Prostitution and sexual slavery in India

Prostitution and Sexual Slavery in India

Understanding the Indian Sex Trade

In her monumental book for young adults, Sold, Patricia McCormick tells the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old Nepalese girl who has to deal with some difficult circumstances at her village home. Her stepfather refuses to work and humiliates her mother by making her kneel in front of him and do other subordinating tasks, which is the cultural custom. They have little money, often have to go without food, and their roof lets in water when it chances to rain. When Lakshmi thinks she is going to the city in order to work for a wealthy family as a maid, she is happy, believing she can finally provide for her mother and infant brother the means to buy food and the tin roof that would keep out the rain. But Lakshmi does not go to work as a maid. Instead, her stepfather sells her to a woman who whisks her away on a mysterious journey to India where she ends up in a brothel, trapped, and forced to sleep with men against her will in order to buy a freedom that can never be hers again.

While Lakshmi's story is told in a brilliant combination of fictional poetry, these events are all too real for many girls who live in India and the surrounding areas. Taken from their villages and promised work in cities, girls younger than fourteen years old are often sent to red light districts in India where they are forced to work for brothels or on the street. Sometimes, traffickers even tell them that they are going for a visit or some other social event, and the girls are then stolen (Donnelly). Not only are they emotionally damaged through the loss of their homes and families and the trauma from having to perform sex acts on a daily basis, these children and young adults often sustain serious physical damage from their enslavement. In fact, the youngest victims of sex trafficking are often the ones that are hit hardest. In certain circles, they may be forced to be with more men, spend more time in brothels, and work in more than one brothel, while older victims are not subjected to this treatment. The reasoning behind this -- offenders are willing to pay much more for a younger girl. The result -- higher rates of AIDS contraction. In fact, 60% of girls under 14 forced into the Indian sex trade contract HIV (Donnelly). Children are scared, abused, and eventually left for dead all in the name of financial gain in this truly abominable industry. Through a consideration of the scope of the sex trade and a description of sex trafficking in India and a consideration of the criminal nature of the practice, one can draw conclusions regarding methods of prevention.

Together, India, Thailand, and the Philippines have an estimated 1.3 million children in slavery, enslaved in the sex trade ("India Facts" para. 3). These women and children face torture, rape, and violence for refusing to perform sex acts, and can be punished for other reasons as well. While there are around 10 million prostitutes working in India, about 90% of them are slaves, made to work until they can pay of their debts, or the price it cost the madams and pimps to purchase them ("India Facts" para. 10, 14). With customers paying about $2 each ("India Facts," para. 16), it is easy to see why it may take these women years to pay off their debts, if they ever can. McCormick's Sold makes it clear that the madams who are "caring" for these women charge them for every necessity and convenience from the medicine they take when they catch a disease from their customers to the makeup they are forced to wear in order to attract men. Together, India's sex trade contributes $400 million or more to the Indian GDP ("India Facts" para. 16). Thus, it is just as easy to see why officials are reluctant to halt the sex as it is to understand why these child prostitutes will often never make enough money to pay back their debts.

Still, paying back their debts is often all of these women and children have, and Patricia McCormick's novel points to the fact that many women in the brothels count down to the day that they can be relieved of their slavery. But where do they go? Certainly some women never make it out of the brothels, dying from disease or being killed before they even have a chance at freedom again. Others simply return to the brothel because they are considered shameful to their families. The reason for this lies in the culture of India, which is remarkably conservative despite the booming sex trade (Buncombe). Although their actions cannot be excused, Buncombe writes, "Men -- who are used to a repressed, conservative culture -- come and stand and stare" (para. 3). Sometimes they do more than stare, and this is bittersweet for the women who must service them: It is another rupee toward freedom but another violation, perhaps the last straw before insanity takes over. Indeed, Buncombe finds the conservative society that hides this awful trend remarkable. Buncombe writes, "It soon becomes clear that a key issue in encouraging safe sex in India is that it remains a remarkably conservative society. For a culture that once created the Kama Sutra and the erotic carvings at Khajuraho, it's ironic that many subjects remain taboo -- among them, men having sex with men, drug abuse and the issue of easy access to condoms" (para. 14). This sort of oppression is what procures both customers and "call-center Romeos," men who work late hours or in crowded conditions in order to take advantage of young girls (Bunscombe para. 13). Based on this information, one must wonder if the real issue behind the massive sex trade in India is actually psychological, a desire for sexual freedom that Indians desire but have not embraced.

But this question begs another -- what are the ramifications of the sex trade? Although the psychological ramifications are massive, the health consequences are immense. Bunsombe says, "These women and their customers are at the forefront of India's Aids crisis" (para. 4). This would seem to be accurate, as condoms are an issue that is still taboo in India, and 800,000 people who are trafficked into slavery across the globe each year are likely to contract the disease, spreading it to their customers, children, and others with whom they have contact (Donnelly para. 3). While this fuels the worldwide spread of a deadly disease for which there is no cure, it also destroys multiple lives, giving no hope to some survivors who escape the sex trade only to find themselves dying from complications of AIDS. Of course, there are semi-positive consequences as well -- the monetary consequences. But these generally do not find their way to the sex victims themselves, further enlarging the gap between the wealthy and the impoverished in India and surrounding areas. Thus, the scope of the sex trade in India is large, and the consequences are disturbing.

Despite this fact, attempting to prevent women from becoming engaged in the industry is often nearly impossible. In order to do this, the act must be considered criminal, which it is not in many cases. CBI chief Ashwani Kumar called human trafficking "one of the most serious organised crimes alongwith narcotics trade and illicit arms trade" ("Human" para. 1). The investigator also suggested that this particular crime is often difficult to prosecute or observe because "it works as the source, transit, and destination of the crime," and because human trafficking acts as "both a supplier and a consumer" investigators have fewer leads to pursue ("Human" para. 2). In order to deal with these unique challenges, the government has decided to "frame policy and to enact legislations" addressing the issue, as well as "involve NGOs and social groups in rescue and rehabilitation of victims" ("Human" para. 3). In addition, the fact that the industry brings in a great deal of funds must have an impact on the strength with which the law enforcement persecutes offenders. Further, the conservative society in which the sex industry operates makes it difficult to speak of the issues publicly. Even places that have traditionally been beacons to the more religious travelers are being overtaken by the sex industry ("Human" para. 5). Obviously, the dichotomy between the conservative India and the India of sex trading is making the persecution of sex traders and customers of prostitutes as criminals difficult. While the official government is willing to make statements regarding the importance of prosecuting these criminals, the general public is not willing to change their behavior in order to prevent sex trafficking and the victimization of these young girls.