Prostitution

Red-light district razed in Goa, sex industry and trafficking .

This is another story of how attempts to get rid of prostitution result in changes, not eradication, as people adapt to the new conditions. Baina, a tradtional red-light district in Goa’s port city of Vasco, was flattened by city authorities five years ago, and now what was contained in a small area seems to Goans to be everywhere! Excerpts from The Times of India and highlights by me.
The expanding red light district
The Times of India10 Jun 2009
. . . Baina’s dingy rooms have given way to fancy cubicles in massage parlours and air-conditioned rooms in starred hotels. Taxi drivers and motorcycle pilots as contact points have made way for waiters, chai boys and beach hawkers. The modus operandi too has adapted to the needs of the solicitors and the solicited.
With the contact point shifting from the cramped lanes in Baina to just about everywhere: beaches, parlours, hotels, lodges, bars, restaurants, streets, markets, even fishing trawlers, the modus operandi nowadays is to pre-arrange a meeting point for the customer and the girl. Alternatively, women are also sent to certain areas to directly solicit.

The 2007-08 study, whose findings will be released soon, focused on Goa’s prostitution phenomenon after the demolition of Baina and the closure of dance bars in Mumbai. Information was collected by talking to sex workers, pimps, legislators, government authorities, hoteliers etc. The study reports that nowadays, it is not uncommon to find girls, including foreigners, soliciting on beaches, bars, restaurants, shacks and even at tourist bazaars.
Another common meeting point are night clubs where couple entry is the rule. Some girls solicit around major crossroads, traffic circles, junctions, gardens and bus stands. . .
. . . “After the demolition in Baina, prostitution has spread all over the state,” says Dr Pramod Salgaonkar, chairperson, Goa State Commission for Women. “While middle-budget prostitution is flourishing in the tourist belt in the form of massage parlours, prostitution along highways, hotels and houses is also on the increase,” she adds. Arun Pandey of Arz, says, “The Baina demolition has led to an escalation in highway prostitution, prostitution in isolated places like jungles and prostitution in vehicles (private four wheelers).”
“There is an increased vulnerability of women and children in prostitution to forced sex acts and rapes. Clients would not be able to film prostituted women and children or have group sex in a brothel. Now this is possible,” he adds.
Goa police’s public information officer SP AV Deshpande calls it “old wine in a new bottle”. “The business is the same. But girls are now better educated and pimps are using the latest technology to operate and attract high paying clients. The business has become more sophisticated.”

