Only Rights Can Stop the Wrong
"Love between equals is the only way to peace."
-The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
Take everything you think you know about sex work, and throw it out the window!
Working with the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), also known as Durbar, has completely shaken me, and I've come to realize no amount of planning could've prepared me. DMSC is:
"...a forum exclusively of sex workers and their children to share experiences and plan strategies for struggling against their conditions of material deprivation and social stigmatization" (DMSC, 2013).
When Americans think of sex workers, we don't think of an agency of individuals coming to get together to better support themselves and empower their community. DMSC is a complete anomaly. It goes against everything that we perceive to be true, and that's what's so inspiring about it. They challenge the misconceptions of sex work.
DMSC acts as an umbrella organization for several branch programs that aim to better the livelihood of the sex workers, their families, and the community (Sonagachi). Some of the branches include:
a sexual health peer education program,
clinical services,
savings and credit opportunities,
an anti-trafficking regulatory board,
a community central committee,
a LGBT collaborative,
a domestic workers collaborative,
athletic, cultural, and educational opportunities for children of sex workers,
and much more!
This past week, our team completed orientation at DMSC. We were awarded time with each DMSC branch to learn their history, mission, and goals. In doing so, many of the assumptions we came into DMSC with were dispelled, and forced us to re-evaluate our understanding of the sex workers' community from their point of view.
Here's what we've learned of thus far.
Misconception #1: DMSC is representative of all of India.
DMSC has been running in Sonagachi, one of the oldest and largest red light areas of Kolkata, since 1992. But Sonagachi doesn't reflect India as a whole. In comparison, Sonagachi is quite small to India, and each red light area varies by state throughout the country.
Misconception #2: All the sex workers are trafficked.
Many of the sex workers in Sonagachi willing choose to be in the sex work profession.
DMSC's working definition of trafficking within the sex trade includes:
(1) minors who are below the age of 18, and (2) adults in sex work against their will - this includes all forms of forced labor in which male, female, and child are forced by a third party against his/her will (DMSC, 2002).
Basically, only those below the age of 18, and/or those forced into sex work, despite their age, are considered trafficked. According to the cases seen by DMSC's Self Regulatory Board, 97% of sex workers willing join this profession, and 3-4% of the population are trafficked (this is specific to the Sonagachi red light area).
Misconception #3: By choosing the sex work profession, sex workers are choosing to be discriminated and stigmatized.
Choice is defined as:
"(1) an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities; (2) the right or ability to make, or possibility of making, such a selection; (3) a rang of possibilities from which one or more may be selected" (Google).
This definition of choice highlights the right, the ability, the possibility of being able to make a selection, but who actually has rights, abilities, and possibilities? This working definition doesn't consider other factors that shape choice, such as gender or class.
One of our class readings presents the pathways to sex work as three-fold.
"...many women are born into sex work as the family profession...some are deceived, sold, and otherwise trafficked into sex work against their will...some women, given limited options, choose sex work as a means to support their families after being widowed, divorced, or abandoned by their husbands" (Basu et al., 2004).
Considering the pathways changes the meaning of choice.
Misconception #4: Sex workers could chose to work in a different profession.
While this is may be true, it doesn't account for the complexity of circumstance many women in India face.
During orientation, one sex worker explained her reasoning for choosing sex work. She mentioned she could turn to labor work, domestic work, or construction (yes, it is very common for women in India to do constructive labor).
But why would she turn to these professions when she knows her boss would exploit her? Why put herself in jeopardy should she refuse her employer, or should she fail to speak up when her wage is being cheated?
She iterated, as a sex worker, she controls her own schedule, pay, and clientele. Also, her pay is higher than that of the other occupations listed. The average sex worker supports 4 other people and herself. Therefore, her financially stability is of the upmost importance.
Furthermore, 95% of India's population works in informal trade. 95% of the United States works in formal trade. The other 5% of India's formal trade workers typically work in some branch of governmental positioning. Meaning, the average person in India, let alone a woman, could not simply get up and find a job at their closest mall or cafe.
Misconception #5: DMSC encourages women to enter sex work.
DMSC has made it clear that they neither encourage nor advertise sex work as a means to livelihood. Their efforts greatly focus on the reintegration of individuals into other professional and educational opportunities. However, should an individual still willing choose to enter the sex work profession, DMSC works to provide services so that the individual may live long and healthy.
Misconception #6: We're here to save sex workers.
DMSC asks our team to learn about their needs, and support them in the way of their choosing, as they are the experts of their own lives. They encourage us to discard the American rescue-complex we've been taught, and assist them in addressing the local issues that affect their livelihood (i.e. poverty, gaining workers rights) - not the ones blown up by White middle-class feminism (i.e. trafficking).
As a result, we will be collaborating with DMSC to conduct three different research projects. These projects will present new information that will support DMSC's efforts in (1) ending discrimination towards sex workers, (2) improving target-based violence, (3) improving occupational and social opportunities, (4) ending poverty, and (5) addressing workers' rights.
My team's specific proposed research objective is to:
"explore and understand the needs of the individuals who have been identified as trafficked via DMSC's Self-Regulatory Board. This project will complete a needs assessment and reintegration analysis by examining the support systems offered by DMSC. Doing so will identify the strengths, challenges, and gaps in the support systems provided" (Barefield, Menzies, & Odae, 2017).
Basically, our proposed project will (1) identify the support systems established in DMSC for trafficked-persons, (2) highlight what DMSC does well in supporting trafficked persons, (3) what DMSC could improve upon, (4) assess the needs of a trafficked person in Sonagachi, and (5) analyze what incentivizes or deters a person to chose sex work after they have been trafficked.
If you're feeling conflicted or confused, that's normal. Engaging with sex workers, their environment, and circumstances can be challenging. I still haven't fully come to understand how to harmonize the realities presented in front of me with my personal values and beliefs.
What I am certain of is that DMSC and the sex workers in Sonagachi are a group of people with a need. They are a group of people with loved ones that they support to the best of their ability. And as God intended, they are a group of people worthy of having 'choice' without conditions of stigma, discrimination, and judgement.
As of now, that's enough for me.
With Bare Love,
Andreana
For more information about DMSC, visit: http://durbar.org