genderberg.com

Following in the footsteps of Sweden.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 299324.cms

"Sex trade curbs will backfire'
29 Jul 2008, 0038 hrs IST, Kounteya Sinha ,TNN

NEW DELHI: India's top HIV/AIDS official and a Cabinet minister on Monday severely criticized the Centre's plan to penalize clients visiting sex workers as a move to curb prostitution. The bill to amend the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act was moved in Parliament in 2006 by the ministry of women and child development headed by Renuka Chowdhury.

Director general of National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) K Sujatha Rao and labour and employment minister Oscar Fernandes said the amendments, that would put clients behind bars and invite penalty of up to Rs 50,000 for visiting brothels, would in no way curb the sex trade but only push it underground. This, Rao said, would make it more difficult to track down sex workers, who are most vulnerable to contracting the virus.

Union minister Fernandes said sex trade could never be curbed and would remain till humanity existed. He said he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon and ask for a balanced approach to the issue. Fernandes added: "Even the Bible makes a reference to sex trade. Reforming society will be the best approach rather than trying to curb the sex trade.”

According to a recent report by the world's first independent commission on AIDS in Asia-Pacific, headed by the PM's chief economic advisory C Rangarajan, the HIV epidemic in Asia is mainly driven by men who go for paid sex. While 75 million men in Asia visit sex workers, 10 million women sell sex to these men.

"On the day Rangarajan submitted the report, I had called for legalizing sex trade," Fernandes said.

'Law will make sex workers vulnerable'

Defending her case, Rao cited the instance of Sweden, which imposed a ban on the purchase of sexual services but still failed to curb the trade. "There is absolutely no evidence that sex work came down or clients stopped visiting sex workers. In fact, many such women crossed over to Norway and continued the trade. There will always be sex trade. It's impossible to stop it," she said.

Rao added, "Because there will always be demand for paid sex, the supply will continue even if you bring a law against it. In fact, it will make sex workers more vulnerable to exploitation and violence. It will make it all the more difficult for us to monitor their health while those infected would spread the disease to their multiple partners without knowing their status."

In India, 86.7% of HIV is on account of heterosexual activities. In places like Pune, nearly 40% of sex workers are infected with HIV. India has nearly 2.5 million prostitutes operating out of nearly 300,000 brothels in 1,100 red light areas across the country.

The amendments to the ITPA have almost been cleared by a group of ministers (GoM) headed by home minister Shivraj Patil. Sources said the amendments weren't universally accepted by the GoM. Health minister A Ramadoss too was against bringing about the amendments fearing that punishing clients would force prostitutes to leave brothels to set up new hideouts.

kounteya.sinha @timesgroup.com"

It's weird how the sex industry lobby has managed to turn HIV and AIDS into a reason for keeping women in prostitution and not combatting men who want to buy and sell women.

"If there aren't any prostitutes we won't be able to hand out condoms!"

When did a condom ever stop a prostituted person being raped, beaten or killed?

Combatting HIV infection and combatting sexual exploitation should go hand in hand, instead the sex industry lobbyists have managed to persuade a lot of people that they are conflicting issues, which of course they aren't.

delphyne wrote:"If there aren't any prostitutes we won't be able to hand out condoms!"

When did a condom ever stop a prostituted person being raped, beaten or killed?

Exactly, what if the john doesn't wanna use a condom and is making threats of violence?

Also, the pimps know it: most johns do not like condoms. So the pimps make more money by charging extras for sex without condoms, including in areas where pimps and johns are decriminalized. Johns and pimps don't give a shit about women's safety. They just want to benefit from prostituted women's enslavement, by getting their selfish fuck, wanking to women's degradation, and making money of the 'sex' industry.

"Even the Bible makes a reference to sex trade..."

The Bible is patriarchal, misogynistic and pornographic and it does absolutely fuck-all to teach people important things about women's issues... The Bible is unimportant...

"... There will always be sex trade. It's impossible to stop it," she said."

Well, that's your opinion, Rao. If there weren't any patriarchy, there would be no sex trade.

"Even the Bible makes a reference to sex trade..."

This, to me, is one of most specious arguments you can make about anything.
There are a lot of vile things that humans have done for thousands of years.
Murder, torture, war, slavery, prostitution.
Shall we make no effort to curb these activities because a 100% success rate is, in his view, impossible?
Odd how the oppression of women is the one atrocity that men see as impossible to remedy.