Prostitution

Prostitution

AbstractThe report disputes the identification of prostitution as a human rights violation akin to slavery which informs the 1949 Convention on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The research reveals that rather than facing conditions of slavery, most men and women working as prostitutes are subjected to abuses which are similar in nature to those experienced by others working in low status jobs in the informal sector.
This finding is supported by an investigation of the applicability of existing human rights and labour standards to issues of concern to men and women in the sex industry. The investigation concludes that most of these issues are subject to existing standards, developed to curtail abuses in other industries. However, the marginal position of sex workers in society excludes them from the international, national and customary protection afforded to others as citizens, workers or women. Their vulnerability to human and labour rights violations is greater than that of others because of the stigma and criminal charges widely attached to sex work. These allow police and others to harass sex workers without ever intervening to uphold their most elementary rights.
The report finds that the dismissal of the entire sex industry as abusive obscures the particular violations of international norms which are of concern to sex workers. This approach also fails accurately to reflect the limited nature of the relationship negotiated between sex worker and client in the commercial transaction. This is not an employment relationship as the client does not have enduring power over the worker. Sex work can take place in the context of exploitative employment relationships, even slavery, where someone with enduring power over the worker constrains her power to negotiate with the client. This case does not support an assertion that all sex work is akin to slavery. Moreover, by distinguishing sex work from other forms of labour, such an approach reinforces the marginal, and therefore vulnerable, status of the sex worker.
The report recommends that all national legislation which, in intent or in practice, results in the placing of sex workers outside the scope of the rule of law, should be repealed. The redefinition of prostitution as sex work is proposed as a preliminary condition for the enjoyment by sex workers of their full human and labour rights. Investigation is recommended into the mechanisms which exclude sex workers from the protection of existing human rights and non-industry specific labour standards. It is recognised that existing labour standards may not be adequate to protect the right to security of person in the context of sex work. It is suggested that of the intergovernmental organisations, the International Labour Organization is in principle best suited to the task of regulating working conditions to accommodate the special features of the sex industry.
वर्क
2a. Redefining Prostitution as Sex WorkSex workers, usually referred to as prostitutes, have occupied an anomalous position in societies throughout history. Prostitutes are generally regarded as a social category, as women who do not adhere to sexual and other behavioural norms; pitied or despised, they are excluded from mainstream society, their lowly and marginal position analogous to that of a low caste or minority ethnic group. Outcast status denies them whatever international, national or customary protection from abuse is available to others as citizens, women or workers. This social exclusion renders the prostitute vulnerable to exploitation.
The designation of prostitution as a special human rights issue, a violation in itself, emphasises the distinction between prostitution and other forms of female or low-status labour, such as cleaning or food-serving, however exploitative they are. It thus reinforces the marginal, and therefore vulnerable, position of the women and men involved in prostitution. By dismissing the entire sex industry as abusive, it also obscures the particular problems and violations of international norms within the industry which are of concern to sex workers.
The terms 'sex work' and 'sex worker' have been coined by sex workers themselves to redefine commercial sex, not as the social or psychological characteristic of a class of women, but as an income-generating activity or form of employment for women and men. As such it can be considered along with other forms of economic activity. An employment or labour perspective is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for making sex work a part of the mainstream debate on human, women's, and workers' rights at local, national and international level.
The lack of international and local protection renders sex workers vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace, and to harassment or violence at the hands of employers, law enforcement officials, clients and the public. The need for worker protection, including occupational health and safety provisions, is of particular relevance in the current context of HIV/AIDS. Sex workers without rights in their place of work are uniquely vulnerable to infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted disease, as they routinely lack the information, materials or authority to protect themselves and their clients.
This report is intended as a preliminary step in the process of ending the exclusion of sex workers. By looking at commercial sex as work, and at the conditions under which that work is performed, sex workers can be included and protected under the existing instruments which aim to protect all workers in a general way, all persons from violence, children from sexual exploitation, and women from discrimination. The focus of the report is on how much sex workers have in common with other people and workers, not on how they differ. This report demonstrates that the social discrimination faced by sex workers and the problems they face in their working lives are not, in general, unique. Rather, their experience resembles the experience of other persons and workers. An examination of international human rights and labour standards reveals that most issues of concern to sex workers could be subject to the international instruments already developed to protect the rights of others. This approach contrasts with the historic treatment of prostitution at international level.
2b. Prostitution on the International Agenda: the 'Trafficking' framework
The earliest definitions of 'trafficking' were used to distinguish the 'innocent' woman, who found herself in the sex industry as a result of abduction or deceit, from the ordinary prostitute. This was to allow the participation in the treaties about 'trafficking' of the many national governments which permitted highly regulated forms of prostitution. These were not willing to sign a document which required the elimination of prostitution. For this reason, until 1949 prostitution was not named as a separate phenomenon but addressed in international agreements through the concept of 'white slavery' and, after 1921, through 'trafficking.' The international process began with a conference in 1895 in Paris, followed by others in London and Budapest in 1899, and the first international instrument in 1904. These were prompted by alarm at reports of European women being tricked, with offers of other employment or marriage, into brothels far from home. Women from western Europe were going to other parts of Europe, British women to the United States, and eastern European women to Latin America. One writer has linked growing concern with 'trafficking' and prostitution in the European public arena to social dislocation in the wake of industrialisation. Prostitution was a target for fears associated with urbanisation and mass male migration in search of work.
