Legal Prostitution in India

Thank you for your arguments. Below are counter arguments and statements supporting my opinion as well. ---------- Contender: "I shall assume that my adversary wants to legalize activities that promotes carrying prostitution out on an organized or commercial scale." I appreciate your research on the issue. Although prostitution is legal in India as per the act you have mentioned , can you mention few incidents where we have seen sex workers raising their voice against the exploitation or fighting for their fundamental or human rights in court? I am sure even if there are such cases they are negligible in number.The reason being that the SITA act is in no way powerful enough to allow the sex workers exercise the right to equality , prohibition of discrimination , right against exploitation etc. An couple excerpts from the SITA act: "In practice SITA is not commonly used. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) which predates the SITA is often used to charge sex workers with vague crimes such as "public indecency" or being a "public nuisance" without explicitly defining what these consist of. Recently the old law has been amended as The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA. Attempts to amend this to criminalise clients [21]have been opposed by the Health Ministry,[22] and has encountered considerable opposition.[23] " "The act, then called the All India Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (SITA), was amended to the current law. The laws were intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalising various aspects of sex work. " I am not in favor of activities that "PROMOTE" prostitution in any form but , to amend our laws so that the ones involved in this (both sex workers and their clients )can freely exercise the rights and the practices without being criminalised which ultimately will ease out the sexual frustration in the society leading to reduction in rapes and other incidents that I have talked about. """" Contender:"My adversary argues that since prostitution is widespread, and enforcement is lax, it should be legalised." Your understanding and conclusion of my argument is incorrect.Drug trafficking , Child labor , Regionalism , Casteism and other such practices - all these are wide spread and existing laws have failed in preventing them, still I none of us is an advocate of legalising them. My argument is not that since prostitution is widespread and enforcement is lax , it be legalised. The reason I talk about widespread nature of prostitution and lax enforcement of existing laws is to enlighten everyone of the fact that this is something that has been ongoing since ages and never stopped , considering which makes me think that the only reason that it has survived so long is that it is somehow silently accepted by all societies and is a necessity , then why not make it acceptable by law as well.This will help reduce the fear both participants" mind. Contender:"While my adversary's intentions are admirable, his claims are untrue." First of all 200 women across 5 countries averages to 40 women per country.Number is quiet low to come to a conclusion.Second , presenting the argument that most of these women were never favoured by law even if it existed , is not convincing enough to not give better legal recognition to the practice.India is a country of population over 100 crores. We often see poor and helpless being exploited and crushed under feet by the powerful, but does that mean we should not have laws to protect them.We have seen cases where determined people have shown their guts and fought against exploitation and come out victorious.So merely giving the stats from a XYZ survey and saying that sex workers should be deprived of their rights since anyway they are going to be suppressed and exploited even after laws are framed , is not justified. I believe that the contender is too much obsessed with surveys and figures.The need is to focus on the current situation where our women are not safe enough rather and making strict laws against the crimes itself is not helping much. """""" Contender:"My adversary also claims that legalizing prostitution will lead to much better and safer practices among sex workers." In this paragraph you say: "Up to 47% of these women (same source) stated that men expected sex without a condom, and 45% stated that they were abused if they insisted on a condom" So in absence on any laws what does a prostitute do when she is thrashed and abused by her client for asking them to use protection? I believe that the legalisation will give rights to a prostitute to legal help in such cases and situations and prevent herself from harassment.As a result they can force their clients to use protection else no SEX. An example improvement could be - Sex workers and clients can be made to present mandatory health cards before getting involved in any practice which have the date and status of their last health check and either party can have the right to demand for a health card before the act.So I definitely believe this will improve things and prevent many sexually transmitted deceases. """"" CA : Argument 1: Legalization does not improve India's social attitude towards women, it worsens it I think you have misunderstood me here.I have clearly mentioned about the social crisis of crimes like rape , molestation etc. and nowhere do I speak of the legalisation resulting into better or worse respect for women or their empowerment , although I am a supporter of the same.It might or might not change peoples attitude towards women , but it will definitely do is ease out the sexual frustration.The article only aims at reducing number of such crimes against women. It is the thinking of our indian society that we need to change.When laws will be made to recognise prostitution definitely people will start thinking positively towards it. Comparing Australian or American social environments with Indian would not be justified.You can take example of porn movies , sex is not such a taboo in western world.That is why these days there are porn movies showing some very unnatural practices and hence the such things have risen.Indian male is yet to fulfil his basic sexual desire leave aside all those stuff that your source talks about.So I think we should not arrive on a conclusion based on what effects other countries or societies have witnessed after legalisation of prostitution. Regarding your comment about male chauvinism that perceives women to be an object to satisfy male desire , I would like to say that if that really is the case then why do we let Red Light Areas prevail - GB Road , Sona Gachi and more across the country.Why haven"t they been shut down and are operating uninterrupted.They are illegal as per the SITA act as I understand. """"" Argument 2: Legalization increases clandestine and underground prostitution, women trafficking, and child prostitution I am not a speaker or supporter of brothels , Pimps and other such organisations neither Do I say these should be made legal.But do you think that any person would feel safe and fearless in a room when even with a prostitute who is not part of a group or network?I would disagree and most of us would.The whole point is to remove the fear from the participants" minds of being caught and charged for God knows what all things.From the wiki article: "Clauses in the ITPA relating to living of the earnings are being challenged in court, together with criminalisation of brothels, prostitution around a notified public place, soliciting and the power given to a magistrate to evict sex-workers from their home and forbidding their re-entry." It is such things as "evict sex-workers from their home" that we need to amend and also make people aware that if they are visiting a prostitute there is nothing to be afraid of. source: http://en.wikipedia.org...