Table of Contents
The Dark & Ugly Strokes of Prostitution in India
India is a developing nation. On one side we find the country inhabited by the elite and on the other hand, we see dilapidated, broken roads and buildings in the majority. These tales tell many stories of the nation that have happened in the past, taking place in the present and are likely to continue in the future as well.
The socio-economic conditions of the country spin many issues and bring forth controversies that have been spoken about only in the dark. The country has clearly seen a rise in anti social activities and many illegal crimes are taking place in broad daylight today.
The shortcomings of an effective legal force, backed by corruption in top bureaucracies have had a detrimental effect on the lives of common men. The rich and the elite can somehow escape from the clutches of the system.
The loopholes of the system do not affect them in any big way and give them easy escape routes from any difficult situation. Middle men who neither belong to the upper strata of society nor the poorer sections are usually the most affected when it comes to a large society.
Money provides privileges and a comfortable living. It can buy all the luxuries of the world but cannot buy happiness since happiness is not a commodity.
It is true that materialistic aspirations have replaced emotional happiness within relationships. Families have shrieked and so have values and morals of individuals.
The need for money is different for different individuals. For most of us, money is required to make a living. The means of earning money to make a livelihood varies from person to person. Education plays an important role in securing jobs for the youth. The problem is, literacy does not guarantee
The Social Stigma
Our country is plagued by many socially backward stigmas; some of them are even considered taboo to discuss on big platforms. Nevertheless, the society is more open to such issues, debates and arguments are drawn endless number times on the social media and are discussed on news channels.
Several of them have haunted the country in the past and continue to plague the society even today. People who are involved in such activities are considered a group away from the mainstream society, and they hardly garner any respect among commoners.
They live in a different kind of world, think away from the mainstream, and do not get involved in a living that the mainstream society considers right.
Therefore, the so-called educated and civilized society stays away from such people, leaving those involved in such banned activities to lead a life away from the ordinary. Their pursuits are different and don’t match up to normal and healthy living.
There are many such issues bothering the society from time immemorial, since the time kings and queens existed and continue to make their presence felt even today.
Many uncivilized practices like prostitution, dowry harassment, sexual abuse, exploitation, drug menace, etc. are big and burning issues, the country is facing and they are the dark side of any civilized society. A section of the society runs their daily livelihood by getting into acts of prostitution for money sake.
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Prostitution is nothing but sexual abuse of a woman, with her own consent and willingness, but something that brings down the morale of the woman involved and is considered highly illegal in a civilized society like ours.
The women involved in acts of prostitution usually consent to such acts out of need for money. Citing economic backwardness, many women get into this kind of activity because they find a way out to make easy money.
There are many others who, in spite of being educated, get drawn to these kinds of activities due to personal or family problems. Many dance bars in the dark areas of big cities involve a lot of such girls, popularly called bar girls and indulge them in acts of prostitution.
Women are also kidnapped from rural areas and forced to get into such acts, sometimes they are pushed into this field by their own innocence and inability to stand up for their rights. The society is so biased against such women that they hardly get a chance to live a normal life like the rest of the world.
The main point of concern here is that they get involved with a lot of men and no emotional relationship exists with any of them. It is a prohibited act, lured by men who offer easy money to women and there are just too many young girls have fallen into such traps over the years.
Call Agents & Networking
There are big agents operating in cities that handle these girls and even transport them off to far-off lands where they don’t even know how to exist among such mongrels.
It’s not just the society that bars such acts of shame, but the whole world looks down upon women who knowingly or unknowingly get involved in such acts. Many women work as call girls in brothels and are looked down upon the whole society due to their unlawful occupation.
Poor financial backgrounds and economic distress create a rift within families. Many a time, young girls who seek jobs to look after their poor families get lured by miscreants and middle men/agents who pose themselves as worthy creatures assuring the innocent girls a job in hand.
Getting into their false promises, girls end up in their nets unknowingly. They get lured for quick and easy money without realizing the price they have to pay for the rest of their lives. This is exactly the way many innocent girls from cultured backgrounds end up in prostitution rackets.
When innocent girls get lured for money on the pretext of a job, they get in to the words of the so-called-agents who actually involve them with men and the girl unknowingly falls into the trap of such men. When innocent girls realize the folly they have done, it would be too late to go back to the place they came from.
