Sex Workers In Pune's Red-Light District Resume Work Amid COVID But With Masks & Gloves

Sex workers across the country have faced a tough time to keep the business alive during the lockdown and the COVID-19 era. Many had given up. However, with businesses resuming operations across the country, there is some respite for sex workers as well.

For the sex workers in the red light district of Pune, the work is on but there is a catch.

In the time of a pandemic, masks and gloves are a must during any act of intimacy. Clients have been asked to use hand sanitisers and disinfectants.

Some of the sex workers have bought thermal scanners and foot-operated sanitiser dispensers.

PTI

Furthermore, to avoid any risk of transmission, women have been advised to ask patrons to take a shower before any sexual activity and not to entertain any client having a cough or fever.

Since pandemic, demand down

The demand for sex workers reduced drastically when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt. According to a survey, 99 per cent of commercial sex workers are now wanting to take up alternative livelihood options, if given an opportunity. Over the period of lockdown, the demand for sex work has dried down forcing sex workers to borrow loans for survival.

According to a sample survey conducted by Asha Care Trust, a forum that works towards the welfare of sex workers, over 85% of the workers have taken loans and over 98% of them have taken it from their brothel owners, managers and moneylenders, subjecting themselves to further exploitation.

Budhwar Peth is India¡¯s third-largest red-light area which nearly houses 700 brothels and around 3,000 commercial sex workers. A study of 300 (around 10%) commercial sex workers in Budhwar Peth was conducted for this report.

BCCL

What is more alarming is that 87% of workers stated that even before the pandemic struck, their incomes were not sufficient to support themselves or their families.

The report added that 92.7 per cent of the sex workers stated that they fear resuming sex work but are also crippled with the fear of starvation. Harassment from brothel managers has led them to worry about their daily bread and butter.

'Sex workers looking for alternative livelihood sources'

¡°COVID-19 epidemic has presented us with an opportunity to create a mechanism to rehabilitate sex workers in mainstream society. Our survey suggests almost all of them are looking at alternative sources of livelihood in Budhwar Peth region. For the women who opt-out of sex trade, trafficking victim relief fund should be provided to help them pay-off their debt and get started with a new chapter,¡± said Shilpa Shetty, president of Asha Care Trust.

Reiterating the need for alternate livelihood during the Covid time, one of the sex workers, Nilu (name changed), said, ¡°We have been facing lot of hardships for the last 4-5 months. With each passing day it is getting difficult for us to survive as we have no earnings and hardly any savings. All of us here are bound to start the business as we have no other means of livelihood. Given an opportunity, I would like to opt for alternate livelihood so that I have a better source of income to sustain myself and my children.¡±