS are sex workers who practice unsafe sex. Legalising prostitution would enable government authorities to issue licences to healthy sex workers, giving the authority greater control to check the spread of STDs and also ensure that the sex worker & their clients stay healthy by practicing safe sex.
Contribution to Society through paying taxes
Legalising it would help the government to collect taxes from sex workers. The advantage of this would be two-fold, first the sex workers would learn to respect themselves as they will identify themselves as tax paying citizens of the country, and secondly, the tax they pay will contribute to the economy in general and society at large. Since the illegal prostitution Industry is humungous, the revenue generated will be unfathomable.
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Restoring the Dignity to the lives of sex workers
Although changing the mind-set of society is a very difficult task, legalising prostitution may help people to recognise prostitution as just another profession – where willing individuals offer services to earn money for a living. This may be the stepping stone to restore the dignity to the lives of the sex workers and all others who are a part of this trade, instead of being looked down upon and condemned in society. Legalisation would also make it possible for the sex workers to fight for their basic rights such as minimum wage, health benefits, working hours etc.
Legalising prostitution would indeed be a very positive step which the Government Authorities can take, but it would depend completely on the way it is implemented by them. That said the only hindrance to the effective implementation of legalising prostitution would be the corruption in the system, as I had mentioned earlier too. For India a country drenched in corruption right from the politicians, government officials, police, NGOs and even to the people, legalising prostitution will become just another mouth-watering opportunity for the corrupt to fill their already overflowing pockets – thereby defeating the entire purpose of legalising the oldest profession in the world.
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