Between 1895 and 1949 there were seven successive international agreements on the issue, each with its own different definition. The definitions were all variations on the themes of: prostitution, recruitment into prostitution, the issue of coercion and the validity of consent, and movement across frontiers. All agreements shared the basic themes of trying to protect women and children from engagement in prostitution, and from prosecution if already in prostitution, and the criminalisation of 'third parties,' anyone recruiting for or profiting from prostitution. These themes derive from the 'Abolitionist' approach to prostitution, which gained ground throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
The Abolitionist approach declares that the institution of prostitution itself constitutes a violation of human rights, akin to the institution of slavery (in fact the term 'Abolitionist' was originally used to describe campaigners against the transatlantic slave trade). As such, no person, even an adult, is believed to be able to give genuine consent to engaging in prostitution. Prostitution only persists through the efforts of procurers or pimps, the 'third parties,' who induce a woman into prostitution, openly or by means of deceit and coercion, to extort her earnings from her. The Abolitionist approach requires governments to abolish prostitution through the penalisation of this 'third party', which profits from the transaction between prostitute and client. The prostitute cannot be punished, as she is the victim of a process she does not control. Without the 'third party', it is believed that the institution of prostitution will wither away.
The United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949) reflects the Abolitionist position to the point that its preamble states that "...prostitution (is) incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person...", and it specifically targets the 'third party.' Abolitionists nevertheless continue to call for the amendment of the Convention, to define all prostitution as a violation of human rights and call for its complete abolition.
The 1949 Convention has been widely criticised from other quarters and in 1996 had be ratified by only 70 countries. There is no evidence that the Convention or other international and local sanctions have been effective either in eliminating the flow of women and men into the sex industry, or in curtailing abuses within it. Meanwhile, in the years since 1949, prostitutes themselves and others have been redefining the problem, asserting that the abuses are neither inherent nor unique to prostitution, but the outcome of the stigmatisation of the prostitute.
The 1949 Convention has yet to be revised or replaced, but the discussion of 'trafficking' has arisen in other fora. In the 1990s, the UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has been looking at "Trafficking in Women" in the context of her wider investigations into abuses directed at women for her report to the Commission in April 1997.
An international NGO, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW) prepared a report for the Special Rapporteur, in which their definitions put the emphasis on the coercion to which women are subjected. For the first time on the international agenda, they explicitly distinguish 'trafficking' from prostitution, which is not named at all in the definition. 'Trafficking in Women' becomes:
All acts involved in the recruitment and/or transportation of a woman within and across national borders for work or services by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant position, debt bondage, deception or other forms of coercion.
They recognise that women may be particularly at risk of abuse both in transit and in situ because they are hidden in unregulated sectors: the private home, as domestic workers or wives, and the sex industry. They also distinguish between 'trafficking' and abusive practices which occur when a woman is already in situ or has reached her destination. The latter are covered under a separate definition of Forced Labour and Slavery-like Practices.
Meanwhile, a European Union (EU) discussion has focused on migration and prostitution under the title "Trafficking in Women for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation." The Netherlands government took advantage of its position as President of the European Union in the first half of 1997 to follow up the activities of 1996. In June 1996 the European Commission hosted a conference on the issue jointly with the International Organisation for Migration on "Trafficking in Women", in Vienna. A European Commission Communication, on "Trafficking in Women for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation", in November 1996 reported that in September 1996 the work of Europol's Drug Unit was extended to include "trafficking in human beings." A ministerial conference in the Hague in April 1997 agreed Union-wide procedures for addressing the issue.
There is still no authoritative definition of the term 'trafficking' and so some commentators prefer to avoid the term completely, but debates on the sex industry and on female migration in various fora continue to be placed under the heading 'Trafficking' or 'Trafficking in Women.' Some activists distrust all definitions of 'trafficking' as the term continues to be associated with the image of 'white slavery,' with transnational migration or deception with respect to prostitution. This constitutes an anomaly in a world where most sex workers work in their country of origin and are not brought into the industry by deception. The focus on extreme abuses, they argue, demands justice for the deceived and enslaved prostitute, but neglects the ordinarily exploited person who is typical of the majority of sex workers, and indeed, workers in general. It runs the danger of reiterating the distinction between the 'innocent victim' who deserves pity and the punishment of those who have criminally abused her, and the willing 'whore' who has sacrificed her right to social protection through her degraded behaviour.
The International Agenda today: prostitution and slaveryUN standards which refer to prostitution reflect the confusion still surrounding the issue. The 1949 Convention is placed alongside the Slavery Conventions for the consideration of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery at the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. The very fact that a separate convention exists linking 'trafficking' and prostitution indicates a confusion. Other processes considered under both the UN and International Labour Organization's Conventions against slavery and forced labour are classified only according to means of control, for example debt bondage, rather than to activities performed. The 1949 Convention appears, moreover, to be fundamentally flawed. The world-wide investigation of "Trafficking in Women" by GAATW in 1996 examined the recruitment of female migrants and the conditions they experience in the sex industry and in the home. The problems they identified, such as limited opportunities for legal migration and lack of recourse to the authorities, are in no way addressed by the Convention, with its focus on repressing the 'third party'. In considering the institution of prostitution itself as the abuse, the opportunity to prevent human and labour rights violations has been missed. It is hoped that this report will be a step in an ongoing process to resolve this confusion.
At the 16th Session of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery in 1991, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, an Abolitionist group, declared that "to be a prostitute was to be unconditionally sexually available to any male who bought the right to use a woman's body in whatever manner he chose". The words "unconditionally" and "in whatever manner he chose" imply the rights of ownership which have been a part of the international definition of slavery since the League of Nations Slavery Convention of 1926. This represents a fundamental misconception about what constitutes slavery and what prostitution.
Slavery is a distortion of the employer-employee relationship and is predicated upon an enduring relationship characterised by the employer's abuse of superior power in relation to the employee. Without this enduring power to prevent the employee's resistance or escape, slavery and slavery-like practices are not possible. Some sex work is conducted in the structure of employment. Employment relations in the sex industry, and the working conditions associated with them, as in every other industry, can be more or less exploitative. The most exploitative relations in any industry are categorised as slavery and slavery-like practices. The 1926 Slavery Convention defines slavery as "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised." The 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery defines the practices applicable to the sex industry, debt bondage and child servitude. Debt bondage occurs where a debt is to be paid off with services but "the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined" (Article 1(a)). Child servitude is "Any institution or practice whereby a ...person under the age of 18 years, is delivered by ...his natural parents or by his guardian to another person, whether for reward or not, with a view to the exploitation of the child or young person or of his labour" .
The commercial transaction between sex worker and client, however, is not characterised by employment relations. He is the customer for the service provided, not the employer, and the relationship contained in the commercial transaction is limited in time and scope. Within the sex worker-client transaction, consent is continually negotiated. The 'right of ownership' implied by "unconditionally sexually available" and "in whatever manner he chose" is not possible in this relationship. The sex worker has no reason to accept a particular client or to submit to acts to which she does not consent or to refrain from seeking redress in the case of assault by a client which she cannot resist, unless she is constrained by pressures from an employer or other authority, in whose power she remains.
Where an individual's ability to negotiate is constrained by another person; where another person has the power to decide which or how many clients she will service, and what services may be performed, or the consent of the individual is overridden in any direction, then indeed we find slavery. There is, moreover, no need to qualify the abuse that is slavery with terms such as 'sexual slavery' -- the condition of slavery is itself violation enough under any circumstances. It is no coincidence that slavery and slavery-like practices are disproportionately associated with the sex industry. The sex industry exists on the margins of society, beyond the legal and customary restraints on commercial and social behaviour which regulate the mainstream, and out of sight of those not directly involved. Moreover, the labour force is overwhelmingly made up of persons -- women and young persons, transgendered persons and men who have sex with men -- whose ability to defend their rights and whose economic opportunities are already restricted in society, limiting their ability to resist exploitation. Those most vulnerable are the poor, who face exploitation in every industry. However, the fact that some sex workers are subject to conditions of slavery does not constitute a logical basis for claims that all sex work amounts to slavery.
The sex worker who works outside an employment relationship may find her capacity to freely withhold consent is constrained by immediate economic necessity, rather than another person. This does not constitute slavery, as slavery means that a person is subject to "any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership". The street worker who accepts a client she would prefer to reject, for fear of being unable to meet daily expenses, or the worker in hired premises who must earn a minimum amount to pay the proprietor for that day's hire of the premises, is facing not slavery but simple economic and social injustice, of the kind which constrains workers in every field to accept inequitable or dangerous conditions. The solution to this injustice lies beyond the scope of law alone, in the field of economic and social rights.
As the Abolitionist model does not allow for the existence of the independent sex worker, the image of the 'pimp' has arisen, as the 'third party' associated with sex work outside the commercial sex-based business. The 'pimp' is a man who uses physical and emotional threats to force a woman into prostitution, and extorts from her the proceeds. Sex workers are understood to operate in association with male pimps, and male associates of sex workers are taken to be pimps and may be penalised as criminal.
While some sex workers, like women outside the sex industry, are in abusive relationships with partners, evidence would be needed to justify the assertion that there is a form of domestic violence uniquely associated with the sex industry. The lives of sex workers cannot be examined in isolation from recent discussions on violence against women. The Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women noted in her 1994 Report to the UN Commission on Human Rights that "violence against women within the family is a significant pattern in all countries of the globe" and cited studies from industrialised and developing countries demonstrating the prevalence of domestic, especially marital, violence. It is unclear that the violent partner of a sex worker is always using violence to extort money. There is, furthermore, a lack of research about men who use violence or the threat of violence to extort money from partners who generate income by means other than the sex industry. The only conclusion possible so far is that the protection against assault and extortion already enshrined in local law must be extended into the domestic sphere in order to protect all women effectively.

Brothels of India

How Many are There?
There are 1.3 million children in brothels/prositution-centers in India, Thailand, and the Philippines combined. Approximately 500,000 of these children are in India. 160,000 of India's women in brothels are from Nepal, and 5,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked every day. With 100,000 prostitutes in the city of Mumbai (Bombay) alone, India has approximately ten million prostitutes.
How/Where is it Happening?
The main destinations for South Asian child prostitutes are India and Pakistan. Another common way of luring these children is with "magic paan" (similar to cocaine), and a major problem in the brothels is that many of the girls are addicted to these drugs. A common way that the girls are sold to customers is from brothels that offer for them to "buy a bride".
The Conditions in the Brothels
In the brothels, the children are tortured, sometimes kept in cages, and are sexually abused or raped. The virgins are kept together, away from the other prostitutes, because of a false and widely-believed idea that one can cure themselves of sexually transmitted diseases by engaging in intercourse with a virgin. The prostitutes cannot earn any money until their original price has been paid off. They are moved around often to avoid familiarity by police and customers.
Diseases
India is second to South Africa in having the most people with AIDS. This is partially due to the brothels. As mentioned above, many believe that through sex with a virgin, STD's can be cured. The result of this is widespread gonorrhea and syphilis in the brothels. Other sexually transmitted diseases are tuberculosis, meningitis, scabies, chronic pelvic infections, etc.
What are the Causes?
Some of the main reasons why people are put in brothels are growing poverty (families sell the children into prostitution), unemploymet (people may become prostitutes if they have no other way to earn money) increasing urbanization (urban areas are where most of the brothels are), industrialization, migration (many of the prostitutes are from out of the area or country), families that have broken up because of abuse, incest, rape, or orphaned children, people with poor education or complete lack thereof, and young people who are lured by big cities and aspirations of work in Bollywood.
Devadasi System
The Devadasi System is where sexual behavior and the Hindu religion meet, and has been around for thousands of years. Devdasis are girls who are dedicated to the Goddess Yellmana. They are married to the Goddess and are servants of God. Up to 5,000 girls every year are dedicated. They are forced to entertain males to "invoke" the blessings of the Goddess. Some are simply entertainers, practicing the Bharatanatyam form of dance, while some are prostitutes. 50% of prostitutes in Delhi are Devadasis.
The Law? The Police?
Before taking any action, police officers will go into brothels and warn the owners of future raids. This is one of the biggest problems that contributes to the continuation of the brothels.
In 1956, the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act (SITA) forbade operation in sex-trade in India. It did not technically make sex trafficking illegal-- rather it made it "forbidden"-- and was greatly problematic because of its lack of enforcement, and its limitating of prostitution to the female gender. This law was later amended by the The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA) of 1986. The amendment called for more strict enforcement, the recognition of both genders in prostitution, as well as a system that identifies prostitution in three categories: children (ages 1-16), minors (ages 16-18), and majors (18+). Violations that involve children or minors would be punished more severely, but even the new law has not proven to be significantly more effective. Today, it is easy for a brothel owner to escape punishment by feigning ignorance.
Rehabilitation from the Brothels
Some of the children or prostitutes in the brothels escape, and go to or are taken to rehabilitation centers. These centers are a whole different problem in and of themselves. While they are meant to help patients get off of the drugs that they were taking in the brothels, or help them reintigrate into society, the conditions of the rehab centers are terrible, due to lack of donations or government funding. Some of the people in the centers say that their lives were better before, when they were living in the brothels. Often, the owner of a brothel will come into the rehab center claiming to be a brother or relative of the prostitute or child, taking the patient with them.
What Can be Done?
While there is very little that can be done as far as outside intervention (the sex-trade in India is deeply intertwined with the Caste System), the more affluent and respectable sections of India's society must protest. The country's people must realize that sex-trafficking and the acts that it involves are not the children's fault, and overlook the past where this was believed to be the case. Better rehabilitation must be paid for by government funding. And finally, those who are involved in the keeping and selling of prostitutes must be punished, let alone severely punished. Unless if these forms of action begin to take place within the country, it can be expected that the sex-industry will remain a big problem in India for many years to come.
"Born Into Brothels" and Kids With Cameras
In 1997, English photographer Zana Brisk travelled to India to work on a project in the red light district of Calcutta. This project evolved into one where she became deeply involved with the children of the prostitutes in the area. Shocked at the condition that these children were living in, and almost certain that their fate would not leave the brothels, she started teaching photography classes to the children.
Upon realizing that these children had a true talent for capturing the images around them, Briski thought of a way that she could help the children to better their own situation. She began showing their work at exhibitions and auctions throughout Europe, a venture that has to this day raised over $100,000. All of these funds have gone towards putting the children in school. True empowerment in action!

Oops!

Rachel-"You conniving bitch. How could you do this? You were supposed to be my friend. When all along you were just using me to get to him! Behind my back" There was tears falling furiously down my cheeks now. I was so upset I really didn't understand. Jasmine and Will: it was like Marmite and Peanut Butter Jelly. It just didn’t go together. No matter in how many perspectives you looked at it. Will was a bastard for hitting on a girl who was a year younger than him and she was a slut for seducing a boy a year older than her. I had decided this as soon as I caught them saliva swapping in my bedroom. I hated the both of them. I didn't care whose fault it was I just hated them so much."Rachel calm down""Don't tell me to calm down. I don't want to hear it" I did a 180 degree turn and ran out the room the down the stairs and out the door. I didn't where I was going I just knew that I was not staying there. I had my bankcard on me so would be fine - until the money ran out.

Jasmine-I feel like shit. I don't believe what just happened it feels like a huge nightmare. I hazily pinch myself just to check it's real. I don't want it to be. Because if it is, it means that I just lost a friend. I feel a cold hand squash over my heart, my lips tingle from where Will kissed me, my eyes burn, and my fingers are clutched like a vice over Will's sweaty palms. My senses are fuzzy and things only start to clear as I notice Will's heavy breathing. I want to say something but I can't. I want to cry but I can't. I want to show some form of emotion but I just can't. I feel so guilty mostly because deep in my heart if I had a chance to do everything again I would still have kissed Will. I can't explain why. I can't explain the feeling deep in my heart that I felt when our lips merged. Eventually Will unclasps my fingers from their vice grip and wraps his arms around me. I feel confused for a brief moment till I realized tears are falling rapidly from my eyes. A deep hollow feeling which settled over me is now filled and I suddenly wish he hadn't hugged me the hollow feeling was better than the pain I feel right now. I started crying with my whole being, my shoulders shook and my vision fogged."Don't cry she is just in shock. She'll come round" I give myself a mental shake and drag myself from his embrace. I attempt to compose myself (you know wipe my tears ECT.)"What are we going to do" I say shakily"Wait for her" he said slowly and calmly. I wanted to slap him. Rachel had just run away and he was saying we should wait for her to come back as if she had just popped to the corner shop! I breathed deeply knowing that loosing my temper wasn't going to solve anything."I'm going home" I said not wanting to go but knowing that if I stayed any longer I would become infatuated with Will. I had to keep my distance."Yeah I think that will be best""Bye" I said, turning and walking through Rachel's doorway. I had never felt so depressed and sad in my life.

Will-…………Was that a cock up and half. I have never ever seen Raych(Rachel as she is called by me) so angry in my life. And I can’t say that she is over-reacting as it’s not everyday your first real best friend shacks up with your brother in the 2nd week of your friendship. I have no idea what to do. I am definitely going to look for her. I just had to get rid of Jasmine first so IF! (And that is a big if)I find her I would be able to talk to her and maybe convince her to come home. She has never run away from home before and there are a lot of things that could happen to a girl of her age at this time of the day. It was almost 6:00pm. I am scared shitless. First I have to look for her bankcard. If I can’t find it I will be calm because then at least I know she will be able to book herself into a hotel or something for the night. I look everywhere for her card but I can’t find it neither can I find her bus pass. I heave a sigh of relief. While standing in her room I replay all the events of this afternoon. I realize things with Jasmine will cause some turbulence to me and Raych’s relationship but to be honest I don’t think I am going to be able to give up Jasmine. To put it frankly: Jasmine is hot! I know she is a year younger than me but age has never bothered me before so why should it now. I know Rachel is upset but she has to see it from my point of view: Jasmine is hot!

Status of Women in Indian Society

Abstract: The worth of a civilization can be judged by the place given to women in the society. One of several factors that justify the greatness of India's ancient culture is the honorable place granted to women. The Muslim influence on India caused considerable deterioration in the status of women. They were deprived of their rights of equality with men. Raja Ram Mohan Roy started a movement against this inequality and subjugation. The contact of Indian culture with that of the British also brought improvement in the status of women. The third factor in the revival of women's position was the influence of Mahatma Gandhi who induced women to participate in the Freedom Movement. As a result of this retrieval of freedom, women in Indian have distinguished themselves as teachers, nurses, air-hostesses, booking clerks, receptionists, and doctors. They are also participating in politics and administration. But in spite of this amelioration in the status of women, the evils of illiteracy, dowry, ignorance, and economic slavery would have to be fully removed in order to give them their rightful place in Indian society.

