According to Smarajit Jana, sex workers in India claim they are grateful to HIV/AIDS because it finally gave them the attention they deserved from fellow human beings.
Yesterday afternoon, Jana, founder of The Sonagachi Project, discussed the question of morality for sex work in a lecture in Stiteler Hall. He stressed that the Indian government and non-governmental organizations alike began paying attention to the needs of sex workers only after the HIV problem arose.
“HIV is a God-given gift to us … our best friend,” Jana quoted one sex worker as saying.
The issue of the rights and perception of sex workers in society is often debated by intellectuals and members of academia; however, sex workers themselves are often excluded from the discussion.
Jana emphasized the need to change society’s perception of sex workers and to integrate them into mainstream society. He explained the formulation and implementation of the peer-based HIV intervention program, “The Sonagachi Project,” which he pioneered in West Bengal, India, in 1992. Reaching out to over 60,000 sex workers, the project is now the largest sex worker movement in the world.
Jana said he felt this intervention was unique, as it treats sex workers with respect and dignity, relies on their ability to change society and recognizes their right to choose sex work as an occupation. He believes that most other interventions fail to identify with sex workers as fellow human beings.
For example, most interventions suggest condom usage to protect sex workers from HIV/AIDS. But in doing so, he explained, they target the genital organs and not the individual as a whole. Little thought is given to the social and cultural implications sex workers face or the vulnerable positions they are in.
In the future, Jana said, he hopes society will learn to respect the rights of sex workers to choose their own occuptation. He added that he hopes that through interventions such as The Sonagachi Project, these citizens will be equipped with the skills to take care of themselves.
He added that the number of underaged workers and unwilling female workers and the incidence of violence need to be reduced, and that children of sex workers need to be incorporated into mainstream schools in order to create better futures for themselves.
Following the success of interventions similar to The Sonagachi Project in India, Bangladesh and Brazil, Jana expressed the hope that other countries will recognize the need to provide their sex workers with a better platform and framework to work with.
