Sex should also be paid for

It is the most Janus-faced remark I've ever heard. It was made by Mathe Mahadevi, religious head of the Lingayats, Karnataka's largest community. She is the only woman "Jagadguru" of the Lingayats. Addressing her followers in the northern Karnataka town of Dharwad, she said: "As long as women continue to wear revealing clothes, rapes will happen. Women, especially girls, should give up western clothes and wear costumes that reflect their culture and tradition. I see a strong vacuum of cultural values among the young generation." It's the kind of remark one has become used to. Every second day, a politician or a religious leader says that women are "asking for it" because of the kind of clothes they wear. But then Mahadevi went on to make a second remark: "I am not the first person to suggest legalisation of prostitution. This has been the demand of several sections of the society. Unless we legalise prostitution, rapes and sexual harassment of women cannot be stopped. Legalising prostitution is the best deterrent to rapes."

Sexist

While the first remark, about how women dress, is clearly sexist, the second one, about legalising prostitution, has drawn support from the National Commission of Women and prominent women activists. Trust a loose cannon like Mahadevi to stir up an important debate. What is the attitude of the world's largest democracy to the world's oldest profession? NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam has said she is strongly in favour of legalising prostitution. She said it would lead to "easier control of the situation in which paid sex takes place." It would lead to better working conditions for sex workers as well as protect their health. She also said that while she was all for legalizing the profession, she didn't think it would have any bearing on incidents of rape.

Kumaramangalam's view got support from former NCW chief Mamata Sharma. Abha Singh, prominent activist and lawyer, went further and said that incidents of rape in Mumbai are less because of the presence of "several red light areas" in the city, which provide an outlet to millions of migrant workers, whose needs cannot be denied. There might be substance to this argument. With the closure of brothels in 1959, Queensland, in Australia, experienced a 149 per cent increase in incidents of rape.

Sex workers are the most marginalised members of society. They need protection and help. Legalising the profession has multiple benefits. Anyone who has worked with sex workers will tell you that they are normal people, with normal needs. They want bank accounts and schools for their children. They are exploited by pimps, abusive clients and, of course, the police. They have nowhere to turn to because what they do is illegal, and considered morally reprehensible by the same society which uses them.

Legalising prostitution would mean that pimps and brothel owners would be held accountable for the treatment of sex workers, and that abused sex workers would have the option of turning to the law for protection.

Regulation

The step will protect minors. Around ten million children worldwide are estimated to be in the profession. Legalising and regulating the profession will ensure that only willing, consenting adults are employed, not trafficked children. There are enormous health benefits. Legalisation will reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. In the brothels of strict Singapore, every customer is provided with condoms as well as the facility to shower before and after the "session". The prostitutes are also required to maintain health cards. Countries like Sweden and Norway have driven prostitutes off the streets with new laws. This has served to make their lives more unsafe. They have to drive with their clients miles out of town. Clients now often refuse to wear condoms.

Taxation

Legalisation would also translate into better work conditions and better wages for workers. Pimps and middlemen will gradually be eliminated. The job of the police will be to protect rather than extract "protection money" from sex workers. The police can also then spend its time and resources tackling more serious issues than people having paid sex. In countries like the Netherlands, prostitutes have been brought under the tax net. They pay their taxes like any other working citizen.

In India, prostitution is estimated to be an 8.4 billion dollar industry. Taxing it would also enable the government to channel money back into the profession, thus enabling it to protect the rights of sex workers better. Prostitution has been legalised in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Senegal, Venezuela, the state of Nevada in the US, and several Australian states (Victoria, Queensland, ACT and Northern Territory). It is something we too should give serious thought to. Sex workers need to empower themselves and fight for their rights.

The Sonagachi project, run by Dr Smarjit Jana, designated a "best practice project" by the WHO, is one way of doing it. He organised the workers like a labour collective. He lobbied with pimps, the police and government. Now the sex workers have access to literacy classes, technical training for jobs, schools and loan facilities and day care centres. In other words, they finally have a life.