Prostitutes of Bombay (great white saviour syndrome)

[sunnysmiles]

I don't know why I'm posting about this... but seems like coloured prostitutes always make white people feel 'mystified and curious'. There is a downright entitlement exhibited in how white people can portray people of colour in general, and I guess it just got me thinking. I'm sure this is nothing new or revealing, just one example in the millions of others we could chose from (like the toledo conference that we went to).

Anyways, I came across this book link - and just felt like sharing.

http://www.maryellenmark. com/frames/falkland.html

Link has photos (some nude) etc...
From the books introduction:

For ten years I tried to take photographs on Falkland Road and each time met with hostility and aggression. The women threw garbage and water and pinched me. Crowds of men would gather around me. Once a pickpocket took my address book; another time I was hit in the face by a drunken man. Needless to say, I never managed to take very good photographs.

In October of 1978 I decided to return to Bombay and try somehow to enter the world of these women and to photograph them. I had no idea if I could do this. But I knew I had to try. The night before I left I had a vivid dream: I was a voyeur hiding behind a bed in a brothel on Falkland Road watching three transvestite prostitutes making love. I awoke amused and somewhat reassured. Perhaps my dream was a good sign.

Once in Bombay, I started out by just going to the street. It was the same as always--crowds of men around me and the women alternately hurling insults and garbage at me. Every day I had to brace myself, as though I were about to jump into freezing water. But once I was there, pacing up and down the street, I was overwhelmed, caught up in the high energy and emotion of the quarter. And as the days passed and people saw my persistence, they began to get curious. Some of the women thought I was crazy, but a few were surprised by my interest in and acceptance of them. And slowly, very slowly, I began to make friends.

The white woman doesn't seem to get why the people feel invaded when she comes around. It's not a free terrain for her to roam and take photos. See how she herself concedes she's a voyeur. But when she is a voyeur - it's like she's 'mystifying' it because it's a 'dream'. However, when she 'actualizes' and 'justifies' her voyeurism she tells us that the prostitutes allow her to take photos of them because 'SHE IS ACCEPTING OF THEM'. I.e. it's her superior intellect, coupled with white empathetic liberalism that grants her permission to access them, because you know activists in India haven't been handing out condoms and providing free health clinics for the last 40 yrs, right? Indian activists haven't left the comforts of their middle class homes to reach out to prostitutes, it takes a white American voyeur to do that.

Her being an invasive photographer and then using her powers of manipulation (i.e. becoming friends with them - cause realizes she can't just take photos of them like their elephants in a zoo) has got nothing to do with this new found 'access' she has. Her asking for 'consent' for taking photos has got nothing to do with it people, it's her damn saviour syndrome that allows her this!

Also, check out the semi-nude shots of the 12 and 15 yr olds she's got. If this was a white girl, from a white country in a state of half-dress, this would be child-porn. But since it's a brown 'sex-worker' who's 12 it's okay to take a nude photo.

And this isn't just limited to this woman's book, this kind of voyeurism is corporatized. The fruits and passions (huge body shop like store http://ca.fruits-passion. com/en/corpo/boutique.asp) across the street from me has this http://www.abcgallery. com/G/gauguin/gauguin84.html
painting as their mascot. It's at least 12x14 ft large. the GIRL'S nipple is like the size of my fist. No where in the mall is there any other naked pic of a woman, but because gaugin's a bonafide painter who's already raped the mystical fruits of barely pubescent tahitian girls, it's "okay" to use this as a logo.

Just my two cents, I know this comes as nothing new, - I'm just a little angry - so I thought I would let it out.

[delphyne]

I looked at one picture there "12 year old Layta on the bed where she works" which should read "12 year old Layta on the bed where she is raped" and I couldn't look any more. It's infuriating and it's horribly racist. What would people think if she was taking similar photos of 12 year old white western girls in that position? We know what the answer is to that but because it happens in India her photography is regarded by white people as exotic, mysterious and titillating.

When people are throwing rubbish and water at you and pinching you, why not take the hint and stop harassing them?