World's oldest trade

Prostitution – An insight into Indian and European brothels


Often labeled as the oldest trade in world, prostitution is a trade which is not always a topic of discussion among people. In various countries, it is legalized whereas in many countries in Indian sub-continent and Middle-East it is still considered a taboo to talk to prostitutes or to talk about this subject. My curiosity about legal prostitution in Europe made me draw some parallels between the way prostitution is carried out in Europe, and in India.

I will start with condition of brothels in India. Prostitution in India is sitting on a pendulum that swings it back and forth between boundaries of legality. Brothels are illegal in India, but no effort is made to eradicate them, although they are present in only a specific area inside a city or town. In ancient times, the kings used to have ‘dasis’ or slaves for satisfying their sexual desires and there were many places for men to enjoy sexually erotic dances. But prostitutes were never a part of society and there was no one to see their plights. Even after few centuries, the condition remains same here – The prostitutes are forced into this trade and once they give up, they are sold to brothel owners and are used for sexual business with customers. They often suffer and spread sexually transmitted diseases, they are considered as an unwanted portion of society, they struggle to get their identities or rights that any other Indian citizen enjoys. Often they are raped without use of condoms and they give birth to unwanted kids and this vicious circle never ends. For an example a brothel in Delhi charges 250 INR from a customer out of which around 70 comes to pocket of prostitute, 70 goes to pocket of pimps and brothel owners, 30 goes towards welfare of brothels or towards a temple set up inside brothel and rest goes to different parties for security, maintenance etc. There are several NGOs that try to educate prostitutes on HIV, they try to take the kids out from there for a better future but at the large the picture remains very sad. Many people in India call prostitute (randi) as a slang (gaali) but no one says anything to the customers who go there for pleasure. The alleys inside brothel are poorly lit, drunk people move around freely and aggressive pimps are present inside. All this goes on and on, everyone knows this is not good and must be either regularized or stopped but no government ever dares to stop this or regularize it or voice their opinion on welfare of those involved. A few cases how prostitutes in India possibly enter this field is:

· Neighbor in connivance with parents.

· Neighbors as pimps.

· Aged sex workers from same village or locality.

· Unknown person/accidental meeting with pimp.

· Mother/sister/near relative in the profession.

· Lover giving false hope of marriage or job, eloping with girl and selling to brothel.

· Close acquaintance giving false hope of marriage or job.

· Husband forcing wife into prostitution.

Now let me throw some light on operations of a brothel (known as landlord or place owner) in Europe.
I’ve had a chance to see and witness some in Germany, Belgium, France and Netherlands.
There are red light districts regulated by local municipality and government and the brothel owner rents out room to prostitute, where she can stay. Suppose owner rents out room at 100 Euros per day, there are show windows from where the girls try to lure customers by provocative gestures and showing their semi naked bodies. Now when a customer goes inside and pays 100 euros and she gets 2-3 customers a day, she is able to pay 100 Euros to landlord as rent and remaining is her profit. She has to pay a month’s rent in advance, which can be lowered to 10 days at many places and the day she settles her dues, she is free to walk out, still very much citizen of country enjoying all her rights. When she is living in red light district, she still enjoys all the benefits under labor law.
There are girls who often do this for a month or 2 in year as part time. Now the brothel owner or landlord is one who pays property taxes to government out of his income, he is one who makes sure of safety and security and if some customer tries to force himself in an undesirable way there is a legal system to punish him.
If the prostitute is not able to make money, she can give a notice, pay some penalty for early termination of contract and can very well leave the place.
Also, there are various sex shows that one can watch through peep window in one of those multiple live sex theatres. When I was walking in a lane in red light district, suddenly a door opened and a pretty girl smiled at me and asked why you are so serious, come in. Well I said – ‘Would you talk to me for a while’. And she replied – ‘Yes, I am talkative and can keep talking while having sex’. I was disappointed at the way how strange people must have asked strange demands while having sex, which has made these girls reply in a tape recorded manner without considering anyone as different from a prospective customer.
Well, a secondary search revealed that in eight European countries (The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, and Latvia) prostitution is legal and regulated.
But I saw it in France and Belgium as well.
So when you compare the above two styles of prostitution what one you think should be adopted?

There are people who say it should be stopped, I would not go into that debate of what is right or wrong. For Indian brothels, I would only say that either stop it or control and regulate it. There is no mid-way and if there is one, it surely passes through a lot of pain, rapes, diseases, poverty, slavery, illegal trafficking, rights abusing, and child rapes and should be stopped.
I am shocked by state of affairs of my country and wish this should change along with millions of other things of governance and administration.

Feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers!