Mitr Sanketa and the movie

Saw a movie on human trafficking on Friday and learned several things. I agreed with some, disagreed with others and was surprised/shocked with some info. So here goes:

- the 'commercial sex worker' tag tries to dignify the 'flesh' trade. It is precisely that - a trade with people in it who are by and large trapped. There is no concept of choice anywhere here - like one of the speakers said, free choice would be "I can choose to be a pilot, doctor, prostitute, accountant or nurse. And yes, I choose option three!"

- The 'sex worker' tag seems to be for people like me who find it tough to use the word prostitute, which implies indignity to the person. I don't believe that the tags should dignify the trade. Politically correct can fly out of the window here for maximum impact.

- The person actually selling his/her body is not the criminal according to the Indian Penal Code. It is the person living off the wages of a person in the flesh trade. So legalizing prostitution would mean that criminals would get off the hook. I can't buy the argument that health services would reach the victim (which is precisely what anyone selling their body is....they are not having any fun, people!). If he/she is not the criminal now, what prevents government and other formal help from reaching them today?

- The argument of supply and demand is primitive and I do not buy it one bit. This male bashing and equating a man to a 'beast' is simplistic. When people understand that there are thousands of 'beasts' who do not frequent brothels, maybe there will be a more developed and sensitive debate on the reasons behind the flourishing of prostitution. Also, several perpetrators there are women - madams, who see the torture and participate in it enough to break up this argument. No benefit of doubt to gender when crimes are being committed, right?!

- Countries that have legalized prostitution do not see a decline in human trafficking. Enough said to the pro-legalization brigade.

- NGO attitudes border on paranoia sometimes. If we want public outrage and a mass movement, we have to use modern technology and mass tools. Two people talking to 10 more is a commendable and useful effort but will not get the message across to the optimal mass to tip the balance. And this balance has to be tipped to get the policy makers to sit up and take notice.

- I will watch my kids really carefully. I will know where they are at all times and how they travel and which adults are responsible for them. 200 women and children go missing in one day in India and that 200 shall not include mine except in the worst of my nightmares.

- Rehabilitation will accomplish what punitive measures can't. We do not hold the prostitute as the criminal legally but for all practical purposes, he/she is one to society. And while the laws punish harshly, rehabilitation is tougher to come by in our system. 'Jail Bharo' does not work in this (and most other social crimes) case.

It is heart rending to see little girls - barely 16 years old talk about how they were enslaved into the flesh trade. They don't see the money, have been tortured and psychologically broken and still say to other children - Don't leave home, don't make the same mistakes we made, friends are only friends, trust with caution......

Watching a movie and pledging to watch my kids makes me as much of an ostrich as the rest of society!

G'night!

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