Three Perspectives on Sex Work

Introduction:
There is an unspoken bond in the sex industry that unites sex workers, their pimps and their customers, and that bond is dehumanisation:

- the sex worker feels dehumanised through having to sell themselves
- the pimp is dehumanised through enslaving and controlling others, and
- the customer is dehumanised through paying another person for the use of their body

For the sex worker in particular there is a vicious circle that is difficult to escape from. In this article we will focus on the:

- economic realities facing sex workers in the Sangli Red Light District in Maharashtra State, India
- practical steps being taken by Bright Morning Star to break the self-perpetuating circle of sex work, and the
- spiritual dimension that is at the heart of the work of Bright Morning Star

Economic:
The following figures regarding the economic realities facing sex workers in the Sangli Red Light District have been gleaned from meetings in October 2007 involving Trustees from Bright Morning Star (U.K.) and:

- the Managing Committee of Wanless Hospital, Miraj, and
- the Rev’d Timothy Jalam, Chairman of Prabhat Tara Sanstha (Bright Morning Star)

The figures, based on an exchange rate of approximately 80 Indian Rupees (IR) to £1 sterling, are good as at October/November 2007, but may fluctuate thereafter.

The average income of a middle class earner in Miraj-Sangli is about 2,400 IR per month. By way of example a teacher earns between 1,500 and 2,000 IR, about £25 per month.

In contrast a lower caste person earns 600 IR per month, and the government-set subsistence level is 500 IR per month, or £6.25 per month.

Every time a customer pays to go with one of the women in the Red Light District he will pay 25 IR. Out of that 25 IR the sex worker will have to give 12 IR to her pimp, leaving the sex worker with 13 IR. The government are very keen to stamp out HIV/AIDS, and provides free condoms. However the pimp controls the distribution of these and charges the sex workers 2 IR for each condom, leaving the sex worker with 11 IR.

To reach the government-set subsistence level of 500 IR per month, a sex worker has to average 1.5 customers per night, 30 nights per month, which is calculated by dividing 500 IR by 11 IR per customer and then by 30 nights per month, leaving us with 1.5 customers per night, every night of the year.

However 1.5 customers per night are only achievable if:

1. firstly, there are enough customers to go around
2. secondly, the sex worker doesn’t age: customers tend to lose interest in those who are older, and
3. thirdly, the sex worker doesn’t get ill

Alongside of HIV/AIDS, many other illnesses including TB and dysentery are rife in the Red Light Districts, and some of the women are very, very ill.

Practical:
In order to assist the sex workers in achieving autonomy by breaking the self-perpetuating circle in which daughter follows mother into the sex industry, the Rev’d Timothy Jalam, Chairman of Prabhat Tara Sanstha (Bright Morning Star), has initiated a number of practical strategies.

Literacy classes and pre-schools are providing educational opportunities across the generations, and child sponsorship is enabling a significant number of children in the Red Light Districts to be equipped to go to local schools to further their development.

Alongside of education, hands-on skills are being developed by the sex workers, which it is hoped will eventually enable some to achieve self-sufficiency outside the sex industry. These cottage industries include:

- flourishing tailoring units
- jewellery-making, instigated by the women themselves with very positive results
- papadom-making, and coming on-line soon will be
- training in IT skills

Alongside of this the women and the pimps are provided with regular health checks via mobile clinics, HIV-AIDS awareness seminars, and advocacy work on their behalf in order that the disenfranchised secure basic rights, including access to ration cards.

Spiritual:
However Prabhat Tara Sanstha (Bright Morning Star) recognise that, essential as practical support is, if the vicious, self-perpetuating cycle of the sex industry is to be broken, then a spiritual revolution has to take place in the lives of all involved.

We recognise that behind the sex industry is a darkness that:

- enslaves other human beings
- is endemic within the culture, and that
- has economic advantages for the ruling classes

The sex workers are from the lowest caste and are viewed by other castes as ‘people of the feet’, that is those who occupy the lowest rung in society, thereby instilling in them a sense of worthlessness and dehumanisation that keeps them in a place where others can trample on them.

It is the abiding conviction of Prabhat Tara Sanstha (Bright Morning Star) that Jesus Christ, whom God sent into our world with the express purpose of breaking the chains of oppression, can not only completely free sex workers, pimps and customers from the binding power of spiritual darkness, but can provide healing in the present and hope for the future. That is the Good News at the heart of our work.

In the Sangli Red Light District a former brothel has been purchased, cleansed by the sex workers themselves, and re-constituted as a Christian Church, a place of sanctuary where the sex workers and pimps can come and discover the liberating power of Jesus. At the inauguration of the church in October 2007, trustees from Bright Morning Star washed the feet of the sex workers and their children in order to visibly demonstrate oneness with them and to instil in them the sense of dignity before God that Jesus Christ gave his life for.

Across the Miraj and Sangli Red Light Districts where HIV-AIDS is rife, sex workers, pimps and sick and dying people are prayed for and told stories from the Bible. It is our conviction that as sex workers, pimps and others turn to place their trust in Jesus Christ that the darkness is driven away and the Bright Morning Star of the Light of the World brings hope and healing transforming people and communities.

Paul Hartnell (Rev’d)
25 November 2007