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Fear about the society that would never accept them on such unlawful grounds, second being the shameful name created for the family they belong to and third, their own moral self being destroyed more than anything else. Due to these reasons and many others, girls fear getting back to society once they fall into such traps.
When agents dupe themselves as employers, they are creating a false identity of themselves to lure innocent girls into their rackets. Such rackets operate worldwide and create terror in the minds of innocent girls. Girls fear to step out from their homes due to the presence of such con men operating everywhere.
There are also big rackets that transport girls to far off lands to unknown men that result in assaults and sexual exploitation of innocent girls. Even small girls are not spared from such misdeeds. They are also sold off to unknown men who are involved in these networks.
On the flip side, if we dig deeper into such trades operating in the dark corners of cities, we would also find out that women, out of their will are also involved in such activities.
In fact there are women themselves who are part of such big networks and trades who provide consent themselves and draw men towards them.
The reasons for such moral destruction of a self to offer themselves so badly to con men may make us think twice about the society that we live in. Less education or poor income groups are easily drawn to this trade as they get access to easy and quick money.
A Commercial Trade
Societal pressures and cheating often force women into such acts wherein they have to consent to sexual exploitation by men, unknown to them and force themselves into.
Since these acts are usually committed out of the boundary of marriage and involve many unknown men, it is publicly called a commercial flesh trade and is a totally dark and different world.
The normal and civilized society turns down such people and looks down upon them with unwanted sympathy. They are considered as not belonging to the cultured society, and they are looked at a very different and disturbing angle by the mainstream people and society.
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The whole act of offering oneself in the hands of unknown men, who are equally disturbed in their own way to get involved in such ill activities have far-reaching effects on lives of many. In totality, it leads to moral destruction of lives and such people always prefer to stay away from normal lives that people commonly lead.
Getting involved with not just one man, but a bunch of men at unknown times and at unknown places with the only intention of earning quick bucks is totally illegitimate.
The persons involved in such acts may do it out of poverty, financial reasons or any other factors. But a condemning act such as this is totally disgusting and unacceptable in cultured and civilized society.
A Sinful Act
Women and men involved in such acts, with or without consent usually do so for purposes of money and no emotional bondage is seen. Money and commercial gains are the main factors why women get into such acts.
Sometimes, the attraction of expensive and lucrative gifts that are again monetarily bound act as reasons for women to be lured into this trade. In olden days, the system of Nevadan’s was prevalent. Nowadays women venture into this kind of trade, either by covering up their identity or through a false identity of themselves.
Some women do not feel the degradation associated with the loss of morals in this kind of business and openly admit to being associated with such activities.
However, in some countries this kind of business is legitimized by their respective governments in which case women receive better protection under law. But the situation in case of our country is quite different since this practice has been in the nest since centuries ago.
Also, people involved in this kind of business are usually found in brothels, at dance bars or in red light areas. Red light areas in Mumbai are popular country wide for the involvement of such trades.
The acts of prostitution hold with them, additional risks of men and women venturing into other illegitimate acts such as drug and mafia dealings, trafficking of women and children, getting involved with women for the wrong reasons, etc.
Usually such acts are fruitful in no good way and the society suffers because of the presence of such people around us. Lesbianism is a growing issue in many developing and developed countries of late and that has also been associated with this kind of trade.
This is also an associated issue along with the main issue of prostitution that has been condemned and talked about world-wide. Lesbianism involves members of the same-sex getting involved in acts of consent and indulgence. Some countries treat it as a legitimate one by passing special laws to protect the interest of members involved.
Members involved in these illegitimate trades usually form their own groups and unions, since society treats them indifferently due to the occupation they are associated with.
They receive no respect from society and are totally debarred from all kinds of involvement in social and cultural activities. Families of such members also face criticism from society, and they have to put their heads down in shame because of the involvement of their children in them.
These activities carry major health risks such as AIDS and sexually transmittable diseases that prove fatal in many cases. The person also suffers from mental setbacks and the prestige of the person comes down on account of the living conditions they are part of.
