By Divya Chaubey
Human life is a struggle. A struggle that starts with finding air to breathe and continues with the daily search for feeding the tummy. The day we die, it ends. People do various things to survive. People work for others; work under circumstances that they might not want to; sell their kids; sell their body and dignity with it.
Prostitution is one such job. It is never a choice made consciously. People are either forced in to it after being trafficked from one part of the world to another, or they are just born in to it with nowhere else to go.
The sad truth is, no one wants to be a prostitute, it is illegal in India, yet we have the so called 'red light area' in every district.
The society is not honest enough to accept this truth. With a stigma attached to it, it is not acceptable in our society, yet a big part of the population is involved in it. Girls with the tag of prostitutes are refused and disrespected in the society. The irony of it lies in the fact that at one place this society disrespects prostitutes and at the next wants their services for self-gratification. They are termed as impure and characterless but this society is the manager of this sad truth.
Men not only fulfill their sexual desires by visiting prostitutes but they also bring their anger, frustration, mental illness with them to wreak havoc on a prostitute. This is just a picture of what is done to them, every night.
There are so many stories of women who share their plight of being trapped in this dark world. Brenda Myers Powell is one of them, she revealed her story of being a prostitute for 25 years with a website. Similarly, Bharti Tapas, says that when she was 14, she was sold into slavery, beaten and forced into prostitution. The girl was quoted as saying to ABC news.
"When I arrived at the brothel, I refused to do what they told me to and they beat me and starved me for 10 days," says the soft-spoken girl. "I thought I would rather kill myself than be forced to work as a prostitute."
She was just a schoolgirl when she found herself in Mumbai, along with thousands of other girls who were beaten, locked in tiny cages or hidden in attics. Some were forced to have sex with 20 men a day under the watchful eyes of madams and pimps.
No girl wants to be a prostitute and never dreams of becoming one. Respect, career, marriage, children and family -this is what every normal girl wants in her life. But when no one wants this to happen, why do we have such a big prostitution web? How does this web function when no one wants to become a prostitute or is ready to give them social acceptance?
Every day we come across several news headlines of missing young girls but hardly bother or think about it. The word 'missing' attached to their names remains with them for whole life, which is not only a prefix to their denominations but also to their 'missing life'. After being named as 'missing', these girls get the tag of 'prostitute' as their lives continue in the dark world.
The question is if this society needs prostitution so desperately then why the disrespect and rejection of prostitutes in the society.
You need them, you make them, you push them in this dark world, you ill-treat them and finally you make money out of them.
This must end. It is a sad truth that needs to be told. The society must make strides to accept them if it can not stop creating them forcefully. Proper laws (and execution) on human trafficking, child abuse, prostitution, rehabilitation or their kids should be make and effected.
It will take time but even in selling their dignity, they are honest about it. When will the society and state act honest and integrate them and their kids in 'normal' societies?