The worth of a civilization can be judged from the position that it gives to women. Of the several factors that justify the greatness of India's ancient culture, one of the greatest is the honoured place ascribed to women. Manu, the great law-giver, said long ago, 'where women are honoured there reside the gods'. According to ancient Hindu scriptures no religious rite can be performed with perfection by a man without the participation of his wife. Wife's participation is essential to any religious rite. Married men along with their wives are allowed to perform sacred rites on the occasion of various important festivals. Wives are thus befittingly called 'Ardhangani' (betterhalf). They are given not only important but equal position with men.
But in the later period the position of women went on deteriorating due to Muslim influence. During the Muslim period of history they were deprived of their rights of equality with men. They were compelled to keep themselves within the four walls of their houses with a long veil on their faces. This was definitely due to Islamic influence. Even today in some Islamic countries women are not allowed to go out freely. The conservative regimes of Iran and Pakistan, for example, have withdrawn the liberties given to women folk by the previous liberal governments. Even in India the Muslim women are far more backward than their Hindu, Christian and Sikh counterparts. The sight of Muslim women walking with long 'Burkas' (veils) on their person is not very rare. The women are, as a matter of fact, regarded as captive and saleable commodities in Muslim families. One man is allowed to have so many wives with the easiest provision of divorce. The husband can divorce a wife just by saying 'I divorce you' under the provision of Muslim laws. This is what the emperors did hundred years back and the men are doing it even now in almost all Islamic countries. Even in this last phase of the twentieth century rich and prosperous men of Islamic countries keep scores of wives in their harems. It was natural outcome of the Muslim subjugation of India that woman was relegated to a plaything of man, an ornament to decorate the drawing room. Serving, knitting, painting and music were her pastimes and cooking and cleaning her business.
In the wake of Raja Ram Mohan Roy's movement against women's subjugation to men and British influence on Indian culture and civilization the position of women had once again undergone a change. However, it was only under the enlightened leadership of Mahatma Gandhi that they re-asserted their equality with men. In response to the call of Gandhi they discarded their veil and came out of the four walls of their houses to fight the battle of freedom shoulder to shoulder with their brothers. The result is that the Indian Constitution today has given to women the equal status with men. There is no discrimination between men and women. All professions are open to both of them with merit as the only criterion of selection.
As a result of their newly gained freedom Indian woman have distinguished themselves in various spheres of life as politicians, orators, lawyers, doctors, administrators and diplomats. They are not only entrusted with work of responsibility but also they perform their duties very honestly and sincerely. There is hardly any sphere of life in which Indian women have not taken part and shown their worth. Women exercise their right to vote, contest for Parliament and Assembly, seek appointment in public office and compete in other spheres of life with men. This shows that women in India enjoy today more liberty and equality than before. They have acquired more liberty to participate in the affairs of the country. They have been given equality with men in shaping their future and sharing responsibilities for themselves, their family and their country.
It is a fact that women are intelligent, hard-working and efficient in work. They put heart and soul together in whatever they undertake. As typists and clerks they are now competing successfully with men. There are many women working in the Central Secretariat. They are striving very hard to reach highest efficiency and perfection in the administrative work. Their integrity of character is probably better than men. Generally it was found that women are less susceptible to corruption in form of bribery and favouritism. They are not only sweet tongued but also honest, efficient and punctual in their jobs as receptionists, air-hostesses and booking clerks at railway reservation counters. As a matter of fact they are gradually monopolising the jobs of receptionists and air-hostesses.
Another job in which Indian women are doing so well is that of teachers. In country like India where millions are groping in the darkness of illiteracy and ignorance efficient teaching to the children is most urgently needed. By virtue of their love and affection for the children the women have proved the best teachers in the primary and kindergarten schools. They can better understand the psychology of a child than the male teachers. Small children in the kindergarten schools get motherly affection from the lady teachers. It is probably significant that the Montessori system of education is being conducted mostly by the women in this country.
Women have been serving India admirably as doctors and nurses. Lady doctors have been found to perform efficient surgery by virtue of their soft and accurate fingers. They have monopolised as nurses in the hospitals and nursing homes. Very few men have been able to compete with them in this sphere because the women have natural tendency to serve and clean. It is thus natural tendency found in women which motivated Florence Nightingale to make nursing popular among the women of the upper classes in England and in Europe. She showed the way to women kind how nobly they can serve humanity in the hours of sufferings and agonies.
Women's contributions in politics and social services have also been quite significant. We cannot fail to mention the name of Indira Gandhi who shone so brilliantly and radiantly in the firmament of India's politics. She ruled this country for more than a decade and took India victorious out of Pakistan-war which resulted in the historic creation of a new country, Bangladesh. In the field of social service Indian women have also done some excellent jobs. They have not only served the cause of the suffering humanity but have also brought highest laurels for the country. The name of Mother Teressa cannot but be mentioned. She brought the Nobel Prize for India by her selfless services to the poor, destitute and suffering people of our country in particular and the needy and handicapped people of the world in general. Today, we need the services of the educated women who can tour throughout the country and help in removing human sufferings. The Government is alarmed at the rapid growth of population in the rural areas in particular. Women volunteers can more easily take up the task of canvassing the advantages of family planning among the rural womenfolk. They can, more easily than men, carry on propaganda against hazards of unhygienic conditions under which the villagers live. In urban areas they can efficiently take up the task of visiting and teaching the orphans and the helpless widows in the orphanages and the widow welfare centres. They can train them in sewing, knitting, embroidery and nursing in which women by nature excel. They can also train them in the art of music and dancing.
But all this should not lead us to conclude that the women should look down upon domestic life. The main sphere of action for them who have not taken up jobs outside should be essentially a happy home which is their real kingdom and where their sweet manners and mature advices as wife, mother, sister and daughter make tremendous effects on the male members of the family. The progress of a nation depends upon the care and skill with which mothers rear up their children. The first and foremost duty of Indian women should, therefore, be to bring forth noble generations of patriots, warriors, scholars and statesmen. Since child's education starts even in the womb and the impressions are formed in the mind of a child while in mothers arms women have to play a role of vital importance. They have to feel and realise at every step of their life that they are builders of the fate of our nation since children grow mainly in mothers arms. They should also discourage their husbands and sons from indulging in bribery and other corrupt practices. This they can do only when they learn the art of simple living by discarding their natural desires for ornaments and a living of pomp and show. In many cases families have been running in deficit due to the extravagance of the housewives in maintaining a high standard of living. The result is that the earning male members of the family are forced to fill up the gap in the budget by corrupt practices. Corruption has been so far the greatest impediment in way to India's progress. Minus corruption India would have been one of the most developed nations of the world.
There is no denying the fact that women in India have made a considerable progress in the last fifty years but yet they have to struggle against many handicaps and social evils in the male dominated society. The Hindu Code Bill has given the daughter and the son equal share of the property. The Marriage Act no longer regards woman as the property of man. Marriage is now considered to be a personal affair and if a partner feels dissatisfied she or he has the right of divorce. But passing of law is one thing and its absorption in the collective thinking of society is quite a different matter. In order to prove themselves equal to the dignity and status given to them in the Indian Constitution they have to shake off the shackles of slavery and superstitions. They should help the government and the society in eradicating the evils of dowry, illiteracy and ignorance among the eves. The dowry problem has assumed a dangerous form in this country. The parents of the girls have to pay thousands and lacs to the bridegrooms and their greedy fathers and mothers. If promised articles are not given by the parents of brides, the cruel and greedy members of the bridegrooms' family take recourse to afflicting tortures on the married women. Some women are murdered in such cases. The dowry deaths are really heinous and barbarous crimes committed by the cruel and inhumane persons. The young girls should be bold enough in not marrying the boys who demand dowry through their parents. The boys should also refuse to marry if their parents demand dowry. But unfortunately the number of such bold and conscientious boys is very few. Even the doctors, engineers, teachers and the administrative officers do not hesitate in allowing themselves to be sold to the wealthy fathers of shy and timid girls. Such persons have really brought disgrace to their cadres in particular and society in general. The government should enact stringent laws to afflict rigorous punishment on dowry seekers, women's murderers and rapers.

