Sex Industry In India: A Blotch On The Nation's Development Roadmap

A judgmental mindset and the impulse to cave into what the society sees as righteous—this double whammy defines most of the Indians today. Our indifference to several harrowing situations plagues India’s tussle to become a developed nation, one that other countries look up to with respect. The lack of empathy and sympathy in my fellow citizens has given rise to the bustling sex industry of India.

When the British journalist Hazel Thompson revealed her nearly decade's worth of experience covering the Indian prostitution racket in a tell-it-all eBook aptly named ‘Taken’, it made the readers cringe. Nearly all the women and girls involved in this vicious circle of lust and objectification she interviewed had put forth a similar plight, “We can’t return to our families due to the stigma we’d be subjected to”. Families of the victims need to support them in every possible way, both physically and emotionally, to eliminate the emotions of pseudo-guilt people pushed into this abhorrent business inflict upon themselves. The past shouldn’t clout the opportunity to craft a new, bright future. The so-called clients who satiate their lust through prostitution are generally men veiled behind conservatism and traditions they are brought up in. This is a subtle yet major implication of not introducing subjects such as sex education early into the lives of children; teachers tend to make disgusting faces when a student enquires the opposite gender’s anatomy. Parents adopt a similar behavior at home, with mothers quickly changing the TV channel when it plays an advertisement highlighting the necessity of condoms and birth control pills. With no one to cater to the child’s curiosity on such matters, he or she tries to find the answers through friends or the internet. This in turn causes inquisitiveness to take an immoral form: perversion. These perverts are one of the few pillars who don’t allow the sex racket to be extirpated, rendering futile the crackdowns and busts by the Indian police, NGOs, and whatnot. Ask the victims of flesh trade about the experiences they suffer; the narratives ought to make your blood run cold, your mind and heart wondering how could human beings stoop down to unscrupulous behavior. The ill-effects of prostitution and associated activities, to a large extent, are the outcome of teenagers and youth not being taught the good and bad of sexual intercourse and intimacy.

There’s the misconception that females are the only casualty of prostitution. While there’s no denying that words like objectification are usually correlated with women, males who are unwantedly stuck in the sex racket cannot come out in the open, solely because the world believes that ‘real men’ don’t cry. As a result, men and young boys, battered and bruised by inhumane treatment at the hands of their clients, suck up their tears and hesitate to share their sorrows. The junta needs to accept the truth that the sex industry doesn’t differentiate between the two genders when it comes to suffering.

Finally, the corruption at the core of the entire system, which includes law enforcement, politics, and governance, is responsible for a nexus that keeps the hideous industry in question away from the prudent public’s eye; the general audience is provoked only when the grievances of the industry are published in newspapers and media channels. We’re yet to come up with a full-proof plan that can pull out this weed-like corruption from the cornerstone upon which India rests. Some have been implemented alas with negligible results.

If the industry of flesh trade is to be done with once and for all, a new perspective that resonates with the plight of the sex racket victims is to be established. Candlelight marches and social media frenzy aren’t the backstop. The public through their awareness must make sure that the voice of the wounded reaches the top courts and ministries. If stunts like Bharat Bandh can garner nationwide attention, commensurate initiatives are imperative for putting an end to the world of brothels. The path is a difficult one, but if amendments like Section 377 are possible through years of effort and grit, a similar outcome that abolishes the Indian sex industry would definitely see the light of the day!