Articles
- WHY ARE YOUNG GIRLS CHOOSING SEX WORK AS THEIR PROFESSION THESE DAYS? - 2009-07-27
The views expressed in this article are based on first hand interviews with the girls and women, who were at Maiti Nepal under different circumstances and not necessarily mine or those of Maiti Nepal.
Is it really under compulsion to fulfill their daily basic need? Is it really because their parents could not foster them because they were a single parent?Do they have many siblings or were very poor to have a single meal at the end of the day?Or is it the other way round that they are fascinated by the metropolitan city?s fashion faux and colorful society and being lured with high aspirations by their peers. Kathmandu, once upon a time called ?City of temples and deities? is now known as ??Sin City?? or ??second Bangkok??. It has become the center for crime, deception, in disciplinary acts, social hypocrisy, and conspiracy which has given every possible way to prompt these young girls to choose this profession.
All concerned individual has the same question i.e. what is the government doing?Just a mere public stunt of trying to close all the dance restaurants and massage parlors for a short time. Like the saying goes, ?Where did the milk spill in the bowl??
When asked individually, why they chose this profession every girl has the same mechanical answer?. obligation. Can?t you earn your living by doing an honest job? Does every girl in this society who has difficulties in their life choose the same profession? In fact the simplest answer is, its easy and fast money for them.
A woman working at massage center, where she does everything in addition of massage, earns around Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 per month and even more. A qualified medical doctor earns Rs. 20,000 per month .When we asked them what they do with so much money she says fostering her children, house rent, food etc. but not to mention drinking, partying, gaudy clothing and make ups. Girls working at such so called massage parlor and dance restaurant are highly fascinated by the valleys fashion faux and lifestyle. They ardently follow every trend that?s going around .Be it going to the party, fashionable shorts, haulter neck tops, Converse shoes or the hair do like hair extension, coloring and highlights. There?s nothing wrong in wanting all of this, but they want it so badly that for the sake of it they chose easy and fast money job.When you think of trafficked survivors, who were sold to brothels across the borders, they are real innocent ones. Few have escaped on their own, some were rescued by NGO?s like Maiti Nepal and many are still there. But what about internal / domestic trafficking, where the traffickers are their own relatives and the massage parlor are run by people from their villages. Once they are brought there, they taste easy money and once habituated they tend to return to the parlors even when rescued.
A Girl who has just entered her puberty was rescued by Maiti Nepal from a massage parlor. When I asked her age, she was just 14 and told us that she joined the work because her sister was already working there. I again asked her if her work at the massage parlor include sex, then she answered it was her own will and consent. So does this mean that in our country an underage child can chose to be exploited if she wants?
Many girl on vaginal examination had extreme cases of PID (PELVIC INLAMMATORY DISEASE) which means that it is not only about exploitation of children, but also a health hazard. One of them were tested positive for HIV. She was explained and counseled about the disease. Tears rolled down her eyes, I assured her to not to worry, but the problem is still humungous.
At present they are enjoying their life in the ?Sin City?, but it will be too late to realize that, life is not easy for anyone and that we cannot have everything in life and yes, we do have lots of options. But who do we blame for this? A young and helpless girl in a big city? Dance restaurant and massage parlor owners for running such a business? Male clients for going to these places? Society for their hypocrisy? Or the Government for not doing enough? The question and the problem lie open.
Dr.Alish Prajapati for Maiti Nepal