Prostitution & Sex Tourism

What are Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Prostitution and sex tourism fall under a more general category of sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation happens when one person (or persons) receives sex or money through abusing another person's sexuality. For an example of prostitution, a man may receive sex and a pimp may receive money by using a woman as a prostitute. In sex tourism, an American man may pay a sex travel agency for a trip to Thailand which includes airfare, hotel, food, and women for sex. Prostitution can include traditional forms of prostitution (through a brothel, the military, or on the streets), and also sex tourism, sex trafficking, and mail order bride selling.
. Who is affected by Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
It is difficult to estimate how many people are working in prostitution because so many women working as waitresses, hotel maids, salesclerks, bar girls, and golf caddies are forced into prostitution as part of their work. In Thailand, it has been estimated that at least 200,000 women and children work in prostitution. At least one-third of Thai prostitutes are under the age of 18, and most adult prostitutes started when they were only children. Children as young as six years old work in prostitution. Prostitutes are primarily women and girls, although some men and boys also work in prostitution.
Many of the children who work in prostitution come from extremely poor families -- the child's work as a prostitute may feed her entire family.Women and children may also be illegal trafficked from one country to another under the belief that they will find work in another country. Their traffickers force them to pay a high price, and to work in prostitution on their arrivals in order to pay for their travel.
How do Prostitution & Sex Tourism affect health?
Physical Health
The sexual health of women and children in prostitution is severely harmed in many ways:
Increased risk of HIV/AIDS
Risk of sexually transmitted infections
Risk of unwanted pregnancy
Vaginal tearing
Violence
Rape
Physical abuse
Confinement
Mental Health
Prostitution is a violation of women's human rights, and treats women as objects. The pain of being treated so poorly can lead to depression and resignation. The state of girls' mental health is best illustrated by Poppy, quoted in The Child and the Tourist by Ron O'Grady:
"I found myself dancing at a club at the age of 11... I have had different kinds of customers, foreigners and Filipinos. I tried suicide but it didn't work so I turned to drugs. I want to die before my next birthday." Prostitution teaches men to view women as objects. Thus not only are women and children who are prostitutes harmed, but all women are harmed by prostitution.
Why do Prostitution & Sex Tourism affect Third World Women more than others?
Prostitution has become an industry in Thailand with the major help of the United States military and the World Bank. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Department of Defense had a contract with the Thai government to provide "Recreation & Relaxation" for U.S. soldiers. With money from the U.S. government, local Thai prostitution organized and expanded into a major industry. In 1975, the World Bank built an economic plan for Thailand around the sex tourism industry, which helped turn sex tourism into the country's number one export. Prostitution has now become such an important industry, that work to end prostitution must also support the growth of new industries.
How are people working to solve the problem of Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Criminalizing prostitution
Although prostitution is illegal in Thailand, it is often protected by law enforcement agencies. When prostitution is illegal, it often means that it is illegal for a woman to be a prostitute, but not illegal for a man to pay a prostitute. This continues to harm the woman who is in prostitution, instead of helping her find ways out of prostitution. It also gives men free license to continue to find other women to exploit. When making prostitution illegal, the roles should be switched; men should be arrested for purchasing a prostitute, while women should not be thrown in jail for being a prostitute.
Promoting policies that address prostitution
Governments have a role in prosecuting companies that sell sex tourist packages. For example, in New York, prostitution laws state that: "a person is guilty of promoting prostitution in the third degree when he knowingly advances or profits from prostitution by managing, supervising, controlling or owning...a prostitution business or enterprise involving prostitution activity by two or more prostitutes...." Sex tourism agencies originating in New York could be prosecuted under this law.
The World Bank has a role in addressing prostitution when it is loaning $1.9 billion US dollars to Thailand for projects. Its of supporting sex tourism in Thailand makes it unlikely that current policy critically considers the effects of sex tourism on women in children. In fact, the Thailand do not even mention the sex tourism industry or prostitution. Projects to improve the lives of women and children in Thailand cannot work if the role of sex tourism is not addressed.
Increasing opportunities in education and employment
Women and children are not freely choosing the work in prostitution; it is a "choice" based purely on the economics of food and shelter. Girls who work as prostitutes in Thailand can provide for their entire family, while most other jobs cannot. It will take economic change to help women and children seriously considering leaving the sex tourism industry. Jobs must be available that can provide for families, and people must be trained to do them. New industry must replace the current sex industry to enact real change for women and children in prostitution.
What is being done right now about Prostitution & Sex Tourism?
Ms. Magazine recently compiled a list of resources to stop sex trafficking, many of which appear here (or lead to resources that appear here).
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women "works internationally to oppose all forms of sexual exploitation." Actions include support for Coalition Against Prostitution, Child Abuse & Trafficking. Gives Thai-based organizations space to document their work on poverty, prostitution, and child labor, in order to compel people to take action. Based in Thailand .The Center for the Protection of Children's Rights: Advocates for abused children, and works to stop trafficking. Based in Thailand directed at United States officials to prosecute sex tourism companies. Based in the United States.

'50,000 Iraqi refugees' forced into prostitution

Women and girls, many alarmingly young, who fled the chaos at home are being further betrayed after reaching 'safety' in Syria
It's Monday night in a dingy club on the outskirts of the Syrian capital. Two dozen girls are moving half-heartedly on the dance floor, lit up by flashing disco lights.
They are dessed in tight jeans, low-cut tops and knee-high boots, but the girls' make-up can't disguise the fact that most are in their mid-teens. It's a strange sight in a conservative Muslim country, but this is the sex business, and it's booming as a result of the war in Iraq.
Backstage, the manager sits in his leather chair, doing business. A Saudi client is quoted $500 for one of the girls. Eventually he beats it down to $300. Next door, in a dimly lit room, the next shift of girls arrives, taking off the black all-covering abayasthey wear outside and putting on lipstick and mascara.
To judge from the cars parked outside, the clients come from all over the Gulf region - many are young Saudi men escaping from an even more conservative moral climate. But the Syrian friend who has brought me here tells me that 95 per cent of the girls are Iraqi.
Most are unwilling to talk, but Zahra, an attractive girl with a bare midriff and tattoos, tells me she's 16. She has been working in this club since fleeing to Syria from Baghdad after the war. She doesn't like it, she says, "but what can we do? I hope things get better in Iraq, because I miss it. I want to go back, but I have to look after my sister". Zahra points to a thin, pubescent girl with long black hair, who seems to be dancing quite happily. Aged 13, Nadia started in the club two months ago.
As the girls dance suggestively, allowing their breasts to brush against each other, one winks at a customer. But these girls are not just providing the floor show - they have paid to be here, and they need to pick up a client, or they'll lose money. If successful, they'll earn about $60, equivalent to a month's wages in a factory.
There are more than a million Iraqi refugees in Syria, many are women whose husbands or fathers have been killed. Banned from working legally, they have few options outside the sex trade. No one knows how many end up as prostitutes, but Hana Ibrahim, founder of the Iraqi women's group Women's Will, puts the figure at 50,000.
I met Fatima in a block of flats operating informally as a brothel in Saida Zainab, a run-down area with a large Iraqi population. Millions of Shias go there every year, because of the shrine of the prophet Mohamed's granddaughter. "I came to Syria after my husband was killed, leaving me with two children," Fatima tells me. "My aunt asked me to join her here, and my brothers pressured me to go." She didn't realise the work her aunt did, and she would be forced to take up, until she arrived.
Fatima is in her mid-20s, but campaigners say the number of Iraqi children working as prostitutes is high. Bassam al-Kadi of Syrian Women Observatory says: "Some have been sexually abused in Iraq, but others are being prostituted by fathers and uncles who bring them here under the pretext of protecting them. They are virgins, and they are brought here like an investment and exploited in a very ugly way."