Not only does the person’s health deteriorates by getting indulged in illegal activities, but a sound mental health takes a beating often forcing them to lead lives in isolation. They face stiff resistance from normal people and often lead abnormal lives, not one that runs parallel with good cultures and values.
Legal Acts Passed
Out of the big sized population in our country, it’s hard to note that almost 10 million of them belong to this category that is involved in illegitimate occupations.
To safeguard this population from remaining downtrodden in societal norms, various governments at different times have worked on bringing in laws like SITA and ITPA. SITA stands for Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act and ITPA stands for Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.
Both acts were passed in the year 1956 but it’s totally disheartening to note that both the acts are so weakly implemented in our country that there are hardly any takers for them. In spite of legislation to book persons illegally involved in such acts, there are no strong grounds of support to implement them or bring them into force.
Police raids on areas inhabited by persons involved in such rackets are common sight and there is not much fear with the people involved.
This is mainly due to the lack of strict enforcement of laws in our country. This kind of social stigma needs action from the roots and it’s a very big and gigantic issue to be resolved in just some time.
People who have been part of this trade would be aware of the ins and outs of the transactions that take place in them and find it hard to come out of such nets.
Rehabilitation & Societal Remedies
Society is a building mould for a person who gets a form or a shape according to the dwelling conditions around him. People who unfortunately end up in such illegitimate networks should be properly rehabilitated and educated about the morals and values that hold key to a civilized society.
There are many women who voluntarily enter such businesses and it’s very difficult to pull them out of their trades. It’s difficult to change the mindsets of such people working for such activities that they can hardly be forced to lead normal lives.
A greater part of the society should educate such people about the damage they are causing to the society and themselves at large by aimlessly getting into dark trades that only give them access to quick money making paths.
Education brings in moral respect and value for a person. A person who is well-educated realizes the importance of cultured living in a society.
The society should also understand that not all sex workers or call girls exist in such occupation by their own choice. There could be family problems, issues with husband or poor financial statuses that probably pushed them into committing such acts.
It’s a totally dark business and women who are involved in it get to hear talks against them that pull down their own self being and leave them in a world of distress.
There are numerous volunteering groups and NGOs who are working for the uplifting of such people from the clutches of miserable identities.
When a person who has been involved in such activities decides to get back to society in a normal way, the society starts treating him indifferently. The past haunts them more than the present.
The ungrateful mind starts thinking about the repercussions he may have to face and that puts an end to his joining back the mainstream society.
The society shuns the presence of such people around them. Instead of morally degrading an already distressed person, they could be handled in a better way.
They can be provided with basic education which will help in pulling them out of the dark world of ignorance into the bright world of knowledge and spiritual consciousness.
In the Media
There have been many films and documentaries that have tried to bring this issue into the limelight since plenty of years. It so happens that people tend to watch the content showcased, but forget it soon after as it is not part of their lives.
Leaving a deep impact on such social issues should be created through educational programs on TV and young girls should be made aware of the dirty trades that exist in the society that we live in.
Many authors have written books keeping the issue of prostitution in the focus, yet the society is still sluggish on acting soon and is still waking up to the detrimental effects of these activities.
The mainstream society is yet to accept people from such activities as they are considered immoral human beings, on account of their profession. It makes sense to provide appropriate relief measures and good rehabilitation by the government to put an end to this social menace.
The issue of prostitution has haunted the country at several occasions and continues to be a kind of black mark for the whole society. The red light areas of big cities are easy targets for call girls and keeps.
Earlier, villages used to be easy targets to jump into such networks by blindly believing the agents of such trades. Nowadays people are smart enough to identify the good from the bad. People who are less educated or not educated at all seep into these undignified acts by selling themselves.
There have been many incidents wherein parents offer their own children to be inducted into such activities due to poor financial situations. Coming from a hopelessly bad financial situation leaves them crippled for money, and they would be in a situation so bad that one can’t even imagine.
Families may need support of such women, and they be looking at easy money-making routes. If they were educated probably, they would know the waters of mainstream society, leaving behind the bad world.
People who are into such activities, if they make up their minds can still get back to normal society without anyone’s consent but would require lot of efforts and will power to do so.
Education and awareness through campaigns should be spread to bring down such incidences. By seriously enforcing law, the government should also look forward to knock the issue totally out of the county, right from its